450 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



neither making bows nor (except rarely) pottery, and 

 practising true tattooing by punctures — all distinctly 

 Polynesian characteristics. When to this we add that 

 their language contains a large Polynesian element, it is 

 not surprising that these people have been described as a 

 totally distinct race, and have been termed Malays or 

 Malayo-Polynesians. We fortunately possess several in- 

 dependent accounts of these tribes, and are thus able to 

 form a tolerably good idea of their true characters. 



Captain Moresby, speaking of the inhabitants of that 

 large portion of the eastern peninsula of New Guinea 

 discovered and surveyed by him, says : — 



' ' This race is distinctly Malayan ; but differs from the pure 

 Malay, being smaller in stature, coarser in feature, thicker lipped, 

 with less hair on the face, being in fact almost beardless. The hair 

 on the head is also onore frizzled, though this may result from a 

 different dressing. These men have high cheek-bones like the pure 

 Malay ; their noses are inclined to be aquiline and sometimes very 

 well formed. Amongst them are met many men with light hair, 

 and what struck us as a peculiarly Jewish cast of features. They 

 rise to a height of from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 8 inches, are sinewy 

 though not muscular, slight , graceful, and cat-like in the pliability of 

 their bodies."^ 



This description clearly shows that by " Malay " Captain 

 Moresby means " Polynesian," the characters mentioned 

 being in almost every respect directly the opposite of those 

 of the true Malays, as indicated by the words and phrases 

 here placed in italics. And even as compared with the 

 typical brown Polynesian, the frizzled hair, aquiline noses, 

 and Jewish cast of features, are all Papuan characteristics. 



Mr. Octavius C. Stone described the Motu tribe who 

 inhabit the coast districts about Redscar Bay and Port 

 Moresby as somewhat shorter than the Papuans to the 

 westward, and of a colour varying from light brown to 

 chocolate. The hair varies from nearly straight to woolly, 

 often being frizzled out like that of the typical Papuan. 

 The hair on the face is artificially eradicated, and they are 

 thus made to appear beardless. The nose is aquiline and 

 thick, and in a small percentage of the men the Jewish 



^ Journal of tha Koyal Geographical Society, vol. xlv. p. 163. 



