XX NEW GUINEA AND ITS INHABITANTS 451 



type of features appears. The adjacent tribes differ 

 somewhat. The Koiari, Ilema, and Maiva are generally 

 darker in colour ; while the Kirapuno are lighter. These 

 last live near Hood Point, and are the handsomest people 

 in New Guinea. Their hair is of a rich auburn, often 

 golden in the children, growing in curls or ringlets. It is 

 this tribe that keep their villages in such excellent order, 

 with well-kept gardens in which they even cultivate 

 flowers. Mr. Lawes says : " we were all amazed at the 

 cleanliness, order, and industry, which everywhere declared 

 themselves in this model New Guinea village. The men 

 are physically very fine and the women good-looking. 

 One of the belles of the place had no less than fifty- four 

 tortoise-shell earrings in her two ears, and her nose pierced 

 too."i 



Speaking of all these tribes as forming essentially one 

 race, Mr. Stone says, that they are a merry laughter-loving 

 people, fond of talking, and loving a joke, hot of temper, 

 ■ and quick to resent a supposed inj ury — all of which are 

 Polynesian or Papuan as opposed to Malayan characteris- 

 tics. They are clean in their habits, and particularly so in 

 their eating. When allowed liberties they do not fail to 

 take advantage ; and, at Port Moresby in particular, they 

 are accomplished thieves, inveterate liars, confirmed 

 beggars, and ungenerous to a degree, so that, even if 

 starving, they would give you nothing without an equiva- 

 lent. This condemnation, however, does not apply to the 

 interior tribes who have not yet been demoralized by 

 European visitors. Both sexes are vain of their outward 

 appearance, oiling their bodies, and adorning themselves 

 with shells, feather and bone ornaments ; and on all festive 

 occasions each tries to outvie the other in his or her toilet. 

 Their dress is like that of the Papuans, a T bandage for 

 the men, a fringe of leaves for the women, but the latter 

 are more carefully made than among the more savage tribes. 

 They practise true tattooing, the women especially being 

 often highly ornamented with complex patterns on the body 

 and limbs, and occasionally on the face also, but wanting 

 the elegant curves and graceful designs which characterize 



^ Journal kept by Mr. Lawes, Times, November 27, 1876. 



G G 2 



