THE AUSTRALIAN FAMILY. 93 



The moral and intellectual character of these people appears to differ in 

 nothing from that of the genuine Negroes hy whom they are surrounded. 



The views of the French naturalists as to the origin of the Papuas are 

 strongly confirmed hy the physical characters of the Confusos of Brazil, who have 

 been described in a former part of this work.* The true Papuas are for the most 

 part confined to the northern coast of New Guinea, and the islands of Waigou, 

 Sallawatty, Gammen and Battenta.f The people of Bougainville's island, who are 

 darker and of more repulsive physiognomy, appear to belong to the same family. 

 With them may also be classed the inhabitants of Solomon's isles, and those of 

 Taomaco and Australia del Espiritu Santo.J 



21. THE AUSTRALIAN FAMILY. 



The natives of New Holland are of the full stature, with broad chests, thin 

 bodies, and long, slender limbs. Their usual color is either black or very dark 

 brown, yet many of the women are as light colored as mulattoes. The face, 

 which is ugly in the extreme, projects greatly from the head, and the mouth is 

 particularly prominent owing to its width, and the great size of the lips. The 

 nose is flat and broad, and the nostrils expanded. A deep sinus separates the nose 

 from the forehead ; the frontal ridges often overhang the eyes, while the forehead 

 itself is low, and slopes rapidly to the top of the head. Dampier remarks of them 

 that they hold up their heads and half close their eyes, as if looking at the sun ; 

 which he supposes is done to keep off the multitudes of insects by which they are 

 surrounded. Their hair is longer than in the Negro, coarse and often much 

 frizzled, yet rarely woolly. § They are passionately fond of war ; and as their 

 fierce and vindictive tempers seldom allow them to pardon an enemy, there is a 

 perpetual provocation to feud and bloodshed. Even their courtship, if it merits 

 that name, consists in a violent abduction of the object of desire, and their women 

 are treated throughout life with a brutality perhaps unparallelled in any other 

 country. They are to the last degree filthy in their persons and gluttonous in 

 their eating ; and their dances betray the licentiousness of their morals. || 



It is not probable that these people, as a body, are capable of any other than 



* Page 85. t Lesson, Voy. de la Coquille. Zool. I, p. 87. 



J Prichard, Phys. Hist, of Man, I, p. 377-380. 



§ Breton, N. South Wales, p. 187. — Barrington, Botany Bay, p. 63. 

 II Breton, p. 202. 

 24 



