398 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
the Karons be of Negrito stock. For as long a period 
as Europeans have been acquainted with the country, 
that is to say from the beginning of the sixteenth 
century, its inhabitants have been known by the name 
they now bear, the derivation, according to Crawfurd, 
being from the Malayan papuwa or puwah-puwah , 
“ woolly-haired.” Although the pure race appears to be 
confined to the north-western part, and perhaps to the 
interior, the Papuan of mixed blood is found from Flores 
in the west to Fiji in the east, though his range in point 
of latitude is not great, and is, roughly speaking, limited 
by the equator and Torres Strait. 
Professor Keane speaks of the Papuan as “ one of the 
most strikingly distinct types of mankind,” and the de¬ 
scription would probably be acknowledged as just by most 
travellers acquainted with the pure race. In southern 
and eastern New Guinea the natives differ widely from 
the type, and differ also much among themselves in many 
ways—a fact that has led some observers to the conclusion 
that the Papuan cannot be regarded as a distinct race. 
The typical individual nevertheless exhibits such marked 
characteristics, both physically and mentally, that he forms 
an extraordinary contrast with his neighbour, the Malay, 
and it is impossible for any one who has studied the 
latter people on the one hand, and the Australians and 
brown Polynesians on the other, to doubt that any such 
conclusion is erroneous. 
The typical Papuan may be described as follows :—He 
is decidedly tall in stature, much surpassing the Malay 
in this respect, and being equal, and even superior, to the 
average European. He is strongly built, but the legs 
are thin and weak, and he is usually more or less “ spur- 
heeled ”; but the hands and feet are large, and contrast 
greatly with the Malay fineness of bone. The colour of 
