APPENDIX B 309 



have reacted on the physical characters of the natives 

 (about which, however, we have extremely little precise 

 information), we have now sufficient evidence to prove 

 that the indigenous or true Papuan population has been 

 modified in places by intrusions from elsewhere, and of 

 late years data have been accumulating which point to 

 the existence of a pygmy population. Shortly before his 

 death, Dr. Meyer drew my attention to a more recent 

 statement of his views, in which he says, "Although I 

 formerly stated (Negritos, p. 87) that the question 

 whether the Papuans, i.e. the inhabitants of New Guinea, - 

 are a uniform race wdth a wide range of variation or a 

 mixed race is not yet ripe for pronouncement, I am now 

 more inclined, after Mr. Ray's discovery of the Papuan 

 Hnguistic family, to look upon them as a mixed race of 

 j^ * Negritos ' and Malays in the wider sense. I am eagerly 

 looking forward to the exploration of the interior of that 

 great island, for may it not be possible there to discover 

 the Negrito element in that old and more constant form 

 in which it persists in the Philippines, Andamans, and in 

 Malakka." (Globus, xciv., 1908, p. 192.) This later 

 view appears to me to be less tenable than his earher 

 one, as it is difficult to see how a mixture of pygmy, 

 woolly-haired brachycephals with short, straight-haired 

 brachycephals (Malays) could give rise to the taller, 

 woolly-haired dolichocephalic Papuans. 



The racial history of New Guinea has proved to be 

 unexpectedly complicated. We are now justified in 

 recognising at least two indigenous elements, the Negrito 

 and Papuan ; the effect of the island populations to the 

 east has not yet been determined, but in the south-west 

 two immigrations at least from Melanesia have taken 

 place, which, with Seligmann, we may term Papuo- 

 Melanesian. (Journ. R. Anth. Inst., XXXIX. 1909, 

 pp. 246, 315 ; and The Melanesians 0/ Brit. New Guinea, 

 1910.) It is, however, almost certain that future 



