240 WHITE— A Sketch of the Life of Samuel While. 



"The people of the Arus who assisted me in collecting 

 birds, especially the Great Bird of Paradise, are without 

 doubi the most mixed of human beings. I had not the time 

 to study these mixed races, but they appeared to be on the 

 whole well made muscular men, especially those from the 

 'Blackangtanna' (bark country). They * were taller and 

 longer limbed men, with a greater number of beads and other 

 ornaments about them, and a greater number of frizzly heads. 

 They evidently had more of the Papuan blood in them. The 

 Aru people are not black. Many are a pale brown, others 

 somewhat darker. Many who lived on the Watalli Channel 

 and in the interior had their hair cut short, while others wore 

 it long and frizzly standing out all round, making a man's 

 head the size of a half bushel measure! In some there seemed 

 to be a slight skin disease, and some had their hands and spots 

 about their bodies white, or spotted white and black; they did 

 not appear dirty, but the big mop of hair in some instances 

 was in a disgusting state. I saw some men with long frizzly 

 hair tied up in a bunch on top or at the back of the head, 

 which, I thought gave them a very feminine appearance, es- 

 pecially as little hair grew on their faces. Some old men 

 were seen with short stubbly beards, but the majority had 

 little or no beard. I noticed several men who had one or 

 more moles or spots on various parts of their faces, out of 

 each mole grew several hairs; these seemed to be cultivated 

 till they had reached several inches in length, this being the 

 only hair upon their faces. Most of the men go nearly naked, 

 having nothing to cover them but a long narrow strip of 

 coloured calico round the waist and brought up between the 

 thighs. The Malay or Macassar men are mostly draped in 

 loose folds of calico. There is a great difference in character 

 also between the Malay and the Aru men. The former is 

 diffident, docile, and not given to talking, shows little expres- 

 sion on his face, rarely smiles; indeed some look so solemn that 

 one would think it were a serious thing to live. The Aru men 

 are the contrary, for they are talkative, even boisterous and 

 impulsive, they will sing to themselves, and always chant a 

 song while paddling often to the music of a torn torn or a gong, 

 they thronged the yacht all day long, packed themselves as 

 closely as they could stand, and would not move for anyone 

 to pass until their toes were trodden upon. They pulled 

 everything about, and watched with attention everything that 

 was going on. At meals every mouthful and every movement 

 wa.s taken note of, much to the annoyance of my father, officers 

 and crew ; they all talked at once and incessantly as loud as they 



