The Editor: A Polynesian-Norwegian Metisse 



253 



Celebes and Papua, where the emigrants 

 lived for a time after leaving their home 

 in the western group of islands, accord- 

 ing to Brinton. "Leaving Boru, they 

 passed to the North of New Guinea 

 (Papua), colonizing the Caroline and 

 Solomon Islands, but their vanguard 

 pressing forward to take possession of 

 Savai in the Samoan group and Tonga 

 to its south. These two islands formed 

 a second center of distribution over the 

 western Pacific. The Maoris of New 

 Zealand moved from Tonga — 'holy 

 Tonga' as they call it in their songs — 

 about 600 years ago. The Society 

 Islanders migrated from Savai, and 

 they in turn sent forth the population 

 of the Marquesas, the Sandwich 

 (Hawaiian) islands, and Easter Island." 



ULTIMATE origin OF RACE. 



As to the ultimate origin of the race, 

 before its residence in the Malay 

 archipelago, many hypotheses have 

 been put forward, and there is scarcely 

 data available, it seems, to raise any of 

 these above the level of a hypothesis. 

 On the basis of a supposed large Semitic 

 element in the Polynesian language, it 

 has been alleged that they came from 

 Arabia; the most generall}^ received 

 opinion, however, is probably one 

 which places their first home in south- 

 eastern Asia. 



The French anthropologist, De 

 Quatrefages, held that the Polynesians 

 were essentially a hybrid race, and sus- 

 tained his thesis as follows ■} 



"Everything indicates that the Poly- 

 nesian race is a mixed race, that is, that 

 it has been formed by means of crosses 

 between populations which differed 

 widely in their physical characteristics. 



"Furthermore, all the facts indicate 

 that this race is the product of elements 

 borrowed from the three fundamental 

 types, white, black and yellow, and this 

 preliminary proposition, which all our 

 later study will confirm, shows itself at 

 once and clearly in a study of the traits 

 which characterize the Polynesians." 



'A. De Quatrefages, "Les Polynesiens et Leurs Migrations," pp. 6-9, Paris. 



-The word Melanesians is commonly used to designate the negroes who populate a part of 

 the South Sea Islands. The double maxillary prognathism, that is, the protrusion of both jaws, 

 is one of the traits which distinguishes them from the negroes of Africa, among whom the upper 

 jaw alone presents this appearance, as a general thing. On the other hand, the negroes of Guinea 

 have a double dental prognathism, while the negro of Oceania often has the teeth of the lower 

 maxillary almost vertical. — De Quatrefages. 



"In a Tahitian head which belongs 

 to the Museimi, and "which may be 

 considered as an excellent type of the 

 race, the skull, properly speaking, is 

 high, moderately elongated from back 

 to front; the curve which it describes 

 from forehead to occiput is at first 

 regtilar, but suddenly flattened at the 

 back. The parietal prominences at the 

 sides of the head are not very pro- 

 nounced. The forehead is rather reced- 

 ing, although the frontal bone is well 

 developed. The orbits are moderately 

 far apart, the cheek bones slightly 

 prominent, the bones of the nose raised 

 and of medium development. The 

 upper jaw is slightly protruding, in 

 other words it is a little bit prognathous, 

 and presents a somewhat massive ap- 

 pearance; the lower jaw is curved 

 below and presents a prognathism that 

 is little marked. 



"The ensemble which I have just 

 sketched indicates a fusion of the 

 characters which one finds among the 

 white, yellow and black races. They 

 modify and efface each other recipro- 

 cally. 



"On the other hand, we find in other 

 skulls much more accentuated traits. 

 In one, belonging to a native of the 

 Marquesas islands, the general form of 

 the skull approaches that of the Hindu; 

 the forehead is raised, the nose more 

 prominent, the upper jaw is hollowed, 

 and the lower one does not protrude. 



"Here the characters of the white 

 race are incontestably most evident. 



"In still other skulls, coming either 

 from the same locality or elsewhere, the 

 skull is lengthened and narrowed, the 

 bony ridges become more pronounced; 

 the forehead is decidedly receding, the 

 superciliary ridges very prominent, the 

 cheek bones thrust forward; the nasal 

 bones, small and concave, are welded 

 together like those of the Hottentots; 

 the protruding jaws and teeth are as 

 marked as among pure negroes. 



"Here the predominance of the 

 Melanesian type'^ becomes indisputable. 



