VARIETIES OF THE PAPUAN RACE. 77 



sidered by Prichard to be merely various tribes of 

 the Malay o-Polynesiaa race retaining* tlieii' unci- 

 vilized and primitive state. Be this as it may^ of 

 these Harfours D'Urville states, that they reminded 

 him of the ordinary type of the Australians, New 

 Caledonians, and the black race of Oceania, from 

 their sooty colour, coarse but not woolly hair, thick 

 beards, and habit of scarifying the body. I men- 

 tion these Harfours for the purpose of stating* that 

 no people answering' to the description of them g-iven 

 above were seen by us in New Guinea or the 

 Louisiade Archipelag'o. 



It appears to me that there are two distinct va- 

 rieties of the Papuan race inhabiting* the south-east 

 portion of New Guinea. The first occupies the 

 western shores of the Great Big-ht, and probably ex- 

 tends over the whole of the adjacent country", along* 

 the banks of Aird Biver, and the other g*reat fresh- 

 water channels. Judging* from the little that was seen 

 of them during* the voyag*e of the Fly, these people 

 appear to ag*ree with the Torres Strait Islanders — 

 an oftshoot, there is reason to believe, of the same 

 stock — in being* a dark and savag*e race, the males 

 of which g*o entirely naked. 



The second variety occupies the remainder of the 

 south-east coast of New Guinea and the Louisiade 

 Archipelag'o. Their characteristics have already been 

 g-iven in this work, as seen at intermediate points be- 

 tween Cape Possession and Coral Haven * they ag*ree 

 in l)eing* a lig'hter coloured people than the preceding*^ 



