76 NATIVES OF NORTH-WEST COAST. 



in its most restricted sig'nification. These Papuans, 

 according- to Dumont d'lJrville^* compose the prin- 

 cipal part of the population of Port DoreVj and, 

 judging- from his description, I have no hesitation 

 in referring- to them also the inhabitants of the 

 Louisiade Archipelag'o and the S.E. coast of New 

 Guinea, and ag-ree with Prichard (in opposition to the 

 views of others) that they ^^ constitute a g-enuine and 

 peculiar tribe."t 



Another variety among- the inhabitants of Port 

 Dorey, spoken of by M. d'Urville as the Harfours, 

 is supposed by him to include, along- with another 

 race of which little is known — named Arfaki — 

 the indig-enous inhabitants of the north-west part 

 of 'New Guinea. The Harfours, Haraforas, or 

 Alforas, for they have been thus variously named, 

 have often been described as inhabitino- the interior 

 of many of the larg-e islands of the Malayan 

 Archipelag'o, but, as Prichard remarks, ^'^ nothing- 

 can be more puzzling- than the contradictor}^ accounts 

 which are given of their physical characters and 

 manners. The only point of ag-reement between 

 different writers respecting* them is the cii'cum- 

 stance that all represent them as very low in civili- 

 zation and of fierce and sang-uinary habits."J Their 

 distinctness as a race has been denied with much 

 apparent reason by Mr. Earl, and they are con- 



* Voyage de I'Astrolabe, torn. iv. p. 603. 

 t Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, toI. v, 

 p. 227. X Ibid. p. 255. 



