72 Tlir. ETHNOLOGY OP THE IN DUN ARCHIPRtAOO. 



between two rude nations; but when a striking agreement is found 

 in many customs, some of which arc of a remarkable character, it' 

 ia difficult to believe that they can have originate! spontaneously 

 in both. Resemblance in one trait is not evidence by itself, but. a 

 strong combination of identical traits not found in other races is 

 conclusive. Having established a connection by these, other traits 

 which we had at first put aside, as common lo the families 

 under investigation with some others, must be thrown in to 

 complete the mass of proof, for it is the effect of cumulative 



• comparisons to give a value to facts which separately have none. 

 Some peculiar customs which are found in manv countries on all 

 •ides of the Great Ocean, — African, Asiatic anJ American, — as 

 well as in its central islands, will again enter into our ultimate view 

 of the Oceanic ethnology as a whole, when we may be able to 

 ascertain, from whence, in each particular instance of their occur* 



, rence in ■:, they wpto. iiiii dpi I iutcly imported, and whether 



they first urinated in Asia or Africa. The African affinities are 

 clearly separable into two classes, one of a ruder kind confined to 

 th* Melanesians, and one partly including these tribes but in gci ral 

 distinctive of the Indo-TibcUn, some of the Indian,* the Tibeto- 

 Aimm, and the lank haired Asiafiesians. 



The scanty clothing of chateau, leaf aprons &c, common to the 

 ruder African and Oceanic tribes with many other races, must be 

 disregarded, and our comparison, instead of embracing the external 

 covering, he mainly restricted to customs ihat affect the person 

 itself, t We may notice however the airrcement between many 

 African and Asianesian races in the general style of the war dresses, 

 the wearing of tufts and bunches of hair at the knees, the adorning 

 ehieida with tufts of the hair of slain enemies, the thick polished 

 armlets of shell or ivory, the necklaces of teeth and nones as 

 charms &c. 



The different Papua modes of dressing the spiral hair are all 

 prat tised in Africa, where some tribes make it stand out like a distaff, 

 supporting it with wooden pins, while others plait it into slender 

 ringlets. The dressing and arranging of these plaited locks is a la- 

 borious and important operation amongst the Malgasis and many 

 African nations, as amount the Fijians and other Asianesian Iribes 

 who have the same custom. With some the hair is shaven, save a 

 knot at the top, and some make it into wigs. The Soumali and 

 other tribes slain the hair or decolorize it with lime. Many tribes 

 smear the body with grease, and daub or streak it with red ochre 

 and pigments of other colours. All these are Melanesian customs. 

 The teeth arc filed into a conical form, while other* notch them, 

 and it deserves remark that of the two modes of filing the teeth 

 prevailing in Astanesia, the horizontal and the serrated, the latter 



• In pru-Iranlui timei including itll thti Indian, and still »fnjTurtv hteuded with 

 Hinduism which the Africanism of India ha . * 'irrupted uitd barbarbed. 



t But compare the lappeta of Uie Dlhong Abor* and D&yaki with tho* worn by 

 fciw iUrtrtribea. 



