TAHITI. 



471 



FIG. 211 



In some respects the Tahitians were surpassed by other South 

 Sea Islanders ; the Eijians, for instance, being, as we have 

 seen, acquainted with pottery ; but on the whole they may 

 be taken as representing the highest stage in civilization to 

 which man has in any country raised himself before the 

 discovery or introduction 

 of metallic implements. 

 It is not, indeed, at all pro- 

 bable that any inhabitants 

 of the great continents 

 were so far advanced in 

 civilization during their 

 Stone Age. Doubtless, the 

 Society Islanders would 

 not have remained with- 

 out metal, if the country 

 had afforded them the 

 means of obtaining it. 

 On the other hand, the 

 ancient inhabitants of 

 Europe were confined to 

 the use of stone weapons 

 only until they became 

 acquainted with the supe- 

 riority of, and acquired 

 the art of working in, 

 copper, bronze, or iron; 

 and it is evident that a 

 nation would in all pro- 

 bability discover the use 

 of metal before attaining the highest pitch of civilization, 

 which, without such aid, it would be possible for it to attain. 

 The tools of the Tahitians when first discovered were made 

 of stone, bone, shell, or wood. Of metal they had no idea. 



Stone Axe with Wooden Handle 



