EuTLAND. — History of the Pacific. 47 



with the people in eastern Polynesia, it is probable that at a 

 not very remote date they were included in the curiously- 

 scattered island nation. The Philippine Islands being rich in 

 metals and very varied in their production, between them and 

 eastern Polynesia commerce would naturally arise. For a 

 time the group may have been the centre of the ancient 

 civilization, though at some former period that civilization 

 must have been more widely extended. 



Considering the great length of time the more civilized 

 section of the population has been in the Pacific, it is ex- 

 tremely improbable that the region was previously inhabited 

 by another great maritime people of whom there is no record, 

 and who passed away leaving no trace of their existence 

 save the mysterious monuments. 



Their cultivated plants, their domestic animals, and their 

 institutions all testified that the people whom Europeans 

 discovered in eastern Polynesia had from the time of their 

 incoming never been disturbed by an alien race, and that, 

 excepting Micronesia, they must have found the islands 

 uninhabited when they took possession. If the numerous 

 stone structures scattered over the islands appeared foreign 

 to the genius of the inhabitants, it does not warrant the 

 conclusion that they could not have been the builders, for 

 are there not in the histories of progressive nations abundant 

 examples of the works on which a people expended their 

 talenD and energy being regarded by their descendants as 

 evidences of folly and ignorance, and is it not reasonable to 

 conclude that decay would also have an effect ? When 

 Eoggewein cruelly discharged his muskets amongst the un- 

 fortunate inhabitants of Easter Island they ran for pro- 

 tection to the great statues, which they attributed to a man 

 possessing supernatural power. This is precisely how we 

 might suppose a people who had from the force of circum- 

 stances degenerated would regard the monuments of a more 

 favoured age. 



The presence of the Convolvulus batatas as a cultivated 

 plant in Polynesia and in the New World can only be 

 explained by some intercourse intentional or accidental, for 

 there is no well-authenticated example of a species being 

 brought into cultivation in more than one country. We have 

 already seen that none of the New-World peoples were 

 capable of crossing the Pacific ; it remains now to inquire, 

 Is there any evidence besides the kumara that the inhabitants 

 of Polynesia made their way to the continent ? 



When America became known to Europeans the civilized 

 nations were confined to a comparatively small area within 

 the tropics, the remainder of the great continent, north and 

 south, being tenanted by rude hunting tribes, unacquainted 



