ra cers the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, are termed by
■Cook an ape-like nation, and the most uglyilkproportioned
people he ever saw. He says,“ they are a very darkr-coloured,
and rather diminutive race, with long heads, flat faces, and
monkey countenances/’ Dr. J . R. Forster saysp “ the na-
tives of Mallicollo are a small, nimble, slender, and ill-favoured
set of beings, who, of all men that he ever saw, border the
nearest upon the1 tribe ?of monkeys. Their skulls are o f a very
singular structure; ibeingófrom 'the root :of the nose morfe
depressed backwards than in any of the other races of mankind
which we had formerly seen.*’ ? é Their complexion is
sooty, their features« harsh, the cbeek^bohes andiTaee broad,
and the whole countenance highly disagreeable.” « “ Their
hair is in the greater part woolly and frizzled.^ v He adds,
“ I observed stevemi among these people who were* very hairy
all over the body;1 the back not excepted ,* and this-* circumstance
I also observed in Tanna and New Caledonia.” Captain
Cook says, “ their hair, mostly black or brown, is short
and curly, but hot quiteso soft- and woolly as*tbatof the
Negrb. What adds most todheir deformity 3$ a belt; oiteord,
which they wear round the waist, and-tied* so 1 tight that the
shape of their bodies -is - not unlike that of; an over-grown
pismire. The men go quite nakedy except a piece oh cloth or
leaf, used as a wrapper.” #
- Captain 'Cook says, **the people of Mallicollo seemed to
be quite a different nation from any we had yet met with,, and
speak a different language0 Cook had been hitherto conversant
with the Polynesian tribes. “ They express their admiration
by hissing like a goose.”
Such are the people of Mallicollo, and probably of the
other isles in thé northern groupe of this chain. The people
of the southern groupe have no knowledge of the existence of
Mallicollo, or of any of the northern islands.
-Captain1 Cook says, “ At first we thought the people of
Tanna and "Erromanga were a race between the natives, of the
Friendly Isles and those of Mallicollo ; but a little acquaint-
* Cook’s Voy. in Hawksworth’s Collection, p. 34, Forster’s Observations,
p .242.
anee with them convinced us that they had little or no affinity
to-either, exeept| in their hair, which is much like what the
people of the latter island have, growing to a tolerable length,
and very crisp and curly. The general colours of it are black
and brown. Their complexion is very dark, but not quite
black.” Dr. Foreter mys^/fith.éinativ^^of Tanna; are almost
as swarthy. astheyNewJCaledomansU >: only - a few had a clear
complexion, and in these tbe tipamf their hair were of a yellowish*
brown. The hair and beards of th e .rest are all black
and crisp, nay, in some woollys”m-ff Theysepayate their hair
into smallncues ofe locks,, which they wind r^und: with th e
rind of a slender-planL-^-These look like- a parceluef small
stririgs hangings down from the crowns bf their heads.
Some tfew men;.wome%mud<cMctea were feendwlm had hair
like ours, but-it was obvious;that theyiii®erei bf another nation,
and I think we understood, they; came i from, Errenan, the
easternmost island of this groupe. It is ;to,this;ielan4 th€sy
jascribe one ofrthe twoida»gu«^9iWhiQlferillh«ytsp^kk^hiQfeJp
nearly, if not: exae%|>.thati^f ttb^jEfendly islands* > Itais
therefore; probable that Erronan. was? thencer pèopledy and
that; by long, intercourse with Tanna and the ^hermeighbonr-
ing isles^eaGfrhjas leamtthetotkes’sdangBage^whichthey use
indiscriminately., The^otberi^ngwegC3)Whicih Tannese
£ g § § | and, as we understood,
Annatom, is..property thekqown.- lit hem^némffioAty ^ J h a t
ofiMallicollor; ; so that iksboffid; seem that therpeeple ■ the^e
islands are a distinct nation< oCHhemsetvfS*’! frapt&lhb s alssaqa
;:The same writer adds that these people, are of. the middle
size, rather slender than otherVvw>J3Tot^k^§®^s ^ at^ y
are tall, stout, and welltmade; Both .say they have göod
features, hot resembling thOïMefroesdorc.MalhGfill^es ;dThh
women labour hard,' while the mcnafe
are nearly naked*«mm-?; tn-Minou ari.t jo vns to io .on*
Captain Cook has described the same, race in Erromanga,
where, he says, their colour is very dark, and they paint their
faces black or red. Their hair is very curly and crisp, and
somewhat woolly.