REVIEWS 335 



culture-mixture. He assumed that there had swept into that region at least one 

 wave of migration of people possessing customs and beliefs foreign to those of the 

 indigenous population, and that from the interaction of these two systems had 

 resulted the cultures which he was examining." Prof. Elliot Smith approached 

 the subject partly from the side of physical anthropology. He came to the con- 

 clusion that the custom of building megalithic monuments had been spread largely 

 through the migrations of a people belonging to a definite Armenoid racial 

 type ; and he finally ventured to put forward the generalisation that " megalithic 

 monuments, in whatever part of the world they may be found, showed such 

 similarities of structure and associations that they must have been the work of 

 people sharing a common culture." It is believed that Egypt was the original 

 source of the megalithic culture, — though not the original home of the Armenoid 

 race. " Indonesia occupies a position of peculiar importance in relation to the 

 main argument as to the origin and nature of megalithic monuments, for it forms 

 the sieve through which any extensive migration from the West to Oceania must 

 pass. Any migration into the Pacific of sun-worshipping megalith-builders should 

 have left traces of their passage in Indonesia." With the approval and under the 

 advice of Dr. Rivers, the author set himself the task of finding these traces, and 

 the evidence that he has collected is described very clearly in this volume. The 

 book, though short, is a monument of industry, for the collection of the data must 

 have been extremely laborious. The investigation is naturally concerned with the 

 more primitive peoples of Indonesia, whjo remain free from the "obtrusive 

 disturbing influences of the Indian, Chinese, and Arabian civilisations." For the 

 purpose of the book the term " Indonesia " has been made to include not only 

 the East Indian Archipelago, but also Assam, Burma, the Malay Peninsula, 

 the Phillipine Islands, and Formosa, which are sociologically associated with 

 Indonesia proper. Facts concerning megalithic monuments, stone graves, sacred 

 stones, stone origin myths, " half-men," the priesthood, the " sky-world," and many 

 other matters are set forth. Mr. Perry believes that the evidence establishes the 

 theory that the megalithic monuments, and, indeed, all the stone-work of Indonesia, 

 have originated from the cultural influence of alien immigrants, who, in many 

 places, founded chiefly families which survive to this day. The original immi- 

 grants and also the existing chiefly caste are supposed to have an intimate 

 relationship with the "sky-world." Although the author is in some places, 

 perhaps, insufficiently critical of his own theory, the argument as a whole will 



probably carry conviction to most readers. 



A. G. T. 



Primitive Man. By G. Elliot Smith, F.R.S. [Pp. 50.] (London: Oxford 



University Press. Price $s. 6d. net.) 

 This pamphlet is a reprint of an address delivered before the British Academy in 

 November 1916, and it appears also in the Proceedings of the British Academy, 

 Vol. VII. Prof. Elliot Smith is one of our most stimulating writers on anthro- 

 pology, and whilst the reader will find him a cautious and conservative guide on 

 controversial problems, he is, at the same time, constantly suggesting new lines of 

 thought. In this paper he covers a wide range of subjects, from the beginnings 

 of the Hominidas to the relatively very recent Egyptian and " Heliolithic" 

 civilisations. There is no greater authority on the brain than Prof. Elliot Smith, 

 and one is interested to see that he regards the brain-cast of Pithecanthropus 

 as entitling that being to rank as a member of the Hominidaa. On the other 

 hand, he classes Sivapithecics indicus, from the Indian Miocene, with the apes, 



