184 



EASTERN GEOGRAPHY. 



the different tribes in their physical appearance, menial qualities, 

 and grades uf culture, that 1>' Albert is and some other observers bare 

 felt inclined to doubt the existence of a Papuan type at nil. Tbese 

 pnints, together with a general account of the Papuan population*) 

 have been d trussed at page 123, and need nut be further dwelt upon 

 in this place. As regards New Guinea more partieuhirlv, it will 

 mtnee tan observe that the numerous and often profound departures 

 from ih i' normal Papuan standard may he attributed mainly la long 

 isolation in separate tribal groups, anil to constant crossings with 

 other people.*, such as tin* Kar >h* and other NL'^ruix-.h in L>» i- interior, 

 Malays and " Atfuros" along the western seaboard, anil Indonesians 

 {bruwn Polynesians) especially on the south-east coast. Jitit not' 

 withstanding the^e diverse intermingling there is a general preval- 

 ence of the more siliont P.ipiaaM i-Lanu'ti'n «i [<:*■ -mop-h^ul, nr. i ■ I 

 nose, long and high *kull, sooty 'black complex inn — from Mi sol and 

 Atu in the extreme weH to the Lonisiude Islands in the extreme ea«t, 

 Tlio same features are found diffused throughout Melanesia in the 

 Pacific, and as far west as Floris in the Eastern Archipelago, Hence 

 New Guinea has been regarded as the natural, as it certainly i* the 

 geugraphical t centre of the Papuasian world. Hut from thi« it d ics 

 not follow that here the typu tirat beeame specialized, and there ia 

 even reason to suppose that the earliest inhabitants of New Guinea 

 were not Papuans but Negritoes. This, however, is a point that can 

 be determined only by further exploration in the interior, where 

 some Negritoes have already been found (Dr. Homy). The 

 general movement of Papuan migration may, consequently, not have, 

 been from New Guinea west and east ; but either from Melanesia 

 westwards, or front the eastern Arehi|H?hig''' p:l -tward*. And so far 

 68 New Guinea is concerned this diffusion of the race muat be 

 referred to ii [u-rtid posterior to the separation from Australia, for 

 the indigenous populations of these two regi 'na. belong to totally 

 different brunches of the Negro family. The transition from the 

 true Papuan- of Torres Strait to the true Australians uf the inain- 

 huid in extremely abrupt, and for this and other reasons it seems 

 evident that lb'.- two great island;* wen.' [ie"pk-d hy indi-pi-ndejit 

 waves of migration rit emue time subsequently to the MiiLsidprnv nf 

 tho land now flooded by Torres Strait and the Arafnra Sea. Probably 

 both were uninhabited till very late tertiary or eariy quaternary 

 time?. 



The New Chdnet native have b**n hitherto can' fully >iludie>d mdy at a 

 few point-* on the seaboard, sueh as round ihw kborvs at GWvjnk ISay, at 



