IN RELATION TO THE FORM OF TIIE HUMAN SKULL. 261 



them; but the children thus taken are well treated and restored for a 

 ransom. The trade in slaves is general, though these are well treated. 

 Of the manner in which crimes are punished, we have the following 

 particulars: The incendiary becomes the slave of the injured party 

 with all his family. The man who intentionally wounds another is 

 fined the price of a slave. The thief is condemned to restore what is 

 taken and something in addition. All waste committed in a fruit 

 grove or plantation must be repaired. The sin against the sixth com- 

 mandment is punished with death, or in case the injury admits of repa- 

 ration, still with severe punishment. The man who does violence to 

 a woman is bound to espouse her and pay to her parents the ordinary 

 value of ten slaves. When illicit association occurs, the woman is 

 exempt from punishment, and if not married is free from all dishonor. 

 Everything is here estimated according to the standard value of a 

 slave. 



The majority of the Papuans of Dori are idolaters; a small number 

 are Mahometans, with priests from the islands of Ceram and Tidore. 

 The idol of the Pagans, called Karioar, is rudely sculptured in wood, 

 about eighteen inches high, deformed, having a large head with pointed 

 nose and wide mouth, well furnished with teeth. Its body is usually 

 clad in a piece of calico, and its head covered with a handkerchief. 

 Every house has its idol, which must be present on all important oc- 

 casions and is consulted as an oracle. These Papuans have also 

 fetiches, most frequently images of serpents and lizards, suspended 

 from the roof or carved on the posts of the doors. They have a kind 

 of priests, avIio are also their physicians and sorcerers. Their houses 

 are built on posts in the lakes, with plank walls. According to the 

 drawing given us by M. Earl in the paper w r e are following, these 

 houses resemble large shallops with openings like port-holes; the inte- 

 rior divisions are formed by mats, and the floor by rude planks tied 

 together. 



These Papuans work in iron and other metals, and in some sort 

 devote themselves to agriculture, or rather, to speak more exactly, to 

 the culture of legumes; but the training of domestic animals is un- 

 known to them. The chase and fishing constitute the principal occu- 

 pation of the men, the women being employed in the w T ork of the 

 household; both in the chase and in war they use bows and arrows, 

 but do not poison the latter. Even the fish are taken with arrows 

 and with lances, and sometimes also with nets. 



The Papuans passing much of their time on the sea, the canoe 

 forms an important part of their riches. They have small canoes for 

 children, larger ones for daily use, requiring two rowers, and others 

 still larger, for twenty rowers. Each of these skiffs is formed from 

 the trunk of a tree; those of larger size having a mast and mat sail. 

 Such frail barks being unequal to long voyages, the commerce of these 

 coasts is in the hands of strangers, especially of the Chinese. The 

 government of Holland founded, in 1852, a factory at Port Humboldt, 

 on the northern coast of New Guinea, which authorizes us to hope for 

 more exact information respecting the inhabitants of the interior. 



I have allowed myself to enter into somewhat circumstantial details 



