The Lumps Of Native Copper Are Still, However, A
Mystery.
Mr. Geach has examined the country in every direction without
being able to trace their origin; so that it
Seems probable that they
result from the debris of old copper-bearing strata, and are not
really more abundant than gold nuggets are in Australia or California.
A high reward was offered to any native who should find a piece and
show the exact spot where he obtained it, but without effect.
The mountaineers of Timor are a people of Papuan type, having rather
slender forms, bushy frizzled hair, and the skin of a dusky brown
colour. They have the long nose with overhanging apex which is so
characteristic of the Papuan, and so absolutely unknown among races of
Malayan origin. On the coast there has been much admixture of some of
the Malay races, and perhaps of Hindu, as well as of Portuguese. The
general stature there is lower, the hair wavy instead of frizzled, and
the features less prominent. The houses are built on the ground, while
the mountaineers raise theirs on posts three or four feet high. The
common dress is a long cloth, twisted around the waist and hanging to
the knee, as shown in the illustration (page 305), copied from a
photograph. Both men carry the national umbrella, made of an entire
fan-shaped palm leaf, carefully stitched at the fold of each leaflet
to prevent splitting. This is opened out, and held sloping over the
head and back during a shower.
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