556 
NATURE 
[AUGUST I, I912 
THE PYGMIES OF NEW GUINEA} 
N AFULU the Kuni 
nunciation of Mambule, 
a group of  Papuan-speaking 
who occupy the crests dominating the head 
waters of the St. Joseph River. Although 
the boundaries of their territory cannot be re- 
(Melanesian) pro- 
the name _ of 
mountaineers 
is 
| 
| streams. 
of the watershed of the main range, and it is 
likely that no substantially different people inter- 
vene between them and the tribes occupying the 
sources of the Aikora and other northward flowing 
This probability is borne out by the 
results of Mr. Monckton’s expedition to Mount 
Albert Edward by way of the valley of the Upper 
Chirima, one of the affluents of the Mamba River 
on the northern slopes of the main 
range, for, as Mr. Williamson points 
out, there are many similarities between 
the implements of the Kambisa villagers 
described by Mr. Monckton and those 
made and used by the Mafulu, while 
their languages are the same, or at least 
closely related, In any case Mr. Wil- 
liamson is to be congratulated on having 
produced the furthest inland account yet 
published of any Papuasian people, and 
all students of the Pacific will be grate- 
ful to him for this. 
The people Mr. Williamson describes 
are short, muscular mesaticephals, with 
“a very marked tendency to brachy- 
cephaly.” 
Their hair is frizzly, and generally dark 
brown, often quite dark, almost even ap- 
proaching to black, and sometimes perhaps 
quite black, But it is frequently lighter ; and 
indeed I was often, when observing men’s 
hair lit up by sunshine, impressed by the 
fact that its brown colour was not even what 
we should in Europe call dark. I often saw 
marked variations in the depth of hair 
colour on the head of the same individual. 
I saw no examples of the comparatively 
straight or curly type of hair which is found 
in the Pokau district and elsewhere. 
These characters lead Mr. William- 
son to consider that there is a strong 
negrito element present in the Mafulu, 
and though it does not seem necessary 
to assume this in order to account for 
the facts, the discovery of pygmies 
in Netherlands New Guinea greatly 
strengthens his position. The Mafulu live 
in “‘small groups or clusters of villages 
or hamlets,” called by Mr. Williamson 
a community, the members of which 
regard other communities as outsiders. 
In spite of this the relationship between 
all the villages in a community is not 
identical, for the Mafulu have a clan 
system, and each clan has its own “ vil- 
lages or sometimes one village only.” 
1G. x Amalala, From 
-Row of killed pigs at big feast at village of Ar 
Mountain People of British New Guinea.’ 
garded as accurately ascertained, a glance at the 
map shows that it extends within a short distance 
1 “The Mafulu Mountain People of British New Guinea. By Robert W.- 
Williamson. With an Introduction by Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S. Pp 
xxili+364-+plates. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1912). Price 
148. net 
‘* Pyomies and Papuans: The Stone Age To-day in Dutch New Guinea.” 
By A. F. R. Wollaston. With Appendices by W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Dr. 
A. C. Haddon, F.R.S., and S. H. Ray. Pp. xxiv-+-352+plates and maps. 
(London : Smith, Elder, and Co., 1912). Price 15s. net. 
NO. 2231, VOL. 89] 
“The Mafulu 
Further, each “village” consists of a 
single clan and no one clan occurs in 
more than one community. 
But the relationship between a group of villages of 
any one clan within the community is of a much 
closer and more intimate character than is that of the 
community as a whole. These villages of one clan 
have a common amidi or chief, a common emone or 
clubhouse, and a practice of mutual support and help 
in fighting for redress of injury to one or more of the 
individual members; and there is a special social 
relationship between their members, and in particular 
