Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/76

66 end of the island, to be more distinctly Polynesian in character than those inland and toward the west.

Returning now to the dark Papuan tribes of the remainder of New Guinea, we find that here also there is some difference of opinion. Owing to the coast tribes being usually at war with those of the interior, these latter have been described by them as a different race, and have been called by the Dutch and other writers Alfuros or Harafuras, a term applied to any wild people living in the interior of a country, as opposed to the coast tribes. This has led many writers to class the natives of New Guinea into Papuans and Harafuras, terms which are still sometimes used, but which are quite erroneous as implying any physical difference or any distinction of race. Dr. Meyer, who has seen much of the people of the northwest coast, considers that there is no difference of the slightest importance between the coast and inland tribes, but such as occur in every race. Dr. Miklucho Maclay concludes that the Papuan stock consists of numerous varieties, with no sharp lines of demarkation. Dr. Beccari, however, differs somewhat from the preceding writers; and as he explored a great range of country, and made repeated visits to the western half of New Guinea, his opinion is entitled to great weight. He thinks there are three distinct types of Papuans. One is dwarfish, with short woolly hair, skin almost or quite black, nose much depressed, forehead extremely narrow and slanting, and with a brachycephalous cranium; these he terms Oriental negroes or Primitive Papuans. They do not now exist as a race, but are scattered among the interior tribes, and their description accords very closely with that of the Negritos of the Philippines and the Semangs of the Malay Peninsula. The next are the Typical Papuans, who are most widely spread, and present most of the characteristic features we have already described. The last are the Mafu or Mafor Papuans who inhabit Dorey and the shores and islands of Geelvink Bay, and are probably scattered all round the western coasts. They form the highest type, with fine Jewish or European features, a better intellect, and a somewhat more advanced civilization. These people divide the year into lunar months, each with a proper name, and have names for the four cardinal points, for many stars, and for entire constellations. Dr. Beccari believes them to be the result of an intermixture (at a remote epoch) of Hindoo or Caucasian blood with the indigenes of the island, and he even traces a connection between their rude mythology and that of the Hindoos.

A curious point of physiological detail may here be noticed as lending some support to this theory. Almost all observers have remarked that the fully developed Papuan mop of hair is not a general feature in any of the tribes, but occurs sporadically over a wide area, is highly