ETHNOGRAPHY OF BRITISH NEW GUINEA. 85 



esians light-coloured people, even as light as the true Poly- 

 nesians, are constantly met with, as are also individuals with 

 curly and occasionally straight hair. The features of the 

 former are coarser and they are often much more progna- 

 thous ; their skulls, too, are more generally dolichocephalic, 

 whereas among the Melanesians a great variety is found in 

 the cranial measurements, as Prof. Sergi has demonstrated. 

 Judging from my experience of the Western Papuans and 

 from numerous photographs I have seen, the Papuan men 

 usually sit with their legs crossed under them like a tailor, 

 whereas the Melanesians squat, like a Malay, usually with 

 their haunches just off the ground. I do not know whether 

 this rule holds good for the Papuans of the south-east 

 peninsula. 



The Western Papuans may or may not scarify their 

 skin as in Torres Straits (H addon, 1890, p. 366), Daudai 

 (Beardmore, pp. 460, 468) and up the Fly River (Mac- 

 gregor, C. A., 105, 1890, pp. 43-51), but they do not tattoo ; 

 the Melanesians tattoo themselves, especially the women. 

 Tattooing has, however, spread to a certain extent among 

 the Papuan hill tribes of the peninsula, the Koitapu women 

 appear to have thoroughly followed the fashion of their 

 Motu neighbours ; amongst the Koiari and other hill tribes 

 it occurs only occasionally. The V-shaped chest mark, 

 gado, occurs among the Motu and Loyalupu, but not east 

 of Keppel Bay. Among the two former the tattooing 

 lacks symmetry, but in Aroma curved lines become more 

 frequent and asymmetrical figures have a bilateral symmetry 

 with regard to the body. This subject was first dealt with 

 by W. Y. Turner, Lawes followed, but the most exhaustive 

 account is by Finsch (1885, Samoafahrten, and in Joest, 

 Die T'dtozvirtuig). 



The houses of the Gulf and Western Papuans are often 

 of great size and contain numerous families, and there ap- 

 pears to be more club-life among the men. The houses of 

 the Melanesians are smaller, each family possessing one. 

 Very characteristic of the Papuans are the houses which 

 are confined to the use of the men. The native name is eramo, 

 elamo or dtibu ; by the white men they are variously termed 



