PAPUANS, AUSTRALIANS, AND MALAYU-POLYNESIANS 68fi 
the Boschmen of South Africa. We have had recent instances of 
this in Van Diemans land, Melville island (N. W. coast of Australia) 
and at Fort Du Bus on the west coast of New Guinea, in all which 
settlements the country was occupied by a pure or nearly pure Papuan 
race. In the former, hostility was confined as long a native remained 
on the island, and in the two last until the settlements were abandoned 
in despair. On the other hand, their neighbours, the Australians, 
have invariably submitted after a single trial of strength, while the 
Malayu-Polynesians, when not under the influence of other foreign¬ 
ers, have always evinced a desire to have strangers, especially 
Europeans, settled among them, as shown by the people of the 
Moluccas when first visited by the Portuguese, and as displayed at 
the present timjs in those remote parts of the Indian Archipelago 
where the race maintains its ancient purity. 
The untameable ferocity of the Papuans only exists as long as they 
remain in their native country. On leaving it their character seems 
totally changed, as far as regards this particular. The Papuan 
slaves who exist in great numbers in the eastern parts of the Archi¬ 
pelago are remarkable for their cheerful disposition and industrious 
habits, and nothing could exceed the orderly conduct of the remnant 
of the Van Dieman’s Land natives after they h^d been hunted down, 
and removed to an island in Bass’ Strait. 
Before proceeding to describe the localities in which the Papuan 
race is now found, I think it proper to allude to certain of their 
customs which distinguish them from the Malayu-Polynesians, 
and which certainly are of Papuan, or at least of Negro, origin. 
One of these is the custom of raising the skin in cicatrices over various 
parts of the body, especially on the shoulders, breast, buttocks, and 
thighs. This must not be confounded with the tatooing or punc¬ 
turing the skin which is practised by many of the Malayu-Polynesian 
tribes, and which is never met with among the Papuans, as the 
scarifications which I am about to describe are unknown to the 
others. The skin is cut through with some sharp instrument in 
longitudinal stripes, and, if on the shoulder or breast, white clay, 
or some other substance, is rubbed into the wound, which causes 
the flesh below to rise, and these scarifications, when allowed to 
heal, assume the form of raised cicatrices, often as large as the 
finger. The process by which these cicatrices are produced and 
which I have had opportunities of watching in their progress from 
day to day until duly formed, is perfectly inexplicable to an Euro¬ 
pean, who would be thrown into a fever by any one of the wounds 
which these strange people bear, two or three at a time, without 
complaining, but certainly not without suffering. It is, however, 
quite evident that the Papuans, and also the Australians, as will be 
mentioned below, possess a callousness of skin, or insensibility of 
pain, which is quite unknown among more civilized races. 
Boring the septum of the nose is universally practiced among 
the Papuans. In the first instance they wear a roll of plantain 
