The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-29

perhaps unlock knowledge of immense
value to many questions of the origin,
migration, and history of the Pacific
races.
Did the Moon Come Out of the Pacific
Ocean.
OF not less Importance will be an in.
vestigation affecting the origin of the
Pacific Ocean bed itself-the greatest
depression on the globe. Many ingeni
GUS theories have been advanced on
this subject, and among these the two
following are interesting:
The first hypothesis suggests that the
Pacific area was formerly occupied by
a land-mass which has subsidized below
lsea-level, probably by volcanic agency.
The volcanic system extending round
the Pacific littoral of Asia and Amer
lea lends considerable color to the
| theory, and would represent the edge
of the sunken plain. At this point of
fracture the subiacent molten contents
of the earth have found vent, and thus
| by dispersal have built up the coast
mountain chains IF this be true, the
present island groups of the Pacific
would represent the SUBMITS of former
mountain systems.
/ Whatever the cause of the isolation
| of the present archipelagoes, evidences
are not lacking that they have at some
| time been connected with other land
masses. The absence of mammals of
any Importance, however, would sug-
gest this period to be so remote that
| they severance occurred before the evo-
luton of these creatures. The land mol
| lusks, whose nearest affinities must be
sought in geologic fossils, also point to
| the islands as having been isolated in
i the remote past.
The second geological theory of the
Pacific which has claimed credence is
that the land-mass which formerly oc-
euped its depression was, in the age
before the qualification of the globe
was too far advanced, whirled off by
centrifugal force, and now composes
our satellite, the moon. comparison
of the shores of west America and east
Asia with other evidence suggests some
truth TO this remarkable theory, for the
coast lines will be seen to bear the same
relation to one another as that pos
sessed by the indentures of a legal
document.
Why do Pacific mammals, reptiles,
and birds become more scarce as we
progress across the ocean from east to
west? What is the origin of the Ha-
waiian birds? How did the fightless
birds of New Zealand originate, and
what was the evolution of the gigantic
wingless moa2 Why is the nearest liv-
ing relative to the extinct dodo found
in Samoa? What is the import of the
presence of the same species of fresh
water fish in two rivers situated on OPP
posite sides of the Pacifca Have the
Australian marsupials a common origin
with those of America, and does their
presence contribute to the theory of an
continent? These are
few of the many interesting questions
whose solution would contribute much
to tFe establishment of truths of ma
terisI Importance to modern knowledge.
The investigation of all the above
questions, except perhaps those affect
ing such stable subjects as geology,
must be undertaken in the immediate
future if any satisfactory result is to
be achieved.
The total disappearance of the inhab
itants of some islands has created
gap which is now as impossible to
bridge as that between our own civiliza-
ton and the European Stone Age. In
this way much that is necessary to
true understanding of the Pacific has
ing prof lens can now never be solved.
The work of the early navigators was
sufficient to the knowledge of the day ;
in which it was conducted, but the sig :
nificance of habits, of custom, IF rites
of legends, and of arts was ignored or
interpreted. and an inexhaust-
lble store of priceless information re- {
manned UNDECIDED until it has been eff
faced and has forever passed away.
The Extraordinary Civilization of the
Polynesian.
And here it may be said that the
plane of culture which has disappeared ]
before a hardy and aggressive civiliza- '
ton has in some eases been of a much I
higher order than the intolerance OF I
the early white man could appreciate. !
With regard to the Polynesian race
his is especially true. ]
The elaborate religious system of this
people had attained a perfection and :
elaboration of ritual such as has been
equaled by few other people. The orr {
rim of the dreaded taboo and its develop I
nent into a wonderful religious and po-
itical engine indicates an intelligence of I
10 mean order. The ceremonial by G
which the hereditary castles and offices
we're maintained and in which social sys- '
EN- was upheld bears witness to a sue 4
ession of remarkably endowed political c
ulers.
The tremendous irrigation tunnels by |
which mountain ranges were pierced re- a
uired alike great mechanical skill and ?
ONE knowledge of the principles of sur Il
ewing. Their elaborate code of water $
lights. their knowledge of the movement e
f the heavenly bodies, their familiarity
nth the currents of the great ocean and
heir protracted voyages thereon, THEN P
volution of a system of writing, are all
latters which excite our admiration and
ear testimony to the fact that the Poly