POWERS OF VISION. 121 



tair is worn in the woolly style, is short like that of the African 

 Negro, and its surface has often a peculiar appearance from the 

 hairs arranging themselves in little knobs. I believe that these 

 bushmeu, and at the present time I am recalling to my mind those 

 of the interior of Bougainville, have naturally shorter hair than 

 those of the coast, and that the peculiar character of the hair just 

 described is a permanent one.^ These bushmen probably represent 

 the original Negrito stock of these islands, which, at the coast, often 

 loses many of its characters on account of the intermingling with 

 Eastern Pol3'nesian and Malayan intruders. 



With the object of testing the powers of vision possessed by the 

 natives of these islands, I examined the sight of twenty-two indivi- 

 duals who were in all cases either young adults or of an age not 

 much beyond thirty. For this purpose I employed the square test- 

 dots which are used in examining the sight of recruits for the 

 British army, and I obtained the following results. Two natives 

 could distinguish the dots clearly at 70 feet, one at 67 feet, two at 

 65 feet, three at 62 feet, four at 60 feet, two at 55 feet, three at 52 

 feet, four at 50 feet, and one at 35 feet. I roughly placed the 

 averao-e distance at which a native could count the dots at about 

 00 feet, which is a little beyond the standard distance for testing 

 the normal vision of recruits, viz., 57 feet ; but I laid no stress on 

 this difference, and briefly noted in my journal that these natives 

 possessed the normal powers of vision. The quickness of the 

 natives in perceiving distant objects, such as ships at sea, was a 

 matter of daily observation to us ; and I was often much surprised 

 by their facilit}' in picking out pigeons and opossums, which were 

 almost concealed in the dense foliage of the trees some 60 or 70 feet 

 overhead. I was therefore impressed with the greater discriminat- 

 ing power possessed by these savages ; but the results of my 

 observations on their far-seeing powers were not such as would 

 justify the conclusion that they excelled us very greatly in this 

 respect. 



Having read an interesting correspondence in " Nature " during 

 February and March, 1885, on the subject of " civilisation and eye- 

 sio-ht," I forwarded the results of mv observations to that journal 

 (vide, April 2nd). A fortnight afterwards there appeared a com- 

 munication from Mr. Charles Roberts, in which he added greatly to 



1 Mr. Earl, who well describes this knobby appearance of the surface of the hair of some 

 Papuan tribes, also believes that these tribes may sometimes have naturally short hair. 

 {"Papuans," p. 2.) 



