^ '■^' 



CHAPTER^IX 



The Papuans of Wakatimi — Colour — Hair — Eyes — Nose — Tattooing — 

 Height — Dress — Widows' Bonnets — Growth of Children — Pre- 

 ponderance of Men — Number of Wives — Childhood — Sivimming and 

 other Games — Imitativeness of Children — The Search for Food — 

 Women as Workers — Fishing Nets — Other Methods of Fishing — An 

 Extract from Dam pier. 



The Papuans of the Mimika district may be divided ^ 

 into two classes or tribes : those who Hve in the c^u^^o-'^ 

 villages on the lower waters of the river and make ^^u<^ 

 periodical migrations to the sea ; and those who live ^^^,'^, <x 

 on the upper waters of the river near the foot of the 

 mountains and who never go down to the coast. 

 There is a wide interval of uninhabitable country 

 between the regions occupied by these two tribes, and 

 communication between them, if it takes place at all, 

 is very rare ; but they resemble each other so closely, 

 both in physical characters and in their manners and 

 customs, that a single description will suffice for both.* 

 The other native race of the district, the pygmy people 

 who live in the mountains, will be described in a later 

 chapter. 



The skin of the Mimika native is a very dark brown, 

 almost rusty black, but a dark colour without any of 



* The number of individuals examined was not very great and 

 the difference in their measurements are so insignificant, that they 

 may be considered all to belong to one race. 



