A grammar and dictionary of the Malay language : with a preliminary ...

clxii DISSERTATION.
where cutting instruments can be obtained, keep the hair
closely cropped. The tufts then assume the form of little
knobs, about the size of a large pea, giving the head a very
singular appearance, which has, not inaptly, been compared to
that of an old worn-out shoe-brush. Others again, more espe-
cially the natives of the south coast of New Guinea, and the
islands of Torres Straits, are troubled with such an obstinate
description of hair, yet admiring the ringlets as a head-dress,
cut them oif and twist them into matted scull-caps, thus forming
very compact wigs. But it is among the natives of the north
coast of New Guinea, and of some of the adjacent islands of
the Pacific, that the hair receives the greatest attention. These
open out the ringlets by means of a bamboo comb, shaped like
an eel-spear, with numerous prongs spreading out laterally,
which operation produces an enormous bushy head of hair,
which has procured them the name of 'mop-headed Indians.^
Of these fantastic heads, very good representations will be
found in the Plates annexed to the Voyages of the late French
Circumnavigators "
The inhabitants of the islands of Waigyu, lying between New
Guinea and Gilolo one of the ]\Ioluccas, are Negroes. They
are described by M. Du Perry,* who represents them as having
features more regular, an expression of countenance more
agreeable, and complexions less black than the Negroes of
New Ireland. Their persons are delicate and slender, and
their stature short. The hair differed in texture among individuals,
some having it woolly, like the African Negro, some
lank, like the European, and others, again, of a medium texture
between the two. The highest facial angle was in tliis case 69°,
and the lowest, from 63° to 64°.
Mr. Freycinct has described the Negroes of Gebe, an island
also between New Guinea and Gilolo, and not far from the
latter.f With them, the nose is flat, the lips thick and pro-
jecting, the complexion a dark olive, the eyes deep-seated, and,
on an average, the facial angle 77°, but as high, in some
instances, as 81°. It is certain that in Gebe, Waigyu, and some
* Voyage de la Coquille. Paris, 1828.
t Voyage autour du Moude. Paris, 1829,