The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-06-10
HAWAIIAN PLANTS
The Route of the Poly.
nesian Migration.
The Means BY Which Seeds Reach
Localities - Plants and
Their Names.

Assuming that the Polynesians fol-
lowed the path of the floating seed, we
have to inquire whether il is possible
to lay down the track. The ocean cur
rents have been occupied ages in trans
porting seeds and fruits to the Pacific
islands from Indo-Malaya. More par
ticularly the seeds and fruits of the
have been in this fashion
carried to this region, since as a rule
those of island plants have no buoy
plants have been able to establish
themselves on almost every island in
the tropical Pacific, whilst others again
have but partially accomplished the
process. 1t is in the incomplete opera
ton that we find our clue; and from
Natures failures to stock the shores of
these Islands with Asiatic littoral
plants we obtain our most valuable in
dications of the track pursued by the
floating seed.
l thought this matter over some
years ago whilst residing for a time in
an unwholesome, swampy district on
the Java coast, which was tenanted al
most exclusively by the Nipa palm
(Nipa fruticaus). This so-called palm,
as far as foliage is concerned, has the
appearance of a stemless Cocoanut tree
arising directly out of the mud; whilst
it bears a single head of fruit some
what like that of the Hala or Panda-
mus tree, but two or three times it's
size. 1t is of frequent occurrence in the
warm regions of Asia and in the Ma
layan Islands, lining estuaries and oc-
cupying low, muddy shores and eX-
tending, where the conditions admit it,
for miles inland. The separate fruits
are found in great numbers floating in
the open sea and amongst the Islands
of the Indian archipelago. They came
under my notice washed up on the
shores of Keeling atoll in the Indian
Ocean, floating amongst Krakatoa
pumice in the Java Sea, and amongst
the floating lines of seed drift in the
Solomon Islands. Like the Cocoanut
tree, the Nipa palm has many uses.
It's leaf-branches in particular, were
used for matching, furnishing the
'atap" of the Malayan peoples. 1t bears
in Further India the name which the
Cocoanut palm possesses in Malaga
and Polynesia, and since botanists gen
orally place the home of the Cocoanut
in tropical America, it would appear
probable that when the Polynesians
entered the Pacific and passed beyond
| the limits of the Nipa palm, they gave
its archaic name of "Niu' to the
strengthening Cocoanut tree. When
we find in any locality the Cocoanut
| tree we are never able to exclude the
possibility of mans intervention. With
the Nipa' palm this difficulty does not
arise. 1t is one of the few trees about
| which we can with certainty affirm
| that it witnessed the advent of prim-
eval man in the tropical regions OF
Asia and in the Indian archipelago.
Now the Nipa palm has endeavored
| to enter the Pacific by two routes from
| its Asiatic home. Reaching New Gui-
nea, its progress along the line of the
| Melanesian archpelagos has been ar
| rested in the northwestern part of the
| Solomon Islands. where I found it in
| 1884. In the other route it has reached
| Ualn, at the eastern end of the Caro-
line group, where Kittlitz, the Russian
naturalist, observed it in the early
part of this century. From these and
| other data, it may be assumed that the
! floating seeds have entered the Pacific
through the agency of the Pacific coun-
ter current by way of the Caroline ISL
ands.
The next indications of the track of
the floating seeds are afforded by two
other swamp trees with floating fruits
the Mangrove (Rhizophora mucrona-
tai and Carapa moluccensis. which are
common in the Indian archipelago
and have reached Fiji. Tonga and Sa-
moa. We have therefore to prolong the
track from the Caroline Islands
through the Marshall. Gilbert. and FL
lice groups, to West Polynesia This
portion of the track might have been
accomplished during the season of
northwesterly winds.
We find our next clue in those lit
toral plants that like Barringtonia
speciosa have established themselves
| in almost every tropical island of the
South Pacific, but have failed to reach
| the Hawaiian Islands The plant just
named is the Hutu of East Polynesia
the Futu of West Polynesia and the
Vutu of Fiji, and it bears the same
name in Malay, Sundanese. in the Phil
| ippine languages, and in several other
| languages of the archipelago This tree
which bears, therefore the same name
| from Java to Tahiti. is one of the most
| characteristic and most conspicuous OF
the littoral trees of the tropical Paci-
| fic It's square, buoyant fruits. which
are often employed as floats for fish
| ing nets. are of common occurrence il
| the open sea. I have noticed them in
the Indian Ocean. half way between
the Straits of Sunda and the Keeling
Islands, and they have been at diff
| ferent times observed in the Pacific
several hundred miles from land. From
| tho diSfribufiOO Of This tree we are en-.
abled to infer that the path of the drift
| ing seed extended east from Fiji anC
| Tonga to Tahitian and Paumotu Isl
ands. It's absence from the Hawaiian
group is significant, and goes 10 show
that these Islands have received theil
| shore plants by the circuitOus route o
| Fiji. Samoa and Tahiti. IF the tract
| had been more direct. as by the Mar
/ shall Islands. the tree would have beer