Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-05-09
MYSTERIES OF THE PACIFIC.
Scientists Show Increasing Interest IN
. Old Problems.


How did the fightless birds of New
Zealand originate?
What is the nearest living relative
to the extinct dodo Of Samoa?
| What Is the import Of the same
species of fresh water fish in two
rivers situated on opposite sides Of the
Pacific?
did a land mass fly out Of the what Is
now the Pacific ocean before this plan
ct was cooled and form the moon"
These are just few oft he many
lines of inquiry which science will turn
to in the Pacific Ocean after the peace
conference has adjusted the many COL
onial questions affecting New Guinea
the Carolines, the Marshal Islands and
the numerous other holdings in this
least known region in the world
according to q bulletin from the Nat
ional Geographic Society.
The writer of the communication
upon which the bulletin Is based,
Leopold G. Blackman, continues:
Much valuable material also will
be collected to assist tn q bstferej
derstanding OF the growth Of our own
civilization from elemental savagery'
for 1t is reasonable to suppose that the
primitive wants Of man in different
ages and regions have called forth
similar expedients to satisfy them.
"Other important objects Of investi-
cation for the ethnologist will touch
the various racial types into which
the Pacific 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
intermediate ground and possessing
affinities of race, language, and Gus
tom within the other two. The pres
ence of two distinct races of man In
the Pacific suggests two periods and
sources Of immigration and adds diff
ifculty to an already perplexing ques-
tion, 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 Sol
onions, New Caledonia, and Fill
Their most obvious characteristics may
be briefly summed up by stating that
|thcy are irreligious, democratic quar-
relsome, cannibalistic, hostile to strang-
ers. They possess no hereditary CHIEFS
llpaint or scar the body rather than
wear clothes, cook in earthen pots
chew betel, and their speech Is broken
I'up into a number Of apparently lr-
reconcilable dialects. The Papuans are
the least attractive of any Pacific Is
Ilanders, and the island groups which
they occupy are among the least
known of the Pacific and have been
for many generations Stunned by
marines and associated with every
thing that Is of evil repute in the re-
cord Of the ocean.
1.-THE Polynesians in many attributes
l'are greatly at variance with the Pa
puan islands. They possess. generally
speaking, an elaborate religious sys-
tenn. an established order Of heredi-
| tary chiefs and well-defined social
castles. They are friendly to strangers
fond of dress, expert manufacturers OF
KAPPA cloth, and intrepid seamen and
navigators. They tattoo instead ol
scar the body, seldom practice can
nibalism, cook in earthen ovens instead
of in earthen pots, drink ava, and
possess common language under
standable throughout New Zealand
Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti. and the Pau
motu Islands.
"Of all the Pacific races the great
est interest attaches to the Polynesian
Islanders, but it Is unfortunately
| these people whose primitive GUS
toms and racial types have been most
broken up by modern intercourse.
1.-THE Malayo- Polynesian language
possesses the distinction of being spok-
en- indigencies over the widest area
of any languageof the world, for 1t en-
braces two great oceans and extends
from the island continent Of Madagas-
lear to the isolated islet Of Rapani.'