Mr. Wallace (ii. p. 280) believes that the numerous intermediate forms which occur among the count less islands of the Pacific are not merely the result of an intermixture of these races, but are to sonic extent truly intermediate or transitional, and that the brown and the black, the Papuan, the natives of Gilolo and Ceram, the Fijian, the native iu habitants of the Sandwich Islands, and those of New Zealand, are all varying forms of one great Oceanic or Polynesian race. Professor Huxley, howevei, is of opinion that the Papuans are more nearly allied to the Negroes of Africa than to any other race. The whole of the great island of New Guinea, • the Ki and Aril Islands, with Mysol, Salwatty, and Waigiou, are inhabited almost exclusively by the typical Papuan, and the same Papuan race extends over the islands east of New Guinea as far as the Fiji Islands. The people on the coast of New Guinea are in some places mixed with the browner races of the Moluccas. In the typical Papuan, the colour of the body somewhat varies ; generally it is a deep sooty-brown or black, somewhat approach ing, but never quite equalling, the jet black of sonic Negro races, but it is occasionally a dusky brown. The hair is harsh, dry, and frizzly, growing in little tufts or curls, which in youth are very short and compact, but afterwards grow out to a considerable length, forming the com pact frizzled mop which is the Papuan's pride and glory. The face has a beard of the same frizzly hair, and the arms, legs, and breast are also more or less clothed with hair of a similar kind. In stature, the Papuan is superior to the Malay, and the equal or superior of the average European. The legs are long and thin, and the hands and feet larger than those of the Malay. The face is somewhat elongated ; the forehead flattish, the brows very prominent ; the nose is large, rather arched and high, the base thick, the nostrils broad, and the aperture hidden, owing to the tip of the nose being elongated ; the mouth is large, the lips thick and protuber ant. He is impulsive and demonstrative in speech and action ; his emotions and passions express themselves in shouts and laughter, in yells and frantic leapings ; women and children take their share in every discussion. The Papuan has much vital energy. In the Moluccas, Papuan slaves were often promoted to places of consider able trust. He decorates his canoe, his house, his domestic utensils, with elaborate carving. They are often violent and cruel towards their children. The Dutch, since the early years of the 19th century, have formed settlements on New Guinea, and on the 6th November 1884, Great Britain proclaimed its protection east of long. 141°. If the tide of Europeon civilisation turn towards New Guinea, the Papuan, like the true Poly nesian of the farthest isles of the Pacific, will no doubt become extinct. A warlike and energetic people, who will not submit to national dependence or to domestic servitude, must disappear before the white man. A race identical in all its chief fea tures with the Papuan, is found in all the islands as far east as the Fiji.
Mysol. and Waigiou are Papuan, mixed, partly from Gilolo, partly from New Guinea.
The larger Papuans are more remarkable for their strength than for their symmetry. They have broad shoulders and deep chests, but a deficiency is generally found about their lower extremities, the splay feet and Ciarved shins of Western Africa being equally or even more com mon among those whom Mr. Earl calls the gigantic Papuans. The independent Papuans are invariably treacherous and revengeful. The tribes on the N.E. coast of New Guinea, for instance, arc never to be depended on. They retain an unextinguish able hatred towards all who attempt to settle in their territory, and this is probably the cause of their being found in the interior of islands where mountains exist, and their utter extermination in all the islands where there are no fastnesses to which they could retire.
Papuans never tattoo their skins, but they raise the skin over the shoulders, breast, thighs, and buttocks into cicatrices, often as large as the finger.
A Negro race occurs in the island of Flores, and in the great island of New Guinea they form the whole native or aboriginal population, as they also do of the islets near its coasts. In New Guinea the many Papuan tribes are generally in a state of warfare with each other, and return from their warlike expeditions with heads. The New Guinea people worship a wooden deity called Karwar, 18 inches high, whom they consult on all occasions. A widow remains in the family of her deceased husband. The Negroes of New Guinea are in various states of civilisation. Some of the rudest dwell in miserable huts, and seek a bare sub sistence by the chase, or the spontaneous produc tions of the forest. There are, however, other Negro tribes living on the coast who have made some advance in civilisation. These dwell by whole tribes in huge barn-like houses raised on posts, like those of the wild inhabitants of Borneo, but ruder.
In Dori the Papuans arc called Myfore. They are about 5 feet 3 inches high, few attain 5 feet 6 inches. They wear their crisped hair its full length, and generally nneared for, which gives them a wild, seared appearance. The men, not the women, wear a comb. The beard is crisp. The forehead is high and narrow ; eyes large, dark brown or black ; nose flat and broad ; mouth large, lips thick, and teeth good ; few have regular features, and most are apathetic. The ordinary men wear a waist-cloth made of the bark of a tree, called mar, which is wrapped round the waist, and passed between the legs. Women wear a short sarong to the knee, generally of blue cloth. Men and women tattoo their bodies on occasions, by pricking the skin with a fish-bone, and rubbing in lamp-black. The Dori people are a seafaring people, and are expert swimmers and divers. Their prahus have outriggers, and are excavated from the trunk of a single tree. Their food consists of millet, obi, maize, a little rice, fish and hog's flesh, and fruits. Sago is imported in small quantities. Theft is considered a grave offence. They are chaste, and marry one wife.
The Aru Islands extend 100 miles from north to south. Inland are many fresh-water swamps, with thick, impenetrable jungle in other places. Their produce is pearls, mother-of-pearl, tortoise shell, birds of paradise, and trepaug. The timber of the islands is much praised. Aru islanders have much intercourse with strangers. They are fond of arrack, and purchase from the Bugis the Papuan slaves broUght from New Guinea, who are then employed in diving for pearls and in the beche-de-mer fishery. The Aru islanders arc im poverished by their excessive use of intoxicating liquors, imported Macassar. Ii personal appearance the people are between th Malayan and Polynesian Negro. They are no many degrees further advanced in civilisation that the natives of the north coast of Australia, t whom many of them bear considerable person. resemblance. In stature they surpass the civilise natives of Celebes. Tho dress of the men is a piece of matting or cloth girded round the loins, and drawn tight between the thighs, and a salen dan' or shawl. No fillet is worn round the head. Tho hair is woolly, and frizzled out like that of the Papua. The men are of a jealous disposition, and easily roused to anger by abuse of their women or ancestors ; otherwise they are mild of disposition. The women wear a mat in front and one behind. Some are Muhammadans. Christianity was intro duced many years ago by the Dutch of Amboyna, and nearly all the principal people profess this creed. The Aru Papuan ornament their houses with brazen trays, dulam or talam, and elephants' teeth, which are broken up when the owner dies.