stance, is of a striking Malay type. It is not impossible, nor even improbable, that Malays were borne on the "Japan Current" northward from their tropical abodes to the Japanese islands; but there is no historical record of such a movement. Therefore the best authorities, like Rein and Baelz, do not acknowledge more than slight traces of Malay influence. A more recent theory concerning the origin of the real Japanese—or Yamato men, as they called themselves—is that they are descendants of the Hittites, whose capital was Hamath, or Yamath, or Yamato!
There are two distinct types of Japanese: the oval-faced, narrow-eyed, small aristocratic class; and the pudding-faced, full-eyed, flat-nosed, stout common people. Of these, the latter is the one claimed to be Malay. The plebeians, having always been accustomed to hard labor by the sweat of the brow, are comparatively strong; the others, having been developed by centuries of an inactive life, have inherited weak constitutions. Indeed, the people, as a whole, are subject to early maturity and early decay. There is a Japanese proverb to this effect: "At ten, a god-like child; at twenty, a clever man; from twenty-five on, an ordinary man." And, in spite of the fact that there have been remarkable exceptions to this rule, careful investigation by Japanese supports the truth of the proverb. And yet there seems to be no
the similarity of Malay customs to our own. In the structure of their houses even this was very manifest."—Japan Mail.
