Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 3.: The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth CenturyVerne, Jules
History
Celebrated Travels and Travellers, Part 3.: The Great Explorers of the Nineteenth Century
Verne, Jules
Discoveries in geography; Explorers; Voyages and travels
The fauna, however, has not attained to the same exceptionally fine
development as the flora. At Rawak the phalanger and the sheepdog in a
wild state were the only quadrupeds met with. In Waigiou, the boar
called barberossa, and a diminutive of the same race were found. But as
to the feathered tribe, they were not so numerous as one might have
supposed; the plants yielding grain necessary for the sustenance of
birds not being able to thrive in the dense shade of the forests.
Hornbills are here met with, whose wings, furnished with long feathers
separated at the tips, make a very loud noise when they fly; great
quantities of parrots, kingfishers, turtle-doves, piping-crows, brown
hawks, crested pigeons, and possibly also birds of paradise, though the
travellers did not see any specimens.
The Papuans themselves are positively repulsively ugly. To quote the
words of Odet-Pellion, "a flat skull, a facial angle of 75 degrees, a
large mouth, eyes small and sunken, a thick nose, flat at the end and
pressed down on the upper lip, a scanty beard, a peculiarity of the
people of those regions already noticed, shoulders of a moderate size,
a prominent belly, and slight lower limbs; these are the chief
characteristics of the Papuans. Their hair both in its nature and mode
of arrangement varies a good deal. Most commonly it is dressed with
great pains into a matted structure not less than eight inches in
height; composed of a mass of soft downy hair curling naturally; or it
is frizzed up, till it positively bristles, and with the assistance of
a coating of grease, is plastered round the skull in the shape of a
globe. A long wooden comb of six or seven teeth is also often stuck in,
not so much to aid in keeping the mass together as to give a finishing
touch of ornament."
These unfortunate people are afflicted with the terrible scourge of
leprosy, which is so prevalent that at least a tenth part of the
population are infested with the disease. The cause of this dreadful
malady must be sought in the insalubrity of the climate, the miasma
from the marshes, which are overflowed with sea-water every flood tide,
the neighbourhood of the burial-places, which are badly kept, and
perhaps also to the consumption of shell-fish which these natives
devour greedily.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account