Note 304 — APPENDIX K. ACCOUNT OF BÁLI.

Having repeatedly had occasion, in the course of this work, to advert to the slave trade, and the sources whence the supplies of slaves were obtained, it may not be uninteresting to introduce to the reader a native of Papua, or New Guinea[306], stolen from his country in the course of this traffic. The lad represented in the plate came into my service at Bali under very peculiar circumstances, and has accompanied me to England. Since his arrival he has excited some curiosity, as being the first individual of the woolly haired race of Eastern Asia who has been brought to this country. It is known, that on the Malayan Peninsula, in Luconia, Borneo, and most of the larger islands of the Eastern Seas, there are occasionally found in the mountainous tracts a scattered race of blacks entirely distinct from the rest of the population. Some have conceived them to be the aborigines of these countries; others considering them as of the African race, adduce them in proof of an early and extensive intercourse between Africa and these islands. I shall content myself with observing, that they appear at the present day to form the bulk of the population of Papua or New Guinea. The following remarks upon the individual now in England, whom we sometimes call Papua, and sometimes (more to his satisfaction) Dick, were obligingly communicated to me by Sir Everard Home, Bart.

"The Papuan differs from the African negro in the following particulars. His skin is of a lighter colour, the woolly hair grows in small tufts, and each hair has a spiral twist. The forehead rises higher, and the hind head is not so much cut off. The nose projects more from the face. The upper lip is longer and more prominent. The lower lip projects forward from the lower jaw to such an extent that the chin forms no part of the face, the lower part of which is formed by the mouth. The buttocks are so much lower than in the negro as to form a striking mark of distinction, but the calf of the leg is as high as in the negro."