The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-05-04
SEED MIGRATION
Asiatic Plants on Po1yne.
sian Islands.
The Ocean Currents Brought Some
Plants to HaWaii-Man Brought
Others.


wall, where he is making a study oil
the origin of Hawaiian Island plants
| He is at present experimenting with
| seed brought here by currents, and is
| trying the effect of raising the coast
plants at high elevation, in order to
determine which is the parent plant
heinland or the coast plant. DR.. Cup
by is the author of a book on the
Solomon Islands. The following ar
ticle gives an idea of the drift of what
the visiting naturalist seeks to accom-
plish:
The history of several of the most
familiar of the Hawaiian plants is to
a great extent bound up with ques-
tons relating to the origin of the H&-
waiian people, and what is true OF
these Islands applies also to the other
Pacific groups, where the Polynesians
are at home But in order to arrive
at any safe conclusion in these mat
tiers, it is requisite to call to our aid
three sets of Investigators.
The botanist determines the species
and the range of the plant; the student
of language pays his attention to the
name, and in cases of dispute, the
casting vote is given by the inquirer
into the means of plant-dispersal. In
the instance of the "Kukui" (aleurites
triloba), we have an example of the
employment of this method. The bot
anist holds that the currents have
been the principal agents in transport
ing this plant from Indo-Malaya to
Polynesia: but the student of language
does not find the home of the Hawai-
ian name in the home of the plant;
and in this uncertainty we appeal to
the evidence afforded by experiments
and observations on its dispersal, and
learn that no sound seed of the "Ku-
kui" can be carried for any great dis
lance by the oceanic currents.
The conclusion reached is that man
has brought this tree into the Pacific,
although some race other than the
Polynesian assisted in its dispersal.
AS will be pointed out in later article
the absence of the Polynesian name
from Indo-Malaya and the presence of
the Fijian name in that region indicate
that the Melanesians carried the plant
to Fiji, and that the Polynesians sub
sequently transported it to the other
groups Of the Pacific.
But the currents have undoubtedly
been the agents in stocking the shores
of the Polynesian Islands with many
Asiatic plants, and, as will subsequent
ly be shown, man in his migrations,
has followed the track of the floating
seed We are, however, rather apt to
accept the fact of the migration of the
Polynesians without inquiring into its
cause. No nation has ever migrated
without a reason, and we may fifty
ask what led the ancestors of the
Maori race, the Hawaiians, Tahitians,
Samoans, Tongans, New Zealanders,
and others, to leave their home in
Further India and the Malayan Archi-
pelago to brave the dangers of the
wide Pacific.
We turn in vain to history and to
tradition for an answer to this query.
That a people hard-pressed in the
rear by other migrating nations, might
be forced to take to the ocean for its
safety and to occupy neighboring ISL
ands. can be readily understood. But
the "vis a tergo" that drove the Poly
nesians from Indo-Malaya would not
have carried them to the distant ISL
ands of Hawaii and Tahiti.
We have, however, seen that the
shore plants have performed the same
long journey. The "Naupaka"
(Scaevola koenigiD, the "Pohuehue"
(Spomaea pes caprae), the "Noni'
(Morinda citrifolia), the ''Kou" (Cor-
dia subcordata), the "Hala' Panda-
nus odoratissimus), and some others,
have been transported in the lapse of
ages through the agency of their float
ing seeds and fruits from the Indian
to nearly every island in
the tropical Pacific. But the parallel
between the drifting seed and mi
grating people may be yet further eX-
tended. Neither performed the voyage
Yet to deny motive to
the Polynes;kns may at first sight
seem absurd. But it may be asked
any motive was under the cir
cumstances possible. We have the Gu
riOus spectacle of a migrating people
to the center of the Pa
cific, impelled by no force in the rear,
led on by no hopes of new lands, yet
passing on from group to group in
manner more suggestive of instinct
than of that deliberate purpose we are
accustomed to attribute to the MIND
of man. It is possible that. instinct"
as we apply the term to the migrations
of the lower animals, may have come
into play here.
This and many other interesting
points are raised by a study of the
plants of these Islands. In order to
illustrate the subject, a few of the
more familiar plants will be discussed
from the standpoint of their origin,
and then an attempt will be made 70
explain the mysterious wanderings of
the Polynesian people.
H. B. GUPPY. NJ. B. F. R. S. E.
Pnnalnn Kan Hawaii Anril % ,97