CHAPTER II. 



NEW GUINEA, BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO, ADMIRALTY ISLANDS, SOLOMON 

 ISLANDS, NEW HEBRIDES, NEW CALEDONIA, AND NEW ZEALAND. 



WE now return to the region of Melanesia, which includes all the islands from New Guinea 

 in the west to Fiji in the east, a region inhabited by the black Papuan race hence the 

 name (Greek melas, black) and will describe the people of New Guinea, the Bismarck 

 Archipelago, the Admiralty Islands, the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides, and New Caledonia. 

 The people whose manners and customs we are about to describe all have frizzly hair, as 

 the reader will see on inspecting their portraits. It is one of their prevailing characteristics, 

 and the whole head of hair has much the appearance of a mop. Hence the Malays gave 

 them the name papuivah (frizzled); and so we call them Papuan (pronounced Pa-poo-an). 

 Travelling eastwards from New Guinea, we pass the islands of Melanesia in the following 

 order: the Admiralty Islands, New Britain (New Pomerania), and New Ireland (New Meckleu- 

 berg), the t\vo latter having received from the Germans the names given in brackets, 

 and being known to them as the Bismarck Archipelago. Proceeding, we meet with the 

 Solomon Islands, the Santa Cruz (or Queen Charlotte) group, the New Hebrides, the French 

 settlements of New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, and, lastly, the Fiji group, whose 

 inhabitants we have already described. (See the map on pages vi, vii.) 



NEW GUINEA. 



THE people of New Guinea have been known 

 as Papuans ever since Europeans came to 

 the island, some three hundred years ago, 

 or more. The race, like most others, appears 

 to be somewhat mixed; the purest part of 

 it is in the north-west of the island, but 

 there is probably no other indigenous race 

 in New Guinea, unless we consider the 

 Karons to be Negritos (little Negroes), a 

 very primitive people of smaller stature, 

 and generally of a very low type, such as 

 is found in the Andaman Islands, the Malay 

 Peninsula, and the Philippines. Papuans 

 differ among themselves, although, as Pro- 

 fessor Keane says, "they are one of the 

 most strikingly distinct types of mankind." 

 On account of their differences, some 

 authorities refuse to regard them as a distinct 

 race. However, this much is quite certain: 

 that Papuans are very different from their 



Photo by Kev. W. if. Lawts, New Guima. 



THREE NEW GUIXEA GIRLS. 



