170 REPORT — 1872. 



port our views as to variatioa and continuity now that they are put together. 

 Fiw. Ij it will at once he seen, represents, hoth on the handle and on the face of 

 the blade, the head of a Papuan ; the large hlack mass on the head, like a grenadier- 

 cap, is the Papuan head-dress peculiar to these parts ; the ears are elongated 

 accordino- to the custom of these people, and pierced with an ear-ornament ; the 

 eyes are round black dots, the nose a triangular red mark, aud the same colour is 

 spread over the forehead. Fig. 2 represents the full figure of a Papuan sitting; 

 the ears are drawn down towards the liands, tbe head is somewhat conven- 

 tionalized, the line of the nose is carried round the eyes in a scroll, and there is a 

 lozenge-shaped pattern on the forehead. Fig. 3 is nearly the same figure repre- 

 sented as sitting sideways, simply by lopping off" an arm aud a leg on one side. In 

 fio-. 4 we have two arms, but no legs, and the head continues much the same as in 

 the two preceding figures. In fig. 5 the whole body is gone, and the scroll-pattern 

 round the eyes is modified in form. In fig. 6 we see a great change in the form 

 of the head, which is much more conventionalized than in the preceding figures ; 

 the eyes are reduced to small dots, and are rendered subordinate to the scroll 

 formed by prolongation of the line of the nose ; the sides of the face ai*e concave, 

 and conform to the line of the nose ; the chin and mouth are enlarged ; the head 

 is surmounted by the Papuan head-dress, as before ; there is a lozenge-pattern, as 

 before, on the forehead ; the elongated ears are there, but the ear-omament has 

 disappeared ; in this face the nose has become the prominent feature, and the 

 other features are subordinate to it. In fig. 7 a stiU greater change has taken 

 place ; the greater part of the face and head are gone. In the last figure we saw 

 that the nose was becoming the prominent feature, here it is nearly the only fea- 

 ture left ; the elongated ears are drawn down the sides of the nose ; the lozenge- 

 pattern on the forehead still remains ; but the lines, which in the previous figures 

 led to the head-dress and to the scroll-pattern, have been turned into a kind of 

 leaf-shaped ornament, resembling what appears to have been the upper lobe of the 

 ear in the previous figures ; the eyes are brought do^vn on to the nose. In fig. 8 

 we have nearly the same figure as the last : the nose is divided in two ; the elon- 

 gated ears are drawn out square with the line of the nose ; the lozenge-pattern on 

 the forehead is still preserved. In fig. 9 we see the same figure as in the last 

 example, except that the triangular nose has merged into what, judging by the 

 previous figures, appears to be the chin, or it may be merely an enlargement of 

 the base of the nose. Fig. 10 represents a further change in this direction ; 

 the lozenge-pattern and the ears are now gone, and the leaf-pattern is much 

 reduced; the nose also has almost disappeared into the chin. Lastly, in fig. 11, 

 ■we come to our Maliomedan emblem, or copy of the new moon. What is it ? 

 Who would have believed it was the chin of the human figure ? Yet so it is. It 

 is the last vestige of a human face, copied and recopied until all trace of the 

 original had been completely lost. We have here a complete parallel to the trans- 

 formations observable on the British coins, showing with what close analogy the 

 minds of men in the same condition of culture, though of widely different races, 

 obey the same laws and are subject to the same causes of variation and continuity 

 in the development of their arts. Now, if we suppose the connecting-links which 

 are exhibited in these figures to represent the connecting-links of myths, customs, 

 religions, or languages, or any other productions of human ingenuity which are 

 not embodied in material forms or committed to writting, it is evident they would 

 have been lost ; they would not have turned up in cuiiosity-shops, or been brought 

 together side by side in an instructive series. The theory of the spontaneous 

 adoption of crescent-shaped patterns, by copying the moon, would have become 

 established as an almost self-evident fact in our minds, and no one could for a mo- 

 ment have seen reason to doubt it. 



In omitting all mention of Psychology and Comparative Anatomj', it must not 

 be supposed that I am immiudful of the services which these studies may be ex- 

 pected to render to our science hereafter. Nor is it mnmportant to remember that 

 Anthropology has its practical and humanitarian aspect, and that, as our race is 

 more otten brought in contiict with savages than any other, a knowledge of their 

 habits and modes of thought may be of the utmost value to us in utilizing their 

 labour, as well as in checking those inhuman practices from which they have but 



