085 
ON THE LEADING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 
respond as to preclude the supposition that these peculiarities can 
he other than accidental.f It is difficult to account for these pecu¬ 
liarities, but as the stout and stalwart Papuans are met with only 
among those coast tribes who have maintained their independence, 
and at the same time have acquired many of the agricultural and 
mechanical arts from their neighbours the Malayu-Polynesians 
while the pigmies are found only in spots where they have been 
driven to the mountain fastnesses, or have fallen under the influence 
of other races, we may conclude that their mode of life has much 
to do with this difference in point of stature and proportions. 
With regard to form the various tribes of Papuans differ as 
much as in stature. The more diminutive tribes, whose members 
chiefly come under the notice of Europeans from their existing in 
great numbers as slaves throughout the Moluccas, are unprepos¬ 
sessing enough in appearance when in their natural state, but when 
under good masters, the regularity and wholesome nature of their 
diet, coupled with their apparent utter forgetfulness of their native 
land, produce a roundness in their neat clean limbs, and a spright¬ 
liness of action which is rarely met. with among their more civilized 
neighbours the Malayu-Polynesians. On the other hand the larger 
Papuans are more remarkable for their strength than their sym¬ 
metry. They have broad shoulders and deep chests, but a deficien¬ 
cy is generally found about the lower extremities, the splay feet 
and curved shins of the western Africans, being equally, or even 
more common among, whom I may be allowed to term, the gigan¬ 
tic Papuans. 
With regard to the general disposition of the Papuans, a great 
difference is found between those living in a state of independence, 
and those who exist in bondage among the neighbouring nations. 
The former are invariably found to be treacherous and revengeful, 
and even those who have long been accustomed to intercourse with 
strangers, the tribes of the northwest coast of New Guinea, for 
example, are never to be depended upon, and the greatest precautions 
are always taken by those who visit them for purposes of trade. 
The wilder tribes generally avoid intercourse with strangers, if the 
force which lands is sufficiently great to cause alarm, but if other¬ 
wise they pretend friendship until an opportunity occurs, when they 
make a sudden and ferocious attack. But what distinguishes them 
most from their neighbours the Malayu-Polynesians, and even from 
the Australians, is the unextinguishable hatred they bear towards 
those who attempt to settle in their territory, and which is continued 
as long as a man of the tribe exists. It is, probably, this perfectly 
untameable nature that has led to their utter extermination in all 
those islands of the Indian Archipelago that did not possess mountain 
fastnesses to which they could retire to lead a life similar to that of 
+ The celebrated philologist, Marsden, has adopted the term <e Negrito” 
or “ little Negro” from the Spaniards of the Phillippines, and has applied 
it to the entire race. 
