Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
but strange as it may seem, these are far less beautiful and less varied than may be found on
any favourable part of our own coasts.
The natives here, even those who seem to be of pure Papuan race, were much more re-
served and taciturn than those of Ké. This is probably because I only saw them as yet among
strangers and in small parties. One must see the savage at home to know what he really is.
Even here, however, the Papuan character sometimes breaks out. Little boys sing cheerfully
as they walk along, or talk aloud to themselves (quite a negro characteristic); and, try all
they can, the men cannot conceal their emotions in the true Malay fashion. A number of
them were one day in my house, and having a fancy to try what sort of eating tripang would
be, I bought a couple, paying for them with such an extravagant quantity of tobacco that the
seller saw I was a green customer. He could not, however, conceal his delight, but as he
smelt the fragrant weed, and exhibited the large handful to his companions, he grinned and
twisted and gave silent chuckles in a most expressive pantomime. I had often before made
the same mistake in paying a Malay for some trifle. In no case, however, was his pleasure
visible on his countenance—a dull and stupid hesitation only showing his surprise, which
would be exhibited exactly in the same way whether he was over or under paid. These little
moral traits are of the greatest interest when taken in connexion with physical features. They
do not admit of the same ready explanation by external causes which is so frequently ap-
plied to the latter. Writers on the races of mankind have too often to trust to the information
of travellers who pass rapidly from country to country, and thus have few opportunities of
becoming acquainted with peculiarities of national character, or even of ascertaining what is
really the average physical conformation of the people. Such are exceedingly apt to be de-
ceived in places where two races have long intermingled, by looking on intermediate forms
and mixed habits as evidences of a natural transition from one race to the other, instead of
an artificial mixture of two distinct peoples; and they will be the more readily led into this
error if, as in the present case, writers on the subject should have been in the habit of
classing these races as mere varieties of one stock, as closely related in physical conforma-
tion as from their geographical proximity one might suppose they ought to be. So far as I
have yet seen, the Malay and Papuan appear to be as widely separated as any two human
races that exist, being distinguished by physical, mental, and moral characteristics, all of the
most marked and striking kind.
Feb . 5 th .—I took advantage of a very fine calm day to pay a visit to the island of Wokan,
which is about a mile from us, and forms part of the 'tanna busar,' or mainland of Aru. This
is a large island, extending from north to south about a hundred miles, but so low in many
parts as to be intersected by several creeks, which run completely through it, offering a pas-
Search WWH ::




Custom Search