the black races in the western parts of the Pacific, in Van
Diemen’s Land, and in New Holland. The Papuas are fond
of covering their heads with th e dnst of ochrq mixed with
grease, which reddens their hair and their whole countenance.
They wear abundance of feathers in their heads, and ornaments
of shells, as well as in their girdles and on their arms.
A custom exclusively belonging to this race, is that of wearing
bracelets of a dazzling whiteness, made very artfully and
polished, which they probably' fashion from the large extremity
of the great conchs which are found in the neighbouring
seas?’ ilome~of these ornaments, according to M.
are precisely similar to those which are found about Egyptian
mummies.
The author of these remarks endeavours farther to illustrate
the relation, which he evidently supposes to subsist between
the Papuas and Madecasses, by showing that there are unquestionable
affinities in the dialect of "these nation^.
This 4s not a fit place for entering into ethnographical inquiries.
In a future part of my work I shall endeavour to
examine the questions which relate- to the analogies known
to exist between the colonies of tribes scattered through the
southern oceanic region, which have given rise to a variety
of speculative theories. For my present purpose it | is+suf-
ficient to recognise the fact, that the Papuas and Madecasses,
whether allied" in lineage or not, belong to the same variety
of the human species, since they resemble in form and colour,
and more particularly in the texture of their hair, which in
general differs both from the woolly hair of the Negro and
Hottentot, and from the lank hair of other nations. It must
at the same time be noticed that some Papua tribes have
hair nearly resembling that of the African races. We shall
see that the Papuas- are not the only variety' of mankind
which is supposed to be spread over the oceanic region from
Madagascar to New Holland.
S e c t io n IV.— O f the Alfourous and Australians.
Another race equally interesting in relation to the natural
history of mankind, and hitherto-‘rtiuch less known, at least
in the countries to which we bave already referred, are the Alfourous.
According to M. Lesson,who has given the results
of his own personal inquiries^ the primitive population of the
Indian Archipelago,c6nsisted of tribes' of blacks with rough
but lank hair* j Very distinct from the- Papuas. . These tribes
appear to have been supplanted in >!«sibe islands at various
periods by more powerful races, who have either extirpated
them or have driven them from the coasts into the mountainous
and desert parts in the interior. They are yfet to” be found
in all the wildest and most inaccessible tracts- of Polynesia}
under which term M. Lesson comprehends all the lands
bordering on or contained iin the Malayan archipelago, re-
servingthe name of-Oceania for th e remote groupesof islands
in the Pacific. The central parts of most* of the Moluccas
are still occupied by Haraforas or Alfoers, the Philippines by
tribes of the same description, whom the Spaniards term Los
Indios ; . Mindanao-by the Negros del Monte ; the interior of
Madagascar by Virzimbefsy# of <allt which- countries these
races appear to.feèithe aboriginal inhabitants ; in the interior
of New Guinea tribes o f a similar description are termed by
the .Papuas Endamênes.-f*
The Alfourous or Endamênes live in t iy most miserable manner.
Continually at war with their neighbours, they are solely
occupied in. endeavouring to, preserve themselves from attacks?
and escape the snares laid-for them. The custom prevalent
among the Papuas of the-coasts, qf putting-their -prisoners
to death, and erecting their spoil as trophies, accounts for the
difficulty we find of observing them, even in New Guinea :
and two or three men, reduced to slavery, whom we saw at
Doréry, are the only ones we have met with. The Papuas
described them to us, as of a ferocious character, cruel and
gloomy, possessed of no arts, and passing their whole lives
* Robert Drury is the only writer who has given from personal knowledge any
tolerable account of the Virzambers or Ovales, the lank-haired people who inhabit
the interior of Madagascar.
■f M6moire_sur les Tasmaniens, sjir les Alfourous et sur les Australiens, par
M. M. Lesson et Garnot, Ann. des. Sie. Nat. tom. x. p. 149.