458 A NATUKALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



was invariably used to express refusal of proffered barter, or 

 that a native had not got some article asked for. It is capable 

 of various modifications. The quick decided negative is given 

 by a smart quick stroke on the nose. In the doubtful, hesitat- 

 ing negative, the finger dwells on its way, and is rubbed slowly 

 across the nose. 



The men average about 5 feet 5 inches in height, and the 

 women about 5 feet 1. They contrast at once with the Papuans 

 of Humboldt Bay, in being far thinner and lankier. Three 

 men who were weighed, averaged only nine stone (137 lbs.) in 

 weight. I saw but one native that was at all fleshy, although 

 such were not uncommon at Humboldt Bay. Food is perhaps 

 not so abundant here as on the New Guinea coast, and the 

 natives have not, like the Papuans, the advantage of bows and 

 arrows to kill game with. 



The usual colour of the natives is a black-brown, often very 

 dark, and darker than that of the Papuans of Humboldt Bay. 

 The young girls and young boys appear much lighter as a rule 

 than the adults. Some one or two of the young women were 

 of a quite light yellowish-brown, as was also one young man, 

 who came from a distance to the ship to trade. No doubt there 

 is a mixture of blood, and the light coloured natives observed, 

 belonged to the light coloured race described by Jacobs as 

 inhabiting the eastern part of the main island and as constantly 

 made war upon by the dominant black race.* 



The hair of the head, which is worn long only by the younger 

 adult males, formed in them a dense mop, projecting in all direc- 

 tions 6 to 8 inches from the head. It appeared less luxuriant in 

 growth than that of the Papuans of Humboldt Bay. The hair is 

 crisp, glossy, and extremely elastic, and every hair rolls itself up 

 into a spiral of small diameter. 



In general appearance thus it is fine curly, like that of 

 Fijians. On comparing it with a very small sample of hair 

 of the natives of Humboldt Bay taken from several native 

 combs, the Papuan hair proves to be somewhat coarser, but 

 in other respects the two hairs are closely alike, the diameters 

 of the spirals of the curls being the same. Some hair from a 



* Jacobs, I.e., p. 17fi. 



