A U S T R A L A S I A .
Papoa. negroes ; b ut tfâs. làft circumftancef will pnèbâfcïy be idi&overed, as in
New Hollanè, tö - proceed from art, and in; fome parts it would feem
tha t the ..inhabitants have, thé true Malay complexion and features. In
-the interior is a race called Harafóras,* w h o live in trees, which they
attend by a notched pole, drawing it after them to prevent furprife.
T h e appearance o f the Papuans and their habitations is grotefque, the
la tte r being Built Ion ftagesE. fin the w a te r; in which however they referable
th e Borneans and other nations in the Afiaric ifles. The women
feem the molli induftrious in making mats, and pots of clay, which they
afterwards burn with d ry grafs, or bruGflwood ; nay they will evenweild
the axe while the men are .indolent, or preparing for the chace of
wild hogs.*4\ ;
“ The afpect o f thefe people is frightful and hideous ; the men are
flout in body, their {kin o f a fliining black, rough, and cften. diahgu,red
with marks like thofe occafioned by the leprofy ; their eyes are very
large,: their nofes flat, month from ear to ear, theip lips amazingly
..thick, efpecially the upper lip ; their hair woolly, either a fliining black
or fiery red : M . Sonnerat imagines the laft to be owing to fome
powder. It is drcffed-in a vaft bufli, fo as to refemble a mop; fome are
three feet in .circumference, the leaft two and a half; in. this they flick
their comb,, confiding of four or five diverging teeth, with which they
occafionally drefs their frizzled locks to give them a greater bulk ; they
fomeûmes ornament them with feathers of the birds of Paradife ; others
add to their deformity by boring their nofes, and palling through them
rings-, pieces of bone*, or flicks ; and many, by way of ornament, hang
round their necks the tulks o f boars. The heads o f the women are of
lefs fize than thofe o f the men, arid in their left ear they wear fmall brafs
rings. Thé mén go naked, excepting a fmall wrapper round their
waifts, made of the fibres o f'th e cocoa. The women ufe a covering,
in general of the courfe .Surat baftas, tucked up behind, fo • as to leave
* Forreft, p. 109, fays that fome of them have long hair, but they are moftly mere Papuans
]of a lower clafs.
x+ F.orreft’s voyage to New Guinea. Pennant’s Outlines,-iv. 208.
i 11 ■their
A U S T R A L A S T A.
their bodies and thighs expofed to view. The children have no fort of Pap„a.
cloathing.” ' B . ■ ... ",
The religious tenets of the Papuans have been little examined. T h ey
ittake tombs of the rude coral rock, fomtetimes with fculptures. The
■chief commerce is with the:GMnefe, from whom they purchafe their
inftruments and utenfils. Their returns, -are ambergreefe, fea flugs,
t.0Et;©ife {hell, fmall pearls,:- birds of paradife, lories; and other birds’
which the Papuans .dry' with great Ikill. Some Haves are alfo exported’
probably captives taken in intefiine wars. ■ Some were offered to Captain
Forreft at a low fate, 1 -but he had before bought an eminent linguift.
Our great navigator Dampier, whofework -befpeaks wonderful intelligence
for th a t period, made ' feveral difioveiies1 on the coafl of
Papua, and the adjacent iflest * H e was- particularly -ftrftck with the
pr6hs, 'w h fch a fe p ia fird fq iied n d weih managed.- As ttris country has ‘
been little explored everi decent hcCounts ärd Vefy iifcperfedL
The,cqafts o f flapua are generally lofty, a n d , Inland, moüntain rifes
clotheffwflh' woods/, 't h e fliores‘tabQjund with
and the whole country feems to have imprefled (jvery navi-
gafor^with delight,' and well riSlerves more Cultivated and indriftriou's
inhabitants. But by a Angular finality many extenfive and beautiful
-of .the-globe are thinly inhabited-by .a few favages, while cold
and.barren provinces are the^crowded feats o f oiyilized, nations. Gould
a whole nation be transferred from the north öfEurope; to Papua, what
a change in fituatibn and fent-imenfs,. w hat an aceeflibn of private plenty
and happinefs, and what an increäfe of pubic power ! «
The natural hiftory of this country is little known, but the 'zoology
is ftriking and romantic. Papua is the chofen refidence of the fplendid
and Angular birds of paradife, of which ten or twelve forts are enumerated
by Mr. Pennant. They feem to be chiefly caught in the adjacent
lfle® of Arroo, being fuppofed to breed in Papua, and refide there
during the wet monfoon ; while during the dry, or weftern, they retire
to Arroo, migrating,in flocks of thirty or forty. Haring their flight
they cry like ftarlings, but when furprifed with a ftrorig gale they
l Pennant’s Outlines, iv. 202. Sonnerat, 122, fays that they refemble the people of
Uinea on the African coaft, which led to the name of New Guinea.
H m 1 1 croak