ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESULTS. 387 



Some gênerai observations may conciude this paragraph. The gait of thèse people is 

 elastic and quick. They squat in the same way as the Malay. So we see the men in the 

 men-house sitting in a circle round the fire. So, men, women and children are seen chatting 

 in our bivouac, resting from accomplished truck. They carry loads with the head : the nets 

 hang on the back fastened to a strap round the head. I failed to investigate, if the strap had 

 causée^ a slight impression in the bone, but I remember to hâve never observed a local loss 

 of hair in conséquence of this method of carrying. The women in particular do the porters' 

 work; besides loads of oebi and fruits, young pigs and last not least sucklings are found in 

 their nets. It demands sometimes a closer examination to see, if we are dealing with a pig 

 or a child! Greater children are often found sitting on the filled net or on the shoulders of 

 their mothers. Frequently, loaded men were seen too. And once, when meeting on a walk 

 father, mother and child on the way to their far off garden, we saw the father carrying baby, 

 notwithstanding the mother was not loaded. The facility, with which some Timorini carried 

 once by turns a rather large pig in front of our colonne, proved that they dispose of suni- 

 cient muscular strength. Still it was an exception that they could press down my dynamo- 

 meter over 20 kilo's. They appeared really to exert their strength; evidently they did not 

 apply it in the right way. 



The breasts of the women hâve a tendency to the negroid type: cone-shaped and 

 with elevated areola. However, even in full-grown women spherical breasts are not seldom seen. 



MUTILATIONS AND DISEASES. 



However peaceable this people seemed to be, and how small in number their instru- 

 ments, it appeared that artificial mutilations were of a fréquent occurrence. We found two 

 forms of mutilations: the partially cutting off of the fingers and the cutting away of a pièce 

 of the ear-edge. Both were very common and were found among the two sexes. They appeared 

 to be most sparing in regard to the fingers of the men. I never saw their right hand muti- 

 lated, which may easily be understood for a people that tnust handle bow and arrow as 

 their only weapon. Indeed the stretching of the cord is made by middle-, ring- and little- 

 finger of the right hand, of which meanwhile the thumb and the forefinger must hold the 

 arrow. Those who think that this costs only little strength, should try for themselves. In 

 holding the bow by means of the whole left hand, the fingers only play a secondary rôle. 



Out of ten at random chosen men, five appeared to show finger-mutilations, ail of 

 them on the left hand, viz. one on the forefinger, one on the middlefinger, one on the 

 little finger, one on the fore- and ringfinger, and one on fore-, middle- and ringfinger. From 

 my measure-lists I find among 10 mutilated men 6 who hâve a mutilated left forefinger and 

 only two with a mutilated middlefinger and two with mutilated fore- and little finger. So the 

 left forefinger seems to hâve among the men a certain prédilection. But not a single finger is 

 safe. Out of 15 boys of about ten years old, only one showed finger-mutilation ; this con- 

 cerned the little finger. 



Among the women the hand-mutilations are much more fréquent. An elderly woman 

 had only her two little fingers left. The right hand is not spared at ail; two girls of about 

 ten years old had even only this one mutilated (viz. four fingers of it) and of a young woman 

 Nova Guin - ea VII, 4. Ethnographie. 49 



