708 STONE AGE BASIS FOR ORIENTAL STUDY. 



moon, and five planets were iuteri)ieted as indicating the seven con- 

 centric splieres, with others for the fixed starS; the difficulty is met. 

 Even in the Hindu, lUiddhist, and Moslem systems of" the universe, 

 though derived from this planetary source, the planetary part (all, 

 indeed, that gives the system its value) has long since dropped out of 

 sight, and the spaces the heavenly bodies occupied have been turned to 

 account in complex series of heavens and hells. Both the Indian and 

 Moslem systems may be easily traced into the Indian Archipelago, and 

 it is a last, and I think not unreasonable, step to suppose them spread- 

 ing over the Pacific Islands. The ^Mangaian and Maori schemes even 

 bear a closer resemblance to the Hindu than to the Moslem, indicating 

 Indian religions as their carriers. 



Thus I close this attempt to lay a Stone Age basis (if I may use the 

 expression) for the study of Oriental civilization. Not attemi)ting here 

 to rise to the Metal Age and to begin the study of the higher stages, to 

 which alone it has been habitual to confine the term civilization, I com- 

 mend to Oriental scholars the thought (of which it is well never to lose 

 sight) of the humbler and more ancient stages of life which underlie it. 



