EEPOET ON THE HUMAN CEANIA. 
83 
But the two races differed from each other in important external physical characters. 
The hair of the scalp, though black in both, was straight and smooth in the Australian, 
but fine curly in the Admiralty Islander, and formed in him “ a dense mop projecting 
in all directions 6 to 8 inches from the head.” The beard and whiskers were as a 
rule scanty in the Admiralty Islander, but fairly developed in the Australian. In both, 
the skin was black or black-brown, though Moseley states that the Admiralty Islander 
youths of both sexes were as a rule much lighter than the adults, and that he saw one 
man and two women whose skins were of a light yellow colour. The lips were thick and 
projecting in the Australians, but not unusually large and prominent in the Admiralty 
Islanders. Prof. Moseley speaks of a well-marked depression usually present at the root 
of the nose, so that the brow is somewhat overhanging. From the feeble glabella in 
most of the crania, granting that they belong to the same race as the living islanders, the 
projecting brow must be due to thickened skin and subcutaneous tissue, whereas in the 
Australian it is largely produced by the thickening of the frontal bone. In both races 
the nose was short and with dilated alse, but the nostrils were not platyrhine in the 
Admiralty Islanders, whilst in the Australians the plane of their opening was directed 
downwards, forwards, and outwards ; again, about one in every fifteen or twenty 
Admiralty Islanders had a long Jewish nose. The conclusion therefore to which one has 
come from this comparison, is that the Australians and Admiralty Islanders are two 
distinct races. 
I shall now pass to the consideration of the characters of the crania of the people 
occupying the other islands of the Melanesian area. From its size and importance as 
the chief seat of the Papuans I shall begin with New Guinea. 
Material for the determination of the cranial characteristics of the people of New 
Guinea has been accumulating during the last few years. Though still far from perfect, 
especially as regards the people of the interior, numerous crania are now in European 
museums, and a large number have been measured and described. MM. de Quatrefages 
and Hamy have made a critical examination of the literature of this subject up to the 
date of publication of their fasciculi on the ‘ Negrito-Papoue ’ and ‘Papoua’ races, and have 
brought together in a form convenient for reference, a mass of information of which 
I shall avail myself, though at the same time I shall have to refer to other and subse- 
quent writers and to some specimens not previously described. The north-west end of 
New Guinea is the part of the island from which the greatest number of crania have been 
obtained, but the southern seaboard, the south-eastern peninsula, the small islands in Torres 
Straits, and the course of the Fly River, have also contributed important material. 
As a result of the examination of the skulls from these several localities it is evident 
that a considerable variety in form and proportions has been observed, some being decidedly 
brachycephalic, others mesaticephalic, others dolichocephalic. 
We may first inquire into the evidence which has been recorded of the presence of 
