4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.79 



share the proximity of the great culture influences of the Asiatic 

 peninsulas of Arabia, India, and southeastern Asia, that point like 

 so many huge fingers in the direction of Indonesia and the islands 

 of the East Indian archipelago. 



Eastward of the one hundred and thirtieth parallel the smaller 

 islands of Micronesia and Polynesia remained isolated in a stone- 

 age culture level until the days of Captain Cook and other great 

 explorers of the eighteenth century. Stirling and other recent ex- 

 plorers found tribes of the interior of the Melanesian island of 

 New Guinea similarly still unadvanced beyond the stone age. 

 Micronesia and Polynesia are nowhere contiguous to the coast of a 

 continent or of a peninsula which might serve as a bridge for the 

 transmission of culture traits. The}^ are closely pushed together in 

 separate isolated groups. 



If we thus divide Oceania into an eastern Polynesia and Micro- 

 nesia, and a western Indonesia, we have not included Melanesia and 

 the islands centering about the great island continent of New Guinea. 

 From the geographic viewpoint these two groups are closely related 

 to central Indonesia, but from the viewpoint of culture connections 

 the same is not entirely true. Indonesia and Micro-Polynesia are 

 mainly inhabited by peoples who speak languages differing as to 

 dialects but related as to structure, i. e., the Malay or Austric lan- 

 guage. This linguistic similarity, however, does not extend to the 

 Melanesians or to the Negritos and Papuans of Australia and of New 

 Guinea and surrounding islands. 



Micronesian arts. — The Micronesians dwelling in island groups 

 such as the Carolines, Gilbert, and Marshall Islands typify a cul- 

 ture in which the knowledge of iron is lacking and useful stone is 

 scarce. The arts of the Marshall Islanders are well shown by the 

 weaving paraphernalia and excellent belts exhibited in the National 

 Museum. Shell and fiber neck ornaments, seed necklaces, woodwork, 

 basketry, and ornamental bamboo boxes illustrate the type of art 

 used in Micronesia. 



The specimens exhibited in the United States National Museum 

 embrace shark's-teeth spears, coconut fiber armor, helmets of fish 

 skin, drums, headdress, basketry, ornaments, coconut vessels, dip- 

 pers, house models, lapboards, pillow, boat bailers, lime gourds, fish- 

 hooks, awls, pump drill, daggers, dish, canoe prow, and oval mauls 

 of coral rock and heavy wood for dressing the pandanus leaf used 

 in basketry. 



Distribution of Polynesian designs. — Polynesians apparently may 

 account for their occupancy of such widely separated islands as New 

 Zealand, Hawaii, and Easter Island by their skill in navigation. 

 They observed the flights of birds and set out to find the lands whence 

 came these birds. The cult of the frigate bird, which plays a great 



