18 ' WHERE TO FIND THE BIRDS OF PARADISE. 



dangers that he would meet with are too great. 

 The natives, in many places, are fierce and cunning, 

 and would kill him with their spears or weapons ; 

 and yet without their aid he could not make his 

 way through the forest depths, let him try as he 

 might. 



Do you see the great island of New Guinea ? 

 It is one of the largest islands in the world. 

 The traveller might sail round its shores for 

 weeks, and fancy he had reached a continent. A 

 portion of the island is yet unknown, and no 

 white man has set his foot there. 



The people who inhabit New Guinea are called 

 Papuans. Their skin is black, but has not the 

 deep jet of the Negro. Their hair is very peculiar, 

 and the fashion in which they wear it is just 

 as curious. 



When the Papuan is young, his hair grows . in 

 little tufts or curls all over his head, and is very 

 dry and frizzly. By degrees it becomes a kind of 

 frizzly mop, and when it has reached this state it 

 is considered to be the height of fashion. 



The Papuan takes the utmost pains with his 



