Some of our people pronounced it Manicolo or
Manicola, and thus it is also writ in Quiros' Memorial, as printed by
Dalrymple, vol.
Ii. p. 146.
[4] The particular manner of applying the wrapper may be seen in
Wafer's voyage, who mentions this singular custom as existing, though
with some little variation, amongst the Indians of the Isthmus of
Darien. See Wafer's Voyage, p. 140.
Mr G.F. tells us that these people increased their disagreeable
appearance, by painting their faces and breasts with a black colour. A
few of them, he says, had a small cap on the head, made of matted
work. This gentleman speaks highly of the extensive faculties and
quick apprehension of these people, low enough as they must be ranked
in the scale of personal beauty; he admits, however, that their skill
in the arts is inconsiderable, and their civilization very
imperfect. - E.
[5] "The productions of Mallicollo are less remarkable and striking at
first sight than the race of its inhabitants. To judge of their
numbers from the crowd we saw at Port Sandwich, I should conclude,
that they are far from inconsiderable; but considering the great size
of the island, I cannot suppose it to be very populous. Fifty thousand
is, I think, the greatest number we can admit, and these are not
confined to the skirts of the hills, as at Otaheite, but dispersed
over the whole extent of more than six hundred square miles. We ought
to figure their country to ourselves as one extensive forest: They
have only begun to clear and plant a few insulated spots, which are
lost in it, like small islands in the vast Pacific Ocean. Perhaps if
we could ever penetrate through the darkness which involves the
history of this nation, we might find that they have arrived in the
South Sea much later than the natives of the Friendly and Society
Isles. So much at least is certain, that they appear to be of a race
totally distinct from these. Their form, their language, and their
manners, strongly and completely mark the difference. The natives on
some parts of New Guinea and Papua, seem to correspond in many
particulars with what we have observed among the Mallicollese. The
black colour and woolly hair in particular are characteristics common
to both nations. The slender form of the Mallicolese is a character,
as far as I know, peculiar to them and the New Zealanders; but that
nation hath nothing in common with them in all other respects. The
features of these people, though remarkably irregular and ugly, yet
are full of great sprightliness, and express a quick comprehension.
Their lips, and the lower part of their face, are entirely different
from those of African negroes; but the upper part, especially the
nose, is of very similar conformation, and the substance of the hair
is the same. The climate of Mallicollo, and the adjacent islands, is
very warm, but perhaps not at all times so temperate as at Otaheite,
because the extent of land is vastly greater.
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