from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Indonesian \In`do*ne"sian\, n.
1. A member of a race forming the chief pre-Malay population
of the Malay Archipelago, and probably sprung from a
mixture of Polynesian and Mongoloid immigrants. According
to Keane, the autochthonous Negritos were largely expelled
by the Caucasian Polynesians, themselves followed by
Mongoloid peoples of Indo-Chinese affinities, from mixture
with whom sprang the
{Indonesian race}.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The term Indonesian, introduced by Logan to
designate the light-colored non-Malay inhabitants of
the Eastern Archipelago, is now used as a convenient
collective name for all the peoples of Malaysia and
Polynesia who are neither Malay nor Papuans, but of
Caucasic type. . . . The true Indonesians are of
tall stature (5 ft. 10 in.), muscular frame, rather
oval features, high, open forehead, large straight
or curved nose, large full eyes always horizontal
and with no trace of the third lid, light brown
complexion (cinnamon or ruddy brown), long black
hair, not lank but often slightly curled or wavy,
skull generally brachycephalous like that of the
melanochroic European. --A. H. Keane.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Indonesians [of the Philippines], with the
tribal population of some 251, 200, live almost
exclusively on the great island of Mindanao. They
are not only physically superior to the Negritos,
but to the peoples of the Malayan race as well, and
are, as a rule, quite intelligent. --Rep. Phil.
Com., 1902.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. A native or inhabitant of Indonesia.
[PJC]