242 INTELLECTUAL CHARACTERS. 



preceding work (vol. i. p. 271). Of the languages 

 of the Papuans but little is known. It appears, how- 

 ever, that the tongues of the different nations vary 

 much more frequently and more completely than 

 those of the Polynesian race. We had reason to 

 believe that the language of the islands of Torres 

 Strait was different from that of the coast of New 

 Guinea to the northward of them. # It will be seen 

 in our vocabulary, that the islanders counted only 

 by twos instead of tens, and that with this dual 

 notation they seldom went beyond six. 



They seem to exhibit some skill and taste in the 

 ornamenting of their canoes, and other implements 

 and furniture, with carving in various patterns, and 

 the carved wooden and tortoise-shell figures we saw 

 among the Torres Strait islanders were much supe- 

 rior to anything I ever saw or heard of among Aus- 

 tralians. 



Australian race,— The most contradictory ac- 

 counts have been given of the intellectual capacity 

 of this race. Some persons have degraded them to 

 the level of the monkey, or even of the kangaroo, 

 while from other descriptions, especially those of 

 Captain Grey, I think a rather higher standard 

 would be given them than is their due. To liken 

 the intellect of any, even the most degraded of 



* Dr. Latham having kindly offered to give me some notes on 

 our Torres Strait vocabulary in particular, and on the languages 

 of the Papuans in general, I beg to refer the reader to them, as 

 of much higher authority than any I can offer. 





