Feb. 26, 1874J 



ATA TURE 



329 



Dr. Maclay told us of one curious custom which he 

 docs not mention in either of the two papers referred to 

 in the note. The Papuans, though they know how to 

 produce fire by rubbing togetlier two pieces of wood, 

 do not do this when they require this agent, but always 

 carry their fire literally about with them, either trailing 

 a lighted stick after them as they walk, or placing the 

 same under their beds when they sleep. 



Dr. Maclay, despite much pains, was only able to collect 

 ten skulls, and only two out of these had the lower jaw, 

 for the natives preserve this with great veneration, while 

 the skull itself is thrown into the neighbouring jungle as 

 a thing of no worth. The skull of the Papuans of Maclay 

 coast is "dolicho-cephalic." The superciliary eminences 

 are frequently very strongly developed The maxillary 

 region is prognathous, so that the upper teeth project 

 considerably beyond those of the mandible The Pa- 

 puans are of middle stature, the females being consi- 

 derably smaller than the males, but are strong and 

 well built. 



Contrary to what has been written, there is no rough- 

 ness of skin considerable enough to constitute a race 

 characteristic ; which may be largely accounted for by the 

 custom of smearing the bodies with a kind of earth, and 

 to the frequency of psoriasis ('' masso '). The colour of the 

 skin too is in general of a light chocolate brown, and not of 

 a bluish-black colour as has been previously asserted. The 

 inhabitants of New Ireland, an island not far distant, have, 

 on the other hand, a comparatively dark skin. The scars 

 of slight wounds, e.g. such as are made with a red-hot 

 coal, are somewhat darker than the surrounding skin, 

 '. I'le deep wounds, which are of not infrequent occurrence, 

 ! r.e behind ttiem scars almost white in colour. 



.Vfter a series of very careful observations, made as well 



upon shaven as upon well-covered scalps, Dr. Maclay 



' concludes that the hair is not naturally disposed, as 



has been represented, in tufts or clumps, but grows 



i just as it would upon the head of a European. The 



i length of the hair, too, varies in different individuals, for 



while one man is fain to cover his bald pate with a 



cuscus,* another is proud to display a " gatessi," which 



luxuriantly covers his shoulders. f 



The natural colour of the hair is dull black, but this is 

 miiiked, after the period of childhood, by a black 

 (•' kuma") or red (" surru ") dye. The hair of children is 

 covered with a wash of ashes and water for protection 

 against lice ; this hardens into a thick crust. In the 

 case of males this is continued till the time of circumcision, 

 after which period much care is bestowed upon the coiffure. 

 The women, oddly enough, expend no pains upon the 

 arrangement of their hair. The eye-brows are generally 

 shaven, and the hairs of the beard are either shaven or 

 plucked out in the young men, but are permitted to grow 

 among adults. 



The general hair-growth upon the body seems to be 



more scanty than it is among the Caucasian races. 



Though hair is never seen on the back of the hands, it 



i sometimes grows pretty thickly along the line of the 



' vertebral column, and is sometimes so far extended as 



I to cover the whole of the buttocks. 



With regard to the physiognomy, the forehead is not 

 \ high but small, and sometimes retreating ; the nose is 

 \ broadly flattened out, frequently with dilated nostrils ; the 

 ; mouth is broad, and has a projecting upper lip ; the 

 t chin is retreating, while strongly projecting check-bones 

 strikingly contrast with the smallness of the forehead in 

 the temporal region. 



The Papuans of Machy coast bore a hole through the 

 septum of the nostrils, in which a long fragment of stone 



> or piece of shell is worn. The teeth are much worn 

 through the almost exclusive use of a vegetable diet : 



* A sm^ll marsupial found in Papua. Il is figvned in Wallace's " MaLiy 

 Arcltipelago." 



> t Thi; long hair worn ai the back of the head is termed "gatessi." 



Dr. Maclay noticed this in his own teeth after a stay of 

 eight months in Papua. The lobules of the ears are 

 pierced at an early age by means of the thorn of a 

 Dioscorea and become much elongated by having to sup- 

 port heavy ear-rings. 



If the back of a Papuan is seen in profile, there will be 

 noticed a considerable concavity of curve in the lumbar 

 region. This would seem to be a characteristic in which 

 the Papuan differs from the Caucasian race. The Papuans 

 make a greater use of the left hand and arm than of the 

 right, and use the feet to pick up various objects — some- 

 times very small ones — from the earth. This is done, not 

 by flexion of the toes, but by anadduction of the great 

 toe, which is considerably separated from the rest of the 

 toes. From this use of the,toes, it frequently happens 

 that the two feet are dissimilar in size. 



Circumcision is performed at from the ages of 13 to 

 15 years, and, as Zipporah performed it, with a sharp flint. 

 This custom is general among the Papuans of Maclay 

 coast, and among most of the coast and some of the 

 mountain inhabitants. Those — and among them are the 

 New Irelanders and the inhabitants of one of the Islands 

 of the Archipelago of Contentment — who do not use this 

 rite are looked down upon by their circumcised brethren, 

 The suckling of infants is carried on for a long period, 

 sometimes to the age of four years. 



The Papuans are very strict in their sexual relations. 

 The men marry early, soon after circumcision, and have 

 only one wife ; concubinage is almost unknown. The 

 women, probably on account of the hard work in which 

 they are engaged, seldom bear many children. 



In spile of the dark colour of their skin, Dr. Iilaclay 

 was able to recognise a change of colour in the face 

 among the Papuans. He does not, however, state whether 

 blushing follows upon a sense of shame, but only notices 

 that the features are darker when they are overjoyed, or 

 have been making great efforts, e.g. in the dance. 



The Papuan women, like their European sisters, culti- 

 vate the art of which Mr. Turveydrop was the distin 

 guished professor. Readers of the " Arabian Nights 

 may remember how that the seductive wriggling of the 

 sides of one of the damsels " shaped like the letter alif," 

 caused the " world to turn black " before the eye of a 

 susceptible hero, and will therefore fully appreciate the 

 subtle influence of a peculiar and " killing " wriggle 

 which the Papuan maid begins to have at even the tender 

 age of seven years. The half-caste women whom one 

 sees at Batavia seem to have adopted a similar though 

 modified habit. 



The favourite position of the Papuan men — as it seems 

 to be among the Malays also — is resting the buttock 

 upon the heels {das Hocken), while the whole surface of 

 the soles cf the feet is applied to the ground. Dr. Maclay 

 found that he could keep his balance only when the toes 

 alone were in contact with the earth. This position of 

 the Papuan must not only be acquired, but must depend 

 also upon a peculiar relation of proportion in the limbs. 

 Nothing can be said with certainty as to the duration 

 of life among the Papuans. Dr. Maclay nsver saw an old 

 individual among them. 



Dr. Maclay, from the observations which he has at 

 present made, concludes that //ic Papuan stock falls into 

 nitmerous varieties, distinct from one another, tsjhich, 

 however, have no sharp lines of demarcation. 



On December 19, 1S72, some natives came to Dr. 

 Maclay to inquire the cause of some smoke which had 

 been seen rising h'om the sea between Vitias and 

 Dampier Islands. This turned out to be the clipper 

 Isouniroiid, which had bcea sent out to look for the 

 traveller (whose death, it seems, had been announced 

 in the English journals), at the instance of the Grand 

 Duke Constantine. 



Early on the morning of the 24th the Isoiimrona 

 weighed anchor, and as she steamed away there could 



