Psychology of Eaces. 439 



whether he was over or ifuder paid. These little moral traits 

 are of the greatest interest when taken in connection with 

 physical features. They do not admit of the same ready ex- 

 planation by external causes w^hich is so frequently applied 

 to the latter. Writers on the races of mankind have too oft- 

 en to trust to the information of travellers who pass rapidly 

 from country to country, and thus have few opportunities of 

 becoming acquainted with peculiarities of national character 

 or even of ascertaining what is really the average physical 

 conformation of the peoj^le. Such are exceedingly apt to be 

 deceived in places where two races have long intermingled, 

 by looking on intermediate forms and mixed habits as evi- 

 dences of a natural transition from one race to the other, in- 

 stead of an artificial mixture of two distinct peoples ; and 

 they will be the more readily led into this error if, as in the 

 jiresent case, writers on the subject should have been in the 

 liabit of classing these races as mere varieties of one stock, 

 as closely related in physical conformation as from their geo- 

 graphical proximity one might suppose they ought to be. 

 So far as I have yet seen, the Malay and Papuan appear to 

 be as widely separated as any two human races that exist, 

 being distinguished by physical, mental, and moral character- 

 istics, all of the most marked and striking kind. 



Feb. bth. — I took advantage of a very fine calm day to pay 

 a visit to the island of Wokan, which is about a mile from us 

 and forms part of the " tanna busar," or main-land of Aru. 

 This is a large island, extending from north to south about a 

 hundred miles, but so low in many parts as to be intersected 

 by several creeks, which run completely through it, ofiering 

 a passage for good-sized vessels. On the west side, where 

 we are, there are only a few outlying islands, of which ours 

 (Wamn>a) is the principal ; but on the east coast are a great 

 number of islands, extending some miles beyond the main- 

 land, and forming the " blakang tana," or " back country," of 

 the traders, being the principal seat of the pearl, tripang, and 

 tortoise-shell fisheries. To the main-land many of the birds 

 and animals of the country are altogether confined ; the birds 

 of paradise, the black cockatoo, the great brush-turkey, and 

 the cassowary, are none of them found on Wamma or any of 

 the detached islands. I did not, however, expect in this ex- 



