346 A NATUBALIST'S WANDERINGS 



Malay element in the population. The male skull, No. 4, and the femalej 

 No. 6, are typically Malayan in their characters, especially in possessing 

 large open rounded orbits and smooth forehead, the superciliary ridges 

 and glabella being almost entirely absent. The other brachycephalic 

 skulls, though not presenting such a striking affinity, agree more or less 

 with the type, but give evidence of mixed characters. 'Ihe dolicho- 

 cephalic skull is, on the other hand, markedly of the Papuan type, and 

 coiresponds so closely as to be undistiiiguishable from two crania 

 obtained twenty miles inland from Port Moresby, New Guinea, in the 

 College of Surgeons' Museum, also from anoiher from the Solomon 

 Islands. Along with this form of shell Mr. Forbes informs me is 

 associated frizzly hair and dark skin. 



The examination of the cranial characters of the inhabitants of Timor- 

 laiit as illustrated by the skulls before us shows that the peopling of this 

 island forms no exception to what is usually found in the various groups 

 of islands in the Polynesian Archipelago. From its close proxiniity to 

 New Guinea, perhaps more of the Papuan element might have been 

 expected. 



The relative proportions of the two races in any particular place seem 

 to vary considerably, however, and till more is known of thehistory of this 

 part of the world, the distribution of its inhabitants will not he understood. 

 Valuable contributions to our knowledge of this vexed question have been 

 made by the writings of M. Quatrefagts, Professors Flower and Keane, Mr. 

 Staniland Wake, and other-s. Series of skulls and skeletons like the 

 present from different districts, with accounts of the inhabitants, aro 

 always valuable additions, and assist materially to unravel the ethnology 

 of this interesting part of the globe. 



