or Polynesian words. But there exist still more insurmount- able obstacles in the gap of above 2000 miles, without resting- places, which divides the nearest of the isles of the Pacific from America, and in the baffling winds which prevail for 400 miles along the shore of that continent. Even, however, had the distance been less, and the winds more propitious, we have not, at the nearest point of the Pacific islands to the western shore of America, the comparatively vigorous and enterprising populations of the Society, Navigators', and Friendly groups; but, instead, the poor, unenterprising inhabitants of small and barren Easter island, wholly unequal to the enterprises which have been achieved by the Polynesians of larger and more fertile islands. Even supposing any people of the Pacific, however, to have effected a landing on the continent of America, it must be with the certainty of encountering a hostile population, and consequently of being either absorbed or destroyed.
POSTSCRIPT.
In addition to the evidence given at page 47 of the influence exercised by the Javanese and their language over the other tribes and languages of the Archipelago and adjacent countries, I give that which is recorded in Joâo de Barros, the most authentic and intelligent of all the Portuguese historians of India.[1] He describes Malacca, the principal emporium of the Archipelago at the time of its capture by Albuquerque, in 1511, as having been founded by a Javanese prince driven from Singapore by the Siamese. He further states, that when it was taken, the majority of its inhabitants consisted of Javanese, although the ruling tribe was Malay. The Javanese inhabitants appear to have dwelt in separate quarters of the town, and are described as being under the government of their own native chiefs, two in number,—one of whom is said to have had ten thousand
- ↑ Da Asia de Joâo de Barros. Lisboa, 1777.
