PROGNATHOUS STOCK. 309 



With regard to the crania ot the Papuan, Alfourou, and Oceanic 

 people, Lesson has made some very interesting observations ; but the crania 

 of the Papuans described, are not those of the pure race of New Guinea, 

 but of the Malayo-Papuans of Waigou and other islands ; and it is of 

 this mixed race that some skulls are figured in the atlas to the voyage of 

 M. Freycinet. 



" The skull of the hybrid Papuan," says M. Lesson, " is remarkable 

 for a considerable flattening at its posterior part, which forms a square 

 surface, with the angles rounded. This conformation does not make the 

 occipito-frontal diameter (that is, the diameter from the occiput to the 

 forehead) much smaller, comparatively, than it is in the heads of Eu- 

 ropeans, Alfourous, and the Negroes of Mozambique ; the bi-parietal 

 diameter (the admeasurement from side to side), on the contrary, is 

 much larger, owing to the more considerable development of the con- 

 vexity of the parietal bones ; the coronal, though a little larger than that 



226 



of a European, does not present differences so decided as to admit of 

 description ; the face is likewise larger, in consequence of the great trans- 

 verse diameter of the orbital cavities, and of a slight flattening of the 

 bridge of the nose ; the nasal orifice is, in every respect, like that of a 

 European ; but the distance from them astoid apophysis of one side, to 



curled appearance often seen in the hair of European races. Many of the females wore the front 

 teeth of the Kangaroo, as ornaments attached to the hair, and esteemed them for that purpose. The 

 native weapons are clubs, spears," the bomerang, and shields; which latter have rude ornaments, 

 carved with the incisor tooth of a Kangaroo, upon them." 



