ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESULTS. 405 



We cannot be surprised in learning that in East-New-Guinea curly- and even wavy- 

 haired persons not seldom occur. SELIGMANN and HADDON hâve proved in their works the 

 Polynesian influence in thèse régions. The Papuo-Melanesian Pokao, peculiar enough a tall, 

 dolichocephalic tribe, who deny themselves their foreign origin (SELIGMANN), show this particular 

 hair-form most of ail, especially the women [198]. 



The colour of the hair may be called black, though on examining it closely, it appears 

 to be very dark brown. Several authors make mention of a brovvnish and reddish hue and 

 some of them even refer to fair persons. Especially NEUHAUSS [136], [138], [135] discusses 

 this question extensively, vvhen dealing with the fréquent occurrence of "rotblond" (reddish 

 fair) hair among the Kai. He says: i° that the red hair is not regularly spread, but found in 

 zones on the head ; 2° that it is especially common among women and children and 3° that 

 it is darker at the roots than at the ends. He concludes: "Es handelt sich hier zweifellos um 

 eine Rasseneigentumlichkeit". But I should think thèse qualities exactly characteristic for their 

 being non-essential, but due to accidentai circumstances ! (see p. 365) In [138] NEUHAUSS admits 

 the influence of sun and water and emphasizes the prédestination of becoming lighter that 

 apparently is particular for the Papuan hair. In this respect he refers to différent hair-specimen 

 that are totally brown from one end to the other, due to the scarcity of the black pigment- 

 granules, so that only the diffusely spread yellow-brown pigment was left. The latter is never 

 missing and it is therefore that also black Papuan hair has a reddish hue when lit up by sunshine. 



I am not convinced that the tendency to discoloration, mentioned by NEUHAUSS, even 

 if this is connected with an original smaller abundance of the black pigment, must be looked 

 upon as an important quality. The hair of the Timorini-males, if well-dressed and oiled, was 

 of the same deep black colour as that of our straight-haired Javanese and Dyak. And I 

 should like to know, what would become of the famous black hair of the Malay and Chinese 

 women, if they stopped using their multifarious cosmetics. However, it may be that the negro- 

 hair is generally of a deeper black than that of the Papuans, but this needs not be surpri- 

 sing as their skin is darker too. 



I think it most probable that the ruddish-fair hair of NEUHAUSS is the same as that, 

 which I described already for the Timorini. Once I was called by one of my companions 

 to look at a Papuan boy in Pioneerbivouac because of his fair hair. I went there very curious 

 indeed and saw hair .... decidedly of a light ruddy colour, but this was a similar tinge as 

 we ail know of old black cloth ! Not for a moment did I doubt — still wholly ignorant of 

 the ruddy hair as a possible Papuan race-quality — to consider it as a case of discoloration, 

 the more as the boy's skin had for the greater part lost a good deal of its pigment by tinea 

 imbricata. 



NEUHAUSS distinguishes his "rotblond" hair, which he states as "ausserordentlich ver- 

 breitet", emphatically from the equally ruddy and mostly wavy hair that he found in Wasa 

 (Sattelberg) and among many Lae-Womba children and that he did not consider as being 

 autochthonous. 



I must acknowledge that also WlLLlAMSON is inclined to see in the peculiar haircolour 

 a race-quality of the Papuans. In his Mafulu-book we read : "But it (the hair) is frequently 

 lighter, and indeed I was often, when observing men's hair lit up by sunshine, impressed by 

 the fact that its brown colour was not even what we should in Europe call dark". Yet he 



