The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-02-16

C4lCN lblk bAO NfoINEC -ALLhAlo lnuhO ~ IbNL
ton of Japara as an independent state until after
the destruction of Majapahit in l476, A. D.,
when at the death Of Sultan Tranggana his es-
tates were divided between his heirs. Javanese
Annals, however, do not reach back to times
81 shortly posteriOr to the flood, and only COM
mence about the year 20 of the Christian era;
and so Doctor Lang may be right after all and
the Javanese Annals be wrong.
Granted that the Polynesians anne into the Pa
cifc Ocean from the Westward, from the Indian
Archipelago, yet Doctor Lang says. in CHI. iy, that
he 'was long uncertain, as to what
particular part of the Archipelago could be fixed
on with any degree of probability as their point
Of departure" But from information since OBJ
tanned, added to his own experience of . winds
and currents of the Pacific, - he is led to conclude
" that the original starting point of the Polyne-
slams from the Indian Archipelago was the Philip
pine Islands" The course of the Polynesians
would have taken, according to the Doctors
theory, always involuntary and accidental, would
have been from some part Of the Philippines to
Pelew and Ladrone islands, thence along the
chain of the Caroline islands to the Radak is
lands, leaving part of their crew on the different
groups or islands as they stopped here and there.
Then : from the Radak islands as a centre Of
movemen =" to the Hawaiian islands and to the
Marquesas, either direct or by way of " Tanning,
Washington, Palmyra and Christmas islands,, >"
from the Marquesas to the " Powmotoo - pau
motu), thence to Tahiti; thence to Easter island
in one direction, and doubling upon itself in q
Westerly direction, to the Hervey group; thence
to the Navigators' islands and thence to Tonga;
thence to New Zealand. At the same time that
these last drIfted on to New Zealand, the Doctor
starts another party in a N~orthwesterly direction
and settles them successfully on Wallis, Horne,
Mitchell, Ellice, Depeyster and Kings Mil
groups, within 300 miles of their 50 centre of move
ment, - the Radak islands. And this the Doctor
calls { the probable -" manner in which the Poly-
nesians issued from the Indian Archipelago and
spread over the Pacific. The Doctor fails to OBJ
serve the difference between the Micronesians
generally and the PoIynesians, in language, ma
tional traditions and many other things. The
former probably did e~migrate from some portions
OF the Philippine group, but if so, it must have
been at a period far subsequent. or far anterior,
to the departure of the Polynesians from the In
dian Archipelago, and we incline to the former
opinion. Had Doctor Lang consulted Mr.. III.
Halls article, Oceanic Migrations u. S
Explo. Expedition Commodore Wilkes) or. better
still. had he consulted the traditional Folklore
oil the Polynesians as to what they had to saw for
themselves regarding their origin and arrival in
the Pacific, he might have come to the pretty an-
curate conclusion that Torres Straits and GiIolo
passage were the points Of departure from which
they issued into the Pacific; that some of RI cir
expeditions at least were not tempest driven bv
westerly gales, but went to the Eastward on set
purpose, going up against the prevailing trade
winds; that portions of the Fiji group were their
general rendezvous and first permanentsettlements;
that, expelled from there by the Papuan popula-
ton, they spread to the Tonga, Samoan. Society.
Alarquesas, Hawaiian and other groups to the
eastward, even as far as Waihu or Easter island:
that the present New Zealand tribes, instead of
deriving from the Tonga group, from which they |
otter IN dialect more than with any other group.
claim their descent from the Samoan grouD and
the island OF Savali; and that the Hervey group. |
instead OF being peopled by New Zealanders. |
blown OF from their own coast, was settled Joint |
~ by Samoans and Iahitians. Nor were Ellis
ana Depeyster islands settled by Tonoans. accord- |
ing to the Doctor, for their dialect and traditions
refer them to the Samoan group. Even on Ro- |
tuna, though considerably mixed with the neigh |
boring Papuan element, they acknowledge and
claim their descent from Samoa.
1t is possible that the Doctors bynothesis NAV
be all right and the Polynesian traditions he ali
wrong; but We may be permitted tn saw that his
discourse upon Polynesian events and rnioratIons.
without reference to, or knowledge of P6Ivnesian
FOLKLORE, reminds us of the play of Hamlet
~ Iialniet lett out. And when, hereafter, the
To!vheslans shall be better educated and more
they will doubtless appreciate the Dc
tors correction OF the itinerary of their forefatb.
ers which was handed down to them in soDo ord
saga from time immemorial.
Tn page 50, speaking of Polynesian deponula-
non, DCctor Lang repeats, with apparent sim
cerity OF belief, one of those miserable nlatitndes
which are unworthy of men of science J;stroes
lhgiy stale IN utterance, and arrogant bevond
cohcePtloh when coming from the Inns of Chris
nan ministers who pretend to interpret the mvs-
why's " NOu S Providence. lie saws:
- independently, however, of all ossiono6Io
causes, It would seen to be a mysterious arIonoe.
menu Oh DIVINE Providence that the inferior races
y LnahAthu, with the exception, perhaps, of the
AFRICAN Negro, should die out when thew come IN
with Europeans Doctor Lang was not
sHe hrst; nor Will he be the last of the Coryphei
that doctrine. 1t is a cry, mutatis mutGnds.
human vanity, and as old as the human race.
Cushltes, Semltes, Chinese, Greeks, Lating and
Angio-oaxons have all in turn, as they stood Oh
the top OF the wheel, looked down on - the inEe-
rIor races, " the g barbarians,'' and been looked
upon themselves as such, when the wheel turned
iround and some other race rose out of the NIGHT
u ages ana Tor a short time looked upon itself as
he favored Interpreter of the mysterious WAYS of
ZOO. 1t is a sorry compliment to Europeans and
'neIr civilization to intimate that they are the ex-
erMInatOfs OF other races, not their own. that
'heir touch is deadly and their breath is poison.
that the old apprehension of 50 TYn1eo Dan
los et d0na terenteS " is justified by fact. What
we're our iorefathers-Dr Lang's and our own
~ Inuo-Europeans, and where were they, when
he Cushites and their civilization and Commerce
pread from the pillars Of Hercules to the furtbest
asI ! AS rude and savage a lot, as any Polvne-
ian tribe, cooped up in the gorges of the Hindoo-
Jush and the Asiatic highlands, who drank the
OF their enemies and used their skulls for
cups. When the Cusbite emnires
rumbled to pieces, the Arian nations cot a start
d tie world and began to build up their sciences.
IT'S and commerce from the debris of the nerisbed
lVlllIatlon. And when the European nations
nave run their course and ended their cycle,
~ WIZ tnen take up the torch and lead the ma
to a higher platform of civilization and
Ighteousness? Let us be modest, therefore. j.,
ur expressions, and avoid attempting to White
our own shortcomings by impio1sly att rib
ting them to ga mysterious arrangemer It of
'IvIne Providence. How stands the he Iar
Seen the Europeans and those whom the No.
pleased to call g the inferior races Of man
ND ! II the Australian Negroes, the North
mefIcan indians, and PoIynesians ia parts. are
lying out when they come in contact with
urGpeans, are not the Asiatio d ravidians, the
oyiyneSlan Congeners in MALI vista. and the
'nth American Indians increasip q exceedingly in
,lte OF their contact with Europeans? Is
partial to the latter and inimical to
e f0rmert If the Doctor g pro position be true,
~ not the contact with tie lndo-Europeans {
~ AGO eXtelmlnatpd the Ihnrinnn In .Ln Rnnn.o A