MYSOL 
113 
Gilolo a few scattered remnants of the race BtUl exist; 
but they bold little or no intercourse with their more 
civilized neighbours^ flying into the thickets whicli 
aflford them shelter and concealment on the first 
appearance of a stranger, experience having taught them 
that death or captivity will be their fate if they fall into 
the hands of their natural enemies. The characteristics 
of the Mountain Papuans must therefore be sought in 
those islands where their numerical strength permits 
them to lead a hfe more fitted for human beings than that 
of their hunted brethren. It is an en-or to suppose that 
these poor creatures disappear befoi*e civilizaiwn. Their 
chief destroyers are the wild and warlike hunting tribes of 
the brown race ; and, excepting the case of the Moluccas, 
wherever European civilization has been introducedj the 
Papuans are more numerous than elsewhere. In the 
Philippines, for example, according to an intelligent 
modern traveller, their number in tbe year 1842 
amounted to 25^0CX) souls.* 
The large island of Mysol or Mesnal, which lies 
nearly midway between the north-western extreme of 
New Guinea and Cerara, is said to have been occupied 
exclusively by Papuans when this region was first visited 
by Europeansj and they still form the bulk of the inland 
population ; but the villages of the coast ai-e occupied by 
a mixed race, in which the Papuan element, however, 
prevails. The islands of Goram, Ceram-Laut, Bo, Poppo, 
and Geby, and Pataui-Hoek, the south-eastern extreme 
of Gilolo, are also occupied by people of the mixed race. 
♦ Malkt, "Les Pldlippiaes/' &c., vol. i, p. 97. Paris, ISiG. 
