454 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



nearest the eastern end of the island, to be more dis- 

 tinctly Polynesian in character than those inland and 

 towards the west. 



Returning now to the dark Papuan tribes of the remain- 

 der of New Guinea, we find that here also there is some 

 difference of opinion. Owing to the coast tribes being 

 usually at war with those of the interior, these latter have 

 been described by them as a different race, and have been 

 called by the Dutch and other writers Alfuros ^ or Hara- 

 furas, a term applied to any wild people living in the in- 

 terior of a country, as opposed to the coast tribes. This 

 has led many writers to class the natives of New Guinea 

 into Papuans and Harafuras, terms which are still some- 

 times used, but which are quite erroneous as implying any 

 physical difference or any distinction of race. Dr. Meyer, 

 who has seen much of the people of the north-west coast, 

 considers that there is no difference of the slightest im- 

 portance between the coast and inland tribes, but such as 

 occur in every race. Dr. Miklucho Maclay concludes that 

 the Papuan stock consists of numerous varieties, with no 

 sharp lines of demarcation. Dr. Beccari, however, differs 

 somewhat from the preceding writers ; and as he explored 

 a great range of country, and made repeated visits to the 

 western half of New Guinea, his opinion is entitled to 

 great weight. He thinks there are three distinct types of 

 Papuans. One is dwarfish, with short woolly hair, skin 

 almost or quite black, nose much depressed, forehead ex- 

 tremel}^ narrow and slanting, and with a brachycephalous 

 cranium; these he terms Oriental Negroes or Primitive 

 Papuans. They do not now exist as a race, but are scat- 

 tered among the interior tribes, and their description ac- 

 cords very closely with that of the Negritos of the 

 Philippines and the Semangs of the Malay Peninsula. The 

 next are the typical Papuans, who are most widely spread, 

 and present most of the characteristic features we have 

 already described. The last are the Mafu or Mafor Papuans 

 who inhabit Dorey and the shores and islands of Geelvink 



^ The term is derived from the Portuguese "fora," out or outside; 

 Alfores being applied to tribes out of or beyond the settlement on the 

 coast (Windsor Earl's Papuans, p. 62), 



