82 JUNCTION OF AUSTRALIAN 



tralians : I nm now, however^ fully convinced that 

 they afford an example of an Australian tribe so 

 altered by contact with the Papuan tribes of the 

 adjacent islands as at leng-th to resemble the latter 

 in most of their ph^^sical^ intellectual and moral 

 characteristics. Thus the Kowrareg-as have acquired 

 from their island neig-hbours the art of cultivating" the 

 g-round^ and their superior dexterity in constructing- 

 and navio-atino- larg'e canoes, too-ether with some 

 customs — such as that of preserving" the skulls of 

 their enemies as trophies : while they retain the use 

 of the spear and throwing- sticky practise certain 

 m^^sterious ceremonies connected with the initiation 

 of boys to the rig-hts of manhood — supposed to be 

 peculiar to the Australian race— and hold the 

 females in the same low and deg-raded position 

 which they occupy throug-hout Australia. 



That the Kowrareg-as settled the Prince of Wales 

 Islands either prior to or nearly simultaneously with 

 the spreading- downwards from New Guinea of the 

 Papuans of the islands^ scarcely admits of absolute 

 proof: but that the former have existed as a tribe 

 for a long" period of years is shewn by the chang"es 

 which I presume to have taken place in their lan- 

 g"uag"e. While this last unquestionably belong-s to 

 the Australian class^ as clearly indicated by Dr. 

 Latham's analysis of the pronouns^* one of the 

 characteristic parts of the lang-uag-e^ and^ therefore^ 

 least hable to chang-e^ jet the occurrence in the 

 Kowrareg-a of a considerable number of words re- 

 * See the Appendix. 



