VARIETIES OF THE PAPUAN RACE. 77 



sidered b}^ Pricliard to be merely various tribes of 

 the Malayo-Polyiiesian race retaining* their unci- 

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

 these Harfours D'Urville states, that they reminded 

 him of the ordinary type of the Austrahans, New 

 Caledonians, and the black race of Oceania, from 

 their sooty colom*, 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 River, and the other g-reat fresh- 

 water channels. Judging* from the little that was seen 

 of them during* the vo3''ag*e of the Fl}^, 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 

 Archipelago. Their characteristics have already been 

 given in this work, as seen at intermediate points be- 

 tween Cape Possession and Coral Haven * they ag-ree 

 in being* a lig*hter coloured people than the preceding*, 



