1910-11.] Study of the Tasmanian, Australian, and Papuan. 19 
ages that it has been inhabited by blacks. My opinion as to the origin of the 
aboriginal I cannot better explain than by quoting the remarks made 
by Ch. H. Barton, in his publication on Australian Physiography. . . . 
Why should it not be coeval with the continent itself ? ... We may, 
in the absence of rebutting evidence, be content to regard the Australian as 
truly autochthonous, and his origin as but part of the unsolved problem of 
the beginning of humanity.” 
As Klaatsch’s ideas on the unitary character of the Australian aboriginal 
differ so markedly from the dualists already quoted, we have thought it 
but right, in justice to him, to set forth his views at some length. 
Nor is Klaatsch alone in his ideas. Otto Schotensack (8), in an 
important and well-reasoned work, has put forward the novel idea that 
Australia is, in all probability, the land where the final transition from the 
simian ancestor to the genus Homo has taken place, in which case the 
primary unity of the Australian aboriginal follows as a matter of course. 
Having thus indicated the diversity of opinion concerning the Australian 
aboriginal, we may next point out that concerning the Papuan there is 
not quite so much speculation. 
“ At present the Papuan domain,” says Keane, “ is restricted to Melanesia 
and parts of Fiji, practically the whole of New Guinea with the neighbouring 
Torres Strait Islands, and most of the smaller groups in East Malaysia as 
far west as Flores inclusive.” 
They are a branch of the Oceanic negroes and “ are a very old ethnic 
group, here and there modified on the spot by crossings with populations 
always on the move (Malays, Bugis, etc.).” 
We wish to direct particular attention to this statement of Keane of 
the modification of the Papuan by crossings, a view which is also shared by 
Semon (9), who says he thinks it proved that the Papuans represent a 
mixed race. 
Of the Tasmanian it is unnecessary for us here to speak, because all 
authorities are agreed that, whatever his origin may have been, he has 
lived in a state of absolute isolation ever since the remote times of the 
separation of Tasmania from the Australian continent, and further, one of 
us (Berry, 10), has already published an account of a half-caste Tasmanian 
in which the various views regarding the origin and character of the 
Tasmanian are fully set forth, views in which a more recent writer (Turner, 
11) apparently agrees, as his conclusions are identical with Berry’s. 
From what has been said, it should therefore be clear that the com- 
parative racial purity of the Tasmanian is accepted, the admixture of the 
Papuan is proved, and the purity or otherwise of the Australian is debated. 
