98 THE PAPUANS: COMPARATIVE NOTES, ETC., 
women to attend to the rest while they hunt, fish, or build 
canoes. Asa whole I consider the Papuans a kindly disposed 
people, who dislike war and quarrelling, and love to live in 
peace and contentment. The only case which came under my 
notice of a man ill-treating a woman was at Teste Island, and 
this man was an elder of the congregation established there by 
the L. M. Society. 
The children are bright, trustful little begs who love to be 
made much of, and who seem to be capable of a high state of 
culture. 
Signor D‘Albertis invariably takes refuge from puzzling 
questions on the derivation of the by him so-called diversity of 
type under the shadow of the far reaching theory of inter- 
mixture of two or more races, and this leaves him always ~ 
stationary. No doubt intermixture has taken place in a few 
instances in the north-western portion of the island, but any 
such can be exsily traced. 
In the tribes about Port Darwin and Port Essington the 
Malay element is clearly traceable, although no prahus have 
visited the Australian coast for many years. 
It may be, therefore, that having noticed a crossing of races 
in the Arru and Ké Islands, and also at other points in the 
north-west, Signor D‘Albertis has unconsciously leaned towards 
this theory in making his observations. 
There can, I believe, be little doubt that the people inhabiting 
the southern end of New Guinea and the adjacent islands have 
for a very long period of time been isolated from other races. 
This leads me to the opinion that they are all of one race, and 
that what we call diversities of type (or aberrations from the 
typical Papuan) as recognised by the large aquiline nose, the 
immense mop of frizzly hair, and the dark-brown colour of the 
skin are in reality not variations but individual peculiarities 
belonging to tribes living at a great distance from each other. 
