October 20, 1910J 



NATURE 



A99 



architecture, and the one supreme concern of the 

 town-planner, invention has done less than in any 

 department of material civihsation. Only in the 

 matter of artificial litjhting, and in sanitation, if in 

 that, is the average liouse of to-day superior to the 

 average house of two thousand years ago. In the 

 matters of hot-water supply and plumber's work 

 generally, of coolving' apparatus, cleaning arrange- 

 ments, heating, and ventilation, the modern house is 

 a disgrace to a scientific age. What has been done 

 for centuries towards the improvement of door and 

 window mechanism? Even the e.vternal material of 

 houses is the same as was used five or six thousand 

 years ago, and is no more damp-proof now than it 

 was then. 



Take care of the houses and the town will take care 

 of itself. Here is a work, of vital importance for the 

 welfare of the race, which may well be the first care 

 of those who apply the -Act. 



A. E. Crawley. 



THE MELAKESI.ISS OF BRITISH NEW 

 GVINEA.'- 

 T N this volume is presented for the first time an 

 ■*■ adequate account of the sociology of a portion of 

 the people of British New Guinea. The material 

 which it embodies was collected during two visits of 

 the author to New Guinea, and he has been ably 

 assisted by various members of the Government and 

 of the missions resident in tlie island. The book is 

 a conspicuous example of what mav be achieved by 

 expert inquiry combined with local knowledge. 



Dr. Seligmann uses the term Papuasian to signify 

 all the inhabitants of New Guinea and the adjacent 

 archipelagoes. These form two distinct groups. For 

 the taller, darker, and more frizzly-haired people of 

 the west he retains the term Papuan. The smaller, 

 lighter-coloured peoples of the eastern peninsula and 

 islands, in which the true Melanesian element is 

 dominant, are called Papuo-Melanesians. With these 

 Dr. Seligmann deals in the present volume, the 

 Papuans being only alluded to \yhen their physical 

 characteristics or customs refer to the subject of dis- 

 cussion. Following Dr. Haddon's suggestion in the 

 "Decorative Art of New Guinea," the author divides 

 the Papuo-Melanesian peoples into two main groups, 

 the western Papuo-Melanesians and the Massim of the 

 east. 



An introduction gives a succinct account of the 

 general sociology and culture of the two groups. These 

 agree in certain physical and cultural characters, which 

 clearly differentiate them from the Papuan, but differ 

 in many r^pects from one another. The amount of 

 variation among the western Papuo-Melanesians is 

 much greater than that found among the Massim 

 peoples. The greater uniformity of the latter is re- 

 garded by Dr. .Seligmann as due to a geographical 

 factor. The small islands and peninsulas of the 

 eastern district afforded less shelter for fugitives than 

 the swamps and forests of the west, so that the 

 Melanesian conquest was there more rapid and 

 complete. Owing also to the slower mingling of the 

 Melanesians with the original populations of the west, 

 Dr. Seligmann considers that there is not only a con- 

 siderable Papuan element in their composition, but 

 that they have also in some cases adopted Papuan 

 languages differing from each other as do the Papuan 

 languages spoken by Papuans. If the Papuan 

 elements were sufficiently strong to impose their 

 language upon their conquerors, they must have been 

 sufficient to have imposed their customs, or, at least, 



1 " The Melanesian^ of Prllish New Guinea." By Dr. C. G. Seligmann, 

 unth a chapter by F. R. Barton, C.M.G , and an appendix by E. L. Giblin. 

 Pp. xxiv+766. (Cambridge : The University Press, 1910.) 21^. net. 



NO. 2138, VOL. 84] 



to have modified those which the invaders brought 

 with them. 



W'ith the Motu of Port Moresby and the neighbour- 

 hood, who are the best known of the western Papuo- 

 Melanesians, the author associates the Koita. The 

 latter speak a Papuan language, and have for genera- 

 tions inter-married with, and built their villages ad- 

 joining, the Motu. The fact that the Koita language 

 shows no trace of Melanesian influence, and has 

 names for indigenous plants and animals, which are 

 unnamed by the Motu, presents a difficulty which Dr. 

 Seligmann has not discussed. From the latter, 

 too, they have adopted certain customs and 

 arts. The Ikoro, Gaboni, and Sinaugolo tribes, 

 which closely resemble the Motu, occupy the 

 district inland from Kapakapa and the basin 

 of the Kemp Welch River. .Ml these people 

 are distinguished by the use of the open ceremonial 



CoJ-yright by the Rn: H. .1/. Daimccy. 

 Jig. I.— Feather ,-,aGa of the Rorc-speaking Tri 

 Melanesians of British New Guinea 



platform, or dubu. Eastward from Hood Peninsula 

 the coast is occupied by a rather different tribe, among 

 whom the dubu gives place to the kogc, or steeple- 

 house. All three groups have a general likeness in 

 culture and sociology. There is a clan organisation 

 and patrilinear descent. The first sixteen chapters of 

 Dr. Seligmann's work deals in detail with the Koita 

 regulation of public and family life, customs, trade, 

 and religion, and includes an interesting account bv 

 Capt. F. R. Barton, of the Hiri or annual trading 

 voyage made from Port Moresby to the Papuan Gulf. 

 Another colony of Papuo-Melanesians (Mailu) dwell- 

 ing around Milport Harbour and Port Glasgow, and 

 speaking a Papuan language, are not discussed in 

 detail by the author, neither are the Koiari and similar 

 people of the hinterland, whom he regards as possess- 

 ing more Melanesian than Papuan blood. 



