CONCLUDING REMARKS. 599 



pology, a science which is of higher importance to us than any 

 other, as treating of the developmental history of our own species. 

 The languages of Polynesia are being rapidly destroyed or 

 mutilated, and the opportunity of obtaining accurate information 

 concerning these and the native habits of culture will soon have 

 passed away. 



The urgent necessity of the present day is a scientific circum- 

 navigating expedition which shall visit the least-known inhabited 

 islands of the Pacific, and at the same time explore the series of 

 islands and island groups which yet remain almost or entirely 

 unknown as regards their botany and zoology. These promise 

 to yield results of the highest interest if only the matter be 

 taken in hand in time, before introduced weeds and goats have 

 destroyed their natural vegetation ; dogs, cats and pigs, their 

 animals, and their human inhabitants have been swept away, or 

 have had their individuality merged in the onward press of 

 European enterprise. There is still, to the disgrace of British 

 enterprise, even in the Atlantic Ocean, an island, the fauna and 

 flora of which are as yet absolutely unknown. The past history 

 of the deep sea, of the changes of depression and elevation of its 

 bottom, is to be sought to a large extent in the study of the 

 animals and plants inhabiting the islands which rear their 

 summits above its surface. These insular floras and faunas 

 will soon pass away, but the deep-sea animals will very possibly 

 remain unchanged from their present condition long after man 

 has died out. 



