hate been originally 'genuine ichthyophagi, and therefore
dwellers on the coast, as are the Papuas of New Guinea at
the present day.”
The hair of the Papuas, of which I have specimens brought
by Mr. Earle, is evidently a distinct sort of growth both from
the hair of Europeans and that of Africans. Every filament
is long and has a spiral twist like a corkscrew, and will grow,
if not cut, to the length of a foot. This applies fully to the
Papuas of New Guinea.
I shall conclude what I have to say on the native people of
New Guinea in the present chapter by citing the account
given by M. d’Urville. According to this writer the mass of
the inhabitants from the sea-border opposite the Isle of
Waigiou to the harbour of Dore'i, which is a considerable
part of the north-western division* of-the coast of New-Guinea,
are of the Papua race; but besides these he distinguishes
two other descriptions of people, viz. a mixed tribe, and* the
Harfours, who are the Alfourous of other writers, as
The Papuas, properly so termed by ’most voyagers, are
men of slender make, of middle stature, graceful and light,
with limbs by no means fleshy. Their physiognomy is agreeable,
the shape of their faces oval, their cheek-bones slightly
projecting, and their lips tolerably thin; their mouths are
small, their noses rounded and well-formed; their skin is
soft, smooth, and' of a very dark brown rather than black.
There is very little beard or pilar hair on their bodies. »The
hair of their head is naturally crisp, but it. isithe habit of
continually frizzling them that gives that expansion and loads
their heads with those enormous head-dresses which struck
forcibly the first Europeans who visited them., n They appear
to be of a timid and unenterprising character. This race has
taken up its abode on the sea^border,i where they live, in long
cabins elevated on piles plunged in the water even of the
ocean. The Papuas constitute the majority of the population
of the sea-shore from the Isle of Waigiou as far as Dore'i.
Our information respecting the most eastern parts of New
Guinea is too defective to allow us to give any account of the
country beyond.
Mixed with these Papuas, but in much smaller numbers,
are people of shorter stature, squat form, and a much more
robust *constitution i,of body.! Their physiognomy is quite
different; their countenances almost square, flat* and angular;
their features ui heurtes; ’Vth^jr cheek-bones very
salient, their mouths lilrge, lips thick, their noses more
widened and sometimes ptSfttfdfe rs ^Their ? skin, which is
rougher,; • offers all the varieties j| of shade from, the* deep and
shining brown; bfythe PUpuas« and ]the dark and smoky hue
of the Harfours, to the simply tawny colour efVthe Malays.
These people seldom* ©n never wear their hair dressed up in
a round mkssiand^fri^led^ke the Pappasi? thepmSBSly tie it
up-and fasten* it, with a^sorti of comb, opwearon; their heads
somethiBgiingtheiKshapei n f a turban. 3
The individ uals • of this second variety Jhave? altogether the
appearaRee' of bein g a sort of hybridsprodueed! | by the mixture
ofithe/most eastern bianchjeafofi the Malays! with Papuas
or . the Black tnbesiS»f rfhe Q^an. Some., scarcely differ from
the natives .ef ©uebe or 'Gbild®^while«ii others« (approach, by
insensible degremtcfihC Papuas or Macks'Oeeaa^itribesift
The third varigtysof people in; New Guinea, the Harfours,
are's supposed by M. diPFfville -ton be* ;;th© Yindigeaaus! inhabitants
. They are in the, parts .visited by him.;aeduced to a
state of servitude. I shallr.cite the!d;esar^itioncgivei0; of them
in a following section, in which I purpose to- collect all that I
can find illustrative of the history of the Alforian ;race.
liiAll the inhabitants of Dorei acknowledge th e sovereignty
of the sultan of Tidore; They are uniformly in a very low
degree of civilisation. Their habits are rude in therextreme.
Their religious customs, of which M. d’Urville has given
some account, consist principally, 1 according, to the observations
of that writer, of the worship ^ f ghosfs or the^souls
of their ancestors. They ornament the tombs of the departed
with idols »of rude Construction, which, as M. d’Urville
thought, resemble tha Egyptian stytevimits .wiimey, and they
have houses in their villages? ^coaseerated toisbme kind of
religious rites or worship.-}-
* Voyage de VAstoolabe,, totp-; iv. 2de partie, pi’ôOb.
f Ibid.- tom. iv. COS.