304 BIMANA. 



Archipelago ; but are to be regarded as a wave of population, which, spread- 

 ing over the northern coast of New Guinea, then over New Britain, New 

 Ireland, the Bouka Isles, the Admiralty Isles, those of Solomon, of Santa 

 Cruz, the New Hebrides, and New Caledonia, and thence over Van 

 Diemen's Land, failed to reach the remoter islands of the Pacific, which 

 had already received a tide of population from another source. The true 

 Madecasses, or, as Lesson terms them, Cafro-Madecasses, are allied to this 

 race, as their physical characters, traditions, habits, and language, according 

 to the same author, sufficiently prove. Their figure is handsome, the 

 form displaying great vigour, conjoined with activity ; and many of the 

 men are of fine stature. " Their hair," he observes, " is moderately woolly, 

 and tied over the occiput in great ringlets ; their skin is dark brown, mixed 

 with yellow ; their noses are slightly flattened ; their mouths large ; and the 

 whole of their countenances and regular features would represent the 

 portrait of a Papou of Dorery, of Beraae, of New Britain, New Ireland, 

 or of Bouka. The hair of all these people is, in general, very crisp and stiff, 

 and, at the same time, very thick. Some tribes of New Guinea, Waigou, 

 and of Bouka, give it the frizzled out, and singular form which is the charac- 

 teristic of the Papous : but others, as those of Bony, in New Guinea, of 

 New Britain, and New Ireland, let it fall upon their shoulders in long and 

 floating ringlets. The Papous go quite naked, and ornament their shoulders 

 and breasts with incisions, ranged in curved or straight lines. This custom, 

 which distinguishes many tribes in the interior of Africa, is practised by all 

 the natives of Madagascar, as well as by the black races in the western 

 parts of the Pacific, in Van Diemen's Land, and in New Holland. The 

 Papous are in the habit of covering their heads with the dust of ochre, 

 mixed with grease, which reddens their hair and their whole countenance : 

 they wear abundance of feathers on their heads ; and ornaments of shells, 

 as well in their girdles as on their arms. A custom, exclusively peculiar 

 to this race, is the wearing of bracelets, dazzlingly white, artfully made 

 and polished, which they, probably, fashion from the large extremity of the 

 great conchs found in the neighbouring seas." With regard to the Papous 

 of New Guinea, the same traveller states, that the woolly-haired race, 

 spread over its northern parts, distinguish themselves by the respective 

 terms, Arfaki, or mountaineers, and Papuas, or people of the sea-shore : 

 the latter live in scattered tribes and insulated villages, and in a continual 

 state of dissension and hostility. Their villages, built upon piles, by the 

 water's edge, consist of a few huts : authority is entrusted to the aged chiefs. 

 The stature of these people is generally of the moderate height j but there 

 are among them tall and robust men : their limbs are well proportioned, 

 and their figure is often athletic : the colour of their skin is black, 

 mixed with a small proportion of yellow, which imparts to it a clear tint 

 of various gradations : their hair is black, very thick, and moderately 



