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

ferocity and cannibalism of islands in
habited by Papuans and other races hos
tile to strangers has warded off the
tide of civilization for many genera
tions and left the island continent of
New Guinea and such archipelagoes as
the Solomon Islands to this day very
much in condition of primitive saw
agery.
In order TO place before scientists the
record of the Pacific which yet remains,
there has recently been inaugurated at
Honolulu, Hawaii, the Pacific Scientific
Institution, whose object is to stimulate
public interest in the great work OF
Pacific exploration and to take definite
steps toward it's accomplishment.
The main object of the institution is
to promote and carry out complete
scientific exploration of the Pacific
Ocean realm. The chief interest will
largely group itself around ethnology-
that is, around subjects affecting the
races of mankind which inhabit the
ocean arehipelagoes
More theories have probably been pro-
pounded and dogmatically asserted con
corning the origin of the Pacific island.
ers than of any other race of man.
The study of this important question
will not only seek to determine the
mode of entry of man into the Pacific
for it is agreed that the inhabitants
of this region could not have evolved
there, but must have entered it as emf
grants, whether voluntary or involun-
tarv. from some other branch of the
human stock-but the inquiry viii no
doubt throw much illumination upon the
evolution of the human race itself.
Three Distinct Races.
Much valuable material will also be
collected to assist in a better under
standing of the growth of our own
civilization from elemental savagery,
for it is reasonable to suppose that the
primitive wants of man in different
ages and regions have called forth SINH
lar expedients to satisfy them.
Other important objects of investiga-
tons for the ethnologist will touch the
various racial types in which the Pa
cifie islanders are divided. Of these,
three are generally recognized, of whom
the Papuans and Polynesians appear
to show the widest divergences, with
the Micronesians occupying the inter
mediate ground and possessing affinitles
of race, language, and custom within
the other two. Eliminating the Micro
nesians from the question for the mo-
ment, the presence of two distinct races
of man in the Pacific suggests two |
periods and sources of immigration and
adds difficulty to an already perplexlng |
ouestion. for the demarkation between |
the divisions of the races is by no !
means well defined, but is complicated |
by the admixture Of many other races /
of both oriental and occidental origin. /
The Papuans may be generally said to ,
inhabit New Guinea, the Solomons, New !
Caledonia, Australia, and FIJI. Their
most obvious characteristics may be /
briefly summed up by stating that they
are irreligious, democratic, quarrelsome,
and hostile to strangers.
They possess no hereditary chiefs, paint
or scar the body rather than wear
clothes. cook in earthen pots, chew
betel, and their speech is broken up into
a number of apparently irreconc1lable
dialects. The Papuans are the least
a attractive of any Pacific islanders, and
the island groups which they occupy
are among the least known of the
Pacific and have been for many gen
erations stunned by mariners and asso-
cited with everything that is OF evil
repute in the record of the ocean. |,
The Polynesians in many attributes
are greatly at variance with the Papuan
islanders. They possess. generally
speaking, an elaborate religious system,
an established order of hereditary
chiefs and well-defned social castles.
They are friendly to strangers, fond of
dress, expert manufacturers of KAPPA
cloth. and intrepid seamen and naviga-
tors. They tattoo instead of scar the
body. seldom practise cannibalism, cook
of n
pots. drink ava and possess a common
language understandable throughout
New Zealand, Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti,
and the Paumotu Islands.
OF all the Pacific races the greatest /
interest attaches to the Polynesian IS
anders, but it is unfortunately these |
people whose primitive customs and
.acial types have been most broken up
w modern intercourse. The study of
he Polvnesian language will afford I
most fascinating field of inquiry, and
is proper investigation will require |
of the tongues of the peo- {
lie iuhabiting the region between the {
EASTERN coast of Africa and the west 9
I'm coast of South America. I
The Malavo- Polynesian language pos ]
asses the distinction of being spoken I
" indigenes over the widest area of '
nv language of the world, for it EN- '
,raees two great oceans and extends t
rom the island continent of Madagas- c
ar to the isolated islet of Rapanui. r
his latter insignificant output of Poly
esian culture is distinguished as afford y
no. specimens of that remarkable ideo- q
raphic writing which lifts the race s
vell above the plane of savages ane V
roves it to have advanced toward r
ulture worthy of comparison with prim- o
tive civilization. The deciphering of v
he Rapanui records has not yet been t
ccompiished, but its solution should be e
chieved when all specimens of the art IN
ave been assembled for comparison. b