SOUTH-WEST COAST. 
81 
VQirNDSD —MOHAMMEDAN IK^LUEXCES OH THE MATrVES— TUEtR 
OBHEItAL CHARACTERISTICS — FORKIOX I S-TERCOURSE — MARAtJOERS 
OF ONIN — TilB SLAVB-TRADE— COMMERCE GENERAL VIEW OF THE 
NATIVES or THE WEST COAST OF NEW CiUtNJSx*. — THE ALFOEREN, OR 
MOCSJTAlSEEBfl — ORIGIN" OF THE TERM '* ARArUBAS." 
The tribes noticed in the preceding chapter are the 
most uncouth in appearance of any that have yet been 
encountered by Europeans in New Gruinea. The cir- 
cumstances under which Lieutenant Moderate interview 
took place, with well-grounded cause for suspicion on 
both aides, w^ere certainly uufavonrabie to the develop* 
ment of any pleasing characteristics on the pai-t of the 
natives, which a more unrestrained intercourse might have 
brought to light ; and it must also be taken into con- 
sideration that they were met with away from their homes, 
apparently on a hunting or fishing excursion. The belt 
of ^mangrove-trees must be crossed, and their habitations 
on the firm land visited, before a judgment can be pro- 
nounced as to their social condition. The fact of their 
protectingj and perhaps planting the cocoa-nut-tree, shows 
that they have made the first great step out of the savage 
state, so that upon this point they are incomparably in 
advance of the Australian aborigines. 
The spot visited in 1770 by Captain Cookj who was 
the sole authority respecting the natives of the south-weat 
coast of New Guinea until the publication of Lieutenant 
Kolff's narrative in 1828, is apparently the pennanent 
residence of a tribe, as a village was found by the latter 
officer near the same spot more than fifty years afterwards. 
The striking peculiarities in the customs of the native 
tribe described by our ablest of navigators, have excited 
