V.] THE OCEANIC NEGROES: PAPUASIANS. 141 



height 5 ft. 4 in. ; speech Melanesian with three marked varieties, 

 that of the south-eastern districts being considered the most rudi- 

 mentary member of the whole Melanesian group 1 . 



New Caledonia is one of the few places in the Pacific where 

 distinct evidence has been found of an early Stone 

 Age corresponding to that of Palaeolithic times in A J e he 

 the northern hemisphere. Serpentine hatchets have 

 from time to time been brought to light in pleistocene beds 2 , 

 one at Kutomo in the coralline limestone associated with 

 Biilimus senilis and other fossil or sub-fossil shells, and at 

 Bonrail M. Glaumont discovered some hearths under 5 feet of 

 alluvia, and at a depth of 20 feet four clay cooking-vessels like 

 those still in use. Alluvial matter, however, accumulates rapidly 

 in this district 3 . 



The present natives, if not the direct descendants of the 

 people of the Stone Age, must still have arrived 

 at a very remote period, probably following the Mirations. 

 general movement of migration from Malaysia. 

 The direction of the winds offers no obstacle, nor are the trades 

 of the Pacific regular enough to prevent such migratory move- 

 ments from west to east. The land connections were also, as 

 seen, more continuous than at present, while the taro and yarn- 

 apparently of South Asiatic origin, but now widely diffused over 

 the Pacific islands would seem to indicate the route followed 

 by the early human immigrants. 



From the state of their industries, in some respects the rudest, 

 in others amongst the most advanced in Melanesia, it may be 

 inferred that after their arrival the New Caledonians, like the 

 Tasmanians, the Andamanese, and some other insular groups, 

 remained for long ages almost completely secluded from the rest 

 of the world. Owing to the poverty of the soil 

 the struggle for food must always have been severe. Q ues tion. 

 Hence the most jealously guarded privileges of the 

 chiefs were associated with questions of diet, while the paradise 

 of the dead was a region where they had abundance of food and 

 could gorge on yams. Their stomach, like that of the Bushmen, 



1 Bernard, p. 262. 2 P. 270. 



3 Rev. (TEthnogr. 1889, p. 214. 



