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The Polynesian race is one that presents many points of interest 

 to students of anthropology. The question of its origin has interested 

 many writers, and its feats in deep-sea voyaging and colonizing across 

 seven thousand miles of ocean have a fascination for ethnologists. 

 Those interested in ethnographical lore, in comparative mythology, 

 religion, and sociology, find here one of the most interesting fields 

 for research. Owing to its long period of isolation in the Pacific 

 region, in many far-scattered lands of small area, and to its being 

 cut off "rom peoples of a higher culture-plane to the west and east, 

 the Polynesian race has preserved many crude processes and arts. 

 At the same time, these neolithic folk are remarkable for the 

 possession of a high order of mentality, and it is this fact that 

 renders their concepts such an interesting study. The cosmogonic 

 and anthropogenic myths of the Maori people of these Isles are 

 remarkable productions ; the esoteric versions of the 'same are pitched 

 upon a high plane of thought, and contain many analogies with those 

 of Oriental lands. 



The student of comparative religion finds much interesting data 

 in Maori lore. The superior concept of the Supreme Being, the 

 conception of various spiritual potentiae, the belief in two distinct 

 spirit-worlds, in neither of which is there any suffering inflicted on 

 the human soul all these carry proof of the remarkable powers of 

 introspective thought as possessed by the Maori. The belief in the 

 purification of the human soul after death is perhaps the most 

 striking result of such powers. 



Ths universal personification that is so marked a feature of Maori 

 mythology imparts a peculiarly mythopoetic aspect to the folklore, 

 superior myths, and even to the vernacular speech of the Maori folk. 

 No Oriental people excelled in such imagery the cannibal natives of 

 these Isles. 



The social system of the Maori is another subject of much interest, 

 inasmuch as it illustrates certain institutions of communism that 

 make for cohesion and the preservation of order, and supply the 

 place of civil law. In this phase of social life we find that the 

 social unit s neither the individual nor yet the true family, but 

 the extended family, or family group. 



A study of the implements and industrial processes of the Maori 

 shows the low-water mark of his achievements as, for example, his 

 rude methods of fire-generation and weaving, his primitive agricul- 

 tural implements and lack of missile weapons. On the other hand, 

 his ingenuity and artistic talent were marked by most ingenious 

 devices employed in taking birds, by his remarkable accomplishments 

 in decorative art. The making of a war-canoe and the building of 

 a superior house were tasks that proved the energy, skill, and in- 

 domitable patience of the Maori artisan. 



An interesting feature of Maori culture is the fact that we find 

 therein certain arts, institutions, and artifacts that are unknown in 

 Polynesia, but are found in the western Pacific. These Maori- 

 Melanesian parallels seem to be traceable to the region of New 

 Guinea. Quite possibly these intrusions are referable to the earliest 

 inhabitants of New Zealand. 



ELSDON BEST. 



