34 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



Both clubs and spears are elaborately carved; they also 

 carve their earrings, combs, necklaces, bracelets, and musical 

 instruments, as well as canoes. Many of the men, when 

 Mr. Duffield saw them, bore deep scars on the forehead or 

 the thigh, the result of recent fighting. No one can see the 

 collection of their masks, weapons, etc., in the British Museum 

 Ethnological Gallery, without perceiving that they have the 

 artistic faculty well developed. 



Mr. Duffield says that, on first making their acquaint- 

 ance, the natives proceeded to help themselves to evervthing 

 he showed them which took their fancy. On seeing a watch, 

 ^^^^^^^^^^ they showed 110 emotion; but the sight of a common screw, 

 when they saw it enter two pieces of wood and hold them 

 together, produced screams of joyous appreciation. For brass 

 screws they were willing to part with their most valued 

 possessions. The mechanism of a large clasp-knife puzzled 

 iKigHflfl them, but a iile or a saw they readily understood. To a 



painted landscape they showed marked repugnance, but the 

 coloured photograph of a fair woman riveted their silent 

 attention. When Mr. Duffield showed them a looking-glass, 

 some were scared for a few seconds, but presently broke out 

 into a hearty laugh at recognising their own faces. Others 



were struck with fear, as if they had seen a ghost. They were much pleased when their 

 visitor demonstrated the reflecting power of the glass by flashing sun-light about. But their 

 attention appeared to be chiefly occupied with scheming how to get possession of the things 

 which they most fancied. Some few articles were stolen, but readily given up on demand. 



Fi-om hi. A. li. Mtyer'n 

 .c Typen." 



A NEW IRELAND MAIDEN. 



ADMIRALTY ISLANDS. 



BEFORE leaving the Bismarck Archipelago, we must say a few words about the people of the 

 small group known as the Admiralty Islands. It was first visited by Carteret in 1767, but his 

 party were attacked by the natives and did not land. The first Europeans who landed were 

 those on board the famous scientific exploring ship H.M.S. Challenger in 1875. The inhabitants 

 are mop-headed Papuans of the usual type, fond of ornament and clever at carving wood. 

 They make lovely ornaments of tortoise-shell, carved and cemented on tridacna shells. Metal, 

 fermented drinks, and tobacco were all unknown to them. They do not appear to be so nearly 

 related to the people of New Guinea as we might expect, and probably emigrants came in a 

 long time ago from the north and cast. The average height of a man is 5 feet 5 inches, 

 and of a woman 5 feet 1 inch. They are thinner and more lanky than the people of New 

 Guinea. Their colour is a blackish brown, but youths and girls are lighter, sometimes light 

 yellowish brown. The hair is crisp, glossy, and curled in spirals, and there is a good deal of 

 hair on the arms and legs. The forehead is flat, with overhanging brows; nose short, with 

 flattened tip, and the septum perforated for the suspension of an ornament. The ear-lobes 

 are dragged down by ornaments. 



The men wear ornaments much more than the women, who rarely do so. Those for the 

 ear or the -nose are made of crocodiles' teeth; earrings of tortoise-shell are also worn. Waist- 

 belts and armlets are made of fine plaited work, with black and yellow patterns. Round 

 the neck and hanging down the back are carried charms, consisting of human arm-bones (the 

 humerus) bound up with eagles' feathers. Adult males have large scars dotted about the 

 n;>ck and shoulders, which sometimes are continued down the back, in two oblique lines, from 

 the shoulders down to the waist. They are seldom tattooed, but the women always are. 

 The tattoo is of a dark blue colour, and consists 'of short lines forming rings round the eyes 



