Rutland. — History of the Pacific. 61 



Tooth weapons are in use, each in its proper place. Amongst 

 rude peoples the use of any particular weapon depends on its 

 being serviceable for procuring food rather than in warfare. 

 The dexterity of the Australian blacks in the use of the spear 

 and throwing-stick is due to its being a weapon of the chase 

 as well as war; and it was "under the greenwood tree" the 

 English archers who fought at Crecy and Agincourt acquired 

 their skill. We can thus understand the disuse of the bow in 

 Polynesia, where the inhabitants subsisted principally by 

 fishing and agriculture. 



It could have only been in the remote past, before the isola- 

 tion of Polynesia, the sumpitan or gravitana crossed the Pacific. 

 In addition to the curious weapon, the denizen of the Brazilian 

 forest country used bark cloth in their scant clothing, and had 

 many customs in common with the natives of the Malay 

 Archipelago, New Guinea, and Polynesia, such as head- 

 hunting, the artificial extension of the ears, the erecting of 

 large buildings to accommodate several families, &c.* As evi- 

 dences of intermingling, none of these have the same weight 

 as the distribution of the kumara, and of the curious complicated 

 weapon which, in its modified form, the blowing-tube, made 

 from the reeds of the Cariccs, is found as far east as Demerara.f 



Although the evidence we possess points chiefly to Poly- 

 nesia as the route by which Asiatic civilization entered 

 America, it would be wrong to coo elude it was the only 

 route. As far north as China and Japan traces of the ancient 

 civilization that spread itself across the tropical islands of the 

 Pticific can be discovered ; it is therefore probable that there 

 were at the same period other maritime peoples besides those 

 who colonised eastern Polynesia capable of crossing the great 

 ocean. 



Spaniards led the way across the Atlantic to the New 

 World, but they were soon followed by more potent rivals 

 in the work of colonisation. Now, after the lapse of four 

 centuries, though we discover much difference in the results 

 of this colonisation, everywhere American society is decidedly 

 of the European type. Between the arts and institutions of 

 Mexico and Peru at the time of the Spanish invasion there 

 were some important differences coupled with the general 

 resemblance. These differences and the various features in 

 common were exactly what might have been looked for had 

 the countries been colonised during the same era by the 

 agricultural nations occupying the opposite side of the Pacific, 

 from the Malay Archipelago to Japan. 



* " Travels on the Amazon and Eio Negro." A. R. Wallace, 

 t " Wanderings in South America." C. Waterton. 



