go SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



used. 1 Mr. Ray draws my attention to the fact that pots 

 are called by the same name in Melanesia and British 

 New Guinea (Fiji, kuro ; Espiritu Santo, kuro ; Motu and 

 Maiva, uro ; Kerepunu, gulo, etc.). 



The Papuans earlier adopted tobacco and grew their 

 own tobacco before the white man came, but they do not 

 chew the betel to any great extent, quite the reverse is the 

 case with the Melanesians. Strangely enough kava is only 

 known along the Fly River and by the Masingara, a Daudai 

 bush tribe. 



In a memoir which is now in the press I discuss with 

 considerable detail the decorative art of British New 

 Guinea. I have been able to distinguish the following 

 artistic provinces : i., Torres Straits and Daudai ; ii., Fly 

 River; hi., the Papuan Gulf; iv., Central District {i.e., 

 south-east peninsula from Cape Possession to Cloudy Bay) ; 

 v., the Massims, including the district around Milne Bay and 

 all the neighbouring island groups. The first three districts 

 are purely Papuan, as is the bulk of the decorative art of 

 the fourth, the Melanesians of this district appear to be an 

 inartistic people ; quite the reverse obtains for the island 

 Melanesians, who are characterised by great skill in wood- 

 carving and by the employment of varied and beautiful 

 scroll designs. As this subject cannot be discussed in the 

 absence of illustrations I must refer the reader to the 

 original memoir. 



I have now enumerated a sufficient body of evidence to 

 demonstrate that two groups of people inhabit British New 

 Guinea. We have now to see whether a further analysis 

 is possible. 



Our knowledge of the Western Papuans is too imperfect 

 for any definite generalisations to be made at present, but I 

 venture to present the following tentative suggestions : — 



The most typical Papuans in the British Protectorate are 

 probably the bush tribes from the Dutch boundary to the 

 back of the Gulf of Papua. They are gradually being pushed 



1 Cf. Finsch, "Topferei in Neu Guinea," Zeits. f. Ethnol, xiv., 1882, p. 

 574; Samoafahrte/i, p. 281 ; Atlas, pi. iv.. figs. 6-10; also H. O. Forbes 

 in Haddon, 1894. 



