It Appears, Therefore, That, Whether We Consider Their Physical
Conformation, Their Moral Characteristics, Or Their Intellectual
Capacities, The Malay And Papuan Races Offer Remarkable
Differences And Striking Contrasts.
The Malay is of short
stature, brown-skinned, straight-haired, beardless, and smooth-
bodied.
The Papuan is taller, is black-skinned, frizzly-haired,
bearded, and hairy-bodied. The former is broad-faced, has a small
nose, and flat eyebrows; the latter is long-faced, has a large
and prominent nose, and projecting eyebrows. The Malay is
bashful, cold, undemonstrative, and quiet; the Papuan is bold,
impetuous, excitable, and noisy. The former is grave and seldom
laughs; the latter is joyous arid laughter-loving, - the one
conceals his emotions, the other displays them.
Having thus described in some detail, the great physical,
intellectual, and moral differences between the Malays and
Papuans, we have to consider the inhabitants of the numerous
islands which do not agree very closely with either of these
races. The islands of Obi, Batchian, and the three southern
peninsulas of Gilolo, possess no true indigenous population; but
the northern peninsula is inhabited by a native race, the so-
called Alfuros of Sahoe and Galela. These people are quite
distinct from the Malays, and almost equally so from the Papuans.
They are tall and well-made, with Papuan features, and curly
hair; they are bearded and hairy-limbed, but quite as light in
colour as the Malays. They are an industrious and enterprising
race, cultivating rice and vegetables, and indefatigable in their
search after game, fish, tripang, pearls, and tortoiseshell.
In the great island of Ceram there is also an indigenous race
very similar to that of Northern Gilolo. Bourn seems to contain
two distinct races, - a shorter, round-faced people, with a Malay
physiognomy, who may probably have come from Celebes by way of
the Sula islands; and a taller bearded race, resembling that of
Ceram.
Far south of the Moluccas lies the island of Timor, inhabited by
tribes much nearer to the true Papuan than those of the Moluccas.
The Timorese of the interior are dusky brown or blackish, with
bushy frizzled hair, and the long Papuan nose. They are of medium
height, and rather slender figures. The universal dress is a long
cloth twisted round the waist, the fringed ends of which hang
below the knee. The people are said to be great thieves, and the
tribes are always at war with each other, but they are not very
courageous or bloodthirsty. The custom of "tabu," called here
"pomali," is very general, fruit trees, houses, crop, and
property of all kinds being protected from depredation by this
ceremony, the reverence for which is very great. A palm branch
stuck across an open door, showing that the house is tabooed, is
a more effectual guard against robbery than any amount of locks
and bars. The houses in Timor are different from those of most of
the other islands; they seem all roof, the thatch overhanging the
low walls and reaching the ground, except where it is cut away
for an entrance.
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