696 EEPOBT— 1881. 



how and at what period they reached their present isolated position remains a 

 geographical and ethnological puzzle. The Australians seem also to hear a re- 

 semhlance to the earliest known men of Europe, in the form of the skull and the 

 great prominence of the hrow-ridges ; hut here also two races present themselves 

 almost contemporaneously. These are known, from the form of the skull, as the 

 dolicocephalic or long-headed, and the hrachycephalic or round-headed races ; and 

 the researches of the late Dr. Broca seem to prove the former to have been un- 

 doubtedly the most ancient. The Palaeolithic Age is divided into two periods — 

 that of the Mammoth and that of the Reindeer. It is the men of the first period 

 who resemble the Australians, whilst those of the reindeer period are identified by 

 many anthropologists with the Esquimaux, and these are supposed to have been 

 driven out by a hrachycephalic race, bringing with them Neolithic weapons, a 

 knowledge of agriculture, &c. The Paleolithic men are supposed to have come 

 from Africa, whilst the Neolithic are traced by M. de Mortillet to Asia ; but how 

 and where the two types originated we cannot say. Madame Royer believes that 

 brachycephaly arises from an increase of brain-development ; but the Anda- 

 manese, .a very low race, are hrachycephalic. M. Hovelacque points out that the 

 anthropoid apes of Africa are dolicocephalic, whilst those of Asia are' roimd- 

 headed, thus suggesting a local origin for the two forms of skull. The dispersion 

 of these various races over the world was formerly accounted for by supposed ex- 

 tensions oi existing land masses, and the existence of a submerged continent in 

 the Pacific ; but the researches of the Challenger have led Mr. AVallace and others 

 to the conclusion that this continent never existed, and although certain e.xteusious 

 of existing lands are allowed, these alterations are supposed to have taken place 

 long before the advent of man upon the earth. Thus the peopling of oceanic 

 islands is left to chance, which, in the case of Australia, is rendered more difficult 

 from the slight acquaintance of the natives with navigation, and from the fact of 

 their diflering in race from the Papuans and Tasmanians. Miss Buckland there- 

 fore believes that either some comparatively recent land connection with Africa or 

 Asia must have existed, at present undiscovered, or that the antiquity of man must 

 be extended to Miocene times, at which period Australia received its present fauna 

 and flora by direct land connection vAth Asia. 



In conclusion Miss Buckland looks upon the problems propounded by Latham 

 in the 8th edition of the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica,' as to the unity, the geo- 

 gTaphical origin, the antiquity, and the futurity of mankind, as still awaiting 

 solution. 



2. On the Papuans and the Polynesians. By C. Staniland Wake. 



The author, after referring to the classification of the Oceanic Races made by 

 Mr. Keane, proceeded to show the diversity of type presented by the Papuans, 

 and also the great diificidty there is in fixing the race-character of the PoljTiesians. 

 It was pointed out that the Polynesians and Papuans have various features in 

 common, such as the beard, the full and expressive eye, and often a long and aquiline 

 nose, and that the latter exhibit certain Caucasian features more strongly than the 

 former. These are the prominent eyebrows, and great development of the general 

 pilous system, which Dr. Topinard refers to as special characteristics of the Austra- 

 lian race, and which are not uncommon in individuals among the peoples of Western 

 Europe. From this we must assume that, if the Polynesians belong to the so- 

 called Caucasian stock, the Papuans must also be Caucasians ; the latter, however, 

 approaching more nearly the Semitic branch and the former the Aryan branch. 

 The causes of the differences between the Polynesians and the Papuans were then 

 considered. The primitive stock from which both have sprung is probably now 

 represented by the Australian race, which had formerly a much wider extension 

 than at present, as its special characteristics before mentioned are possessed by the 

 Melanesian and Papuan races, and also by the Ainos and Todas. The presence 

 of two types among the Australians shows that they are not a pure race, and 

 probably they exhibit the influence of a Negrito element, which exists also 

 among the Papuans and the Melanesians, and perhaps even among the Malays. 



