ourse of my travels and observations.

The hair is very curly, and seems black, but is in reality a
dark, yellowish brown. Fil-fil is less frequent than among the
tall variety. The forehead is straight, very slightly retreating,
vaulted and rather narrow, the eyes are close together, straight,
medium-sized and dark brown. The superciliar ridges are but slightly
developed. The jaw-bones are large, but do not protrude, whereas the
chewing muscles are well developed, which gives the face breadth, makes
the chin-line round and the chin itself small and pointed. The mouth
is not very large, with moderately thick lips, the nose is straight,
hardly open toward the front, the nostrils not thick. As a rule, the
growth of beard is not heavy, unlike that of the tall Melanesians;
there is only a light moustache, a few tufts at the chin and near
the jaw. Up to the age of forty this is all; in later years a heavier
beard develops, but the face and the front of the chin remain free.

Thus it will be seen that these people are not at all repulsive, as
all the ridges of bone and the heavy muscle attachments which make the
face of ordinary Melanesians so brutal are lacking. On the contrary,
they look quite agreeable and childlike. Their bodies are vigorous,
but lightly built: the chest broad and deep, the arms and legs fine,
with beautiful delicate joints, the legs well proportioned, with
handsome calves. Their feet are short and broad, especially in front,
but the great toe does not stand off from the others noticeably. Thus
the pygmy has none of the proportions of a child, and shows no signs
of degeneration, but is of harmonious build, only smaller than other
Melanesians.

The shade of the skin varies a good deal from a dull purple,
brownish-black, to coffee colour; but the majority of individuals
are light, and the dark ones probably inherited their shade from the
tall race.

Deformations of the body are not practised, save for an occasional
perforation of the lobes of the ear. I never saw a perforation of
the septum, nor women with incisors extracted.

It seems as if the small race were better preserved here in Santo
than the tall one. The diseases which destroy the other tribes are
less frequent here, there are more children and a good number of
women. All this may be due to a great extent to their living inland
and not coming into touch with the unfavourable sides of civilization
as the coast tribes do, but even more to the h