Abstract
Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, Band viii. Heft ii.—On the ethnography of Matty Island, by Dr. F. von Luschan. Although Matty is a small island, about ninety-three miles north of German New Guinea, between 142° and 143° E. long., Dr. von Luschan comes to the conclusion that the natives are not Melanesians; they are much lighter than almost any Melanesians, some being of a deep red flesh colour, eyes slit-like, nose narrow, hair black and in long locks. Of the thirty-eight weapons and utensils in the Berlin Museum not one can with certainty be allocated to any known culture-mixture; any Micronesian resemblance is purely superficial. It seems probable that the people have remained isolated for at least 300 years. Three plates of utensils, &c., illustrate the paper.—Dr. O. Schellong's note on some Melanesian drawings is illustrated by two coloured plates, and is supplemented by some notes by J. D. E. Schmeltz. The drawings are interesting as showing how unlike the objects intended native delineations may be. It is to be hoped that more illustrations of this aspect of the art of savages will be forthcoming. Of the notices of recent publications, those on “Arrow-poison” and “Ethnological Botany” are especially interesting.
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Scientific Serials. Nature 52, 141 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/052141a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/052141a0