BY WILLIAM E. ARMITT, F.L.S., F.R.G.S. 101 
mop of very finely frizzled chestnut hair, whereas, her brother’s 
was smooth and curly.* Her eyes were very large, round, 
liquid, and dark-brown. His were oval, smaller, and blueish- 
grey. 
At Moresby Island I knew a white Papuan, “ Bailalla” by 
name, who had served in an American schooner for five years. 
He had visited Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Hobart. He 
knew most of the Island groups in the south seas by name, spoke 
English remarkably well, and was a very shrewd, intelligent 
fellow. In colour he was more like a Chinaman thana European. 
His hair was coarsely frizzled, very long and well-kempt, and of 
a rich golden yellow. His nose was large, bent slightly; the 
septum thick and fleshy; the ale not very broad, owing to the 
fact that he seldom wore the heavy nose-stick of Tridacna shell; 
the nostrils large, oval, and slanting; body hair and beard 
wanting through depilation. His wife was also very light 
colored, her hair being finely frizzled. They had three children, 
two of whom were quite dark-brown and in nowise distinguish- 
able from the usual dark type; the third and youngest, a boy, 
was lighter than either of his parents, and would have passed for 
a white child if properly dressed. His hair was quite smooth, and 
curled quite naturally. No lime or other extraneous substances 
were used by these people for anointing the hair, cocoa- 
nut milk being the only dressing applied to it. I could 
quote other equally striking cases which came under my 
observation in §.E. New Guinea or the adjacent islands, 
but I think the above will suffice to prove that so-called 
‘white Papuans are in nowise distinct from their darker neigh- 
*In every case which came under my notice the base of the hair 
in light coloured or white Papuans was invariably dark-brown or black. 
In the case of two half-bloods, both girls, at Port Moresby and Bentley 
Island respectively, their fathers being Europeans, the color of the hair 
was very fair and constant to the very base, not bi-coloured as in the 
white Papuans. Their eyes also differed, being grey and blue 
respectively. 
