xvin AUSTRALIANS 281 



pletely overlaid by the Polynesian, but there are probably few, 

 if any, of the islands of the Pacific in which it does not form 

 some factor in the composite character of the natives. 



The inhabitants of the continent of Australia have long 

 been a puzzle to ethnologists. Of Negroid complexion, features, 

 and skeletal characters, yet without the characteristic frizzly 

 hair, their position has been one of great difficulty to determine. 

 They have, in fact, been a stumbling-block in the way of every 

 system proposed. The solution, supported by many considera- 

 tions too lengthy to enter into here, appears to lie in the 

 supposition that they are not a distinct race at all that is, not 

 a homogeneous group formed by the gradual modification of 

 one of the primitive stocks, but rather a cross between two 

 already formed branches of these stocks. According to this 

 view, Australia was originally peopled with frizzly -haired 

 Melanesians, such as those who still do, or did before the 

 European invasion, dwell in the smaller islands which surround 

 the north, east, and southern portions of the continent, but 

 that a strong infusion of some other race, probably a low form 

 of Caucasian Melanochroi, such as that which still inhabits the 

 interior of the southern parts of India, has spread throughout 

 the land from the north-west, and produced a modification of 

 the physical characters, especially of the hair. This influence 

 did not extend across Bass's Straits into Tasmania, where, as 

 just said, the Melanesian element remained in its purity. It 

 is more strongly marked in the northern and central parts of 

 Australia than on many portions of the southern and western 

 coasts, where the lowness of type and more curly hair, some- 

 times closely approaching to frizzly, show a stronger retention 

 of the Melanesian element. If the evidence should prove 

 sufficiently strong to establish this view of the origin of the 

 Australian natives, it will no longer be correct to speak of a 

 primitive Australian, or even Australoid, race or type, or look 

 for traces of the former existence of such a race anywhere out 

 of their own land. Absolute proof of the origin of any race 

 is, however, very difficult, if not impossible to obtain, and I 

 know nothing to exclude the possibility of the Australians 

 being mainly the direct descendants of a very primitive 

 human type, from which the frizzly-haired Negroes may be 



