POLYHYMNIA 



POLYNESIA 



299 



twenty-five species are found east of the Missis- 

 sippi. Knot-grass (P. avicttlare) is a very common 

 British weed, and is found in cultivated and waste 

 places in all parts of the world from the tropics to 

 the Arctic regions. The stems of P. amphibium, 

 an inhabitant of ponds and watery ditches all over 

 Britain and Europe, central Asia, and North Amer- 

 ica, have been used as a substitute for sarsaparilla 

 on the continent of Europe. P. hydropiper, often 

 called Water Pepper, a plant common by sides of 

 lakes and ditches in Britain and North America, is 

 acrid enough to be used as a vesicant. Several 

 species are occasionally used for dyeing, as the 

 Spotted Persicaria (P. persicaria), a very common 

 weed on dunghills and in waste places in Britain ; 

 but the only species really important on this 

 account is that called Dyer's Buckwheat (P. 

 tinctorium), a native of China, the cultivation of 

 which has leen successfully introduced in France 

 and Flanders. It yields a blue dye scarcely inferior 

 to indigo. P. orientale has long been occasionally 

 cultivated in flower-gardens in Britain, and is quite 

 hardy, although a native of the West Indies. 

 The Bistort (q.v.) l>elongs to the genus. Fagopy- 

 rinit. cymostim, a species of buckwheat abundant 

 on the mountains of the north of India, adonis 

 an excellent sulistitute for spinach. Fagopyrum 

 exculentum, or I'olyyonum Fagopyrum (Buck- 

 wheat), is cultivated for the sake of its fruit, which 

 furnishes a nutritious diet used in the countries of 

 northern Europe. The Garden Sorrel (Rumex 

 acetosa) and some other species of Kumex have a 

 singular combination of properties in their roots 

 and in their leaves. In the former there is greater 

 or less astringency, due to the presence of tannic 

 and gallic acid ; the latter are more or less acidu- 

 lous, owing to their containing oxalic acid. Rhubarb 

 ( q. v. ) belongs to this natural order ; so does the Dock 

 (q.v.). The root of Pteroc.occus aphylla, a native of 

 the sandy steppes of Siberia, when cut exudes a 

 clear viscid gum similar to Tragacanth (q.v.), which 

 swells in water and forms a mucilage of a brownish- 

 yellow colour ; it is eaten by the Kalmucks in 

 times of scarcity. Its fruit, which is acid, is eaten 

 to quench thirst. Triplaris americana and T. 

 Bonplundiana, both natives of South America, are 

 small trees with hollow branches which are the 

 haunts of small venomous ants that shower them- 

 selves on the unwary who may attempt to shelter 

 themselves under their shade. Miihlenbeckia 

 adpressa is the Macquarie Harbour Vine of 

 Tasmania, an evergreen climbing or trailing shrub 

 of most rapid growth, sonietimes 60 feet in length. 

 It produces racemes of fruit somewhat resembling 

 grapes or currants, the nut being invested with the 

 large and fleshy segments of the calyx. The fruit 

 is sweetish and subacid, and is used for tarts. 

 Coccoloba uvifera is the Seaside Grape (q.v.) of the 

 West Indies. See also CALLIGONUM. 



Polyhymnia, one of the nine Muses (q.v.). 



Polymerism. See ISOMERISM. 



Polynesia (Gr. polys, 'many,' nesos, 'island'), 

 a term applied collectively by some writers to all 

 the Pacihc islands of strictly oceanic character i.e. 

 sillier of volcanic or coralline origin; by others 

 restricted to the eastern groups inhabited by the 

 l.mwn Polynesian race. Here it will lie taken in 

 the broader sense so as to include all the Pacific 

 lands east of the Philippines, New Guinea, and 

 Australia, except Japan, the Kuriles, Aleutians, 

 Queen Charlotte, Vancouver, Kevillagigedo, and 

 Galapagos, which are geographical dependencies of 

 the surrounding Asiatic and American continents. 

 These Polynesian, or 'South Sea' islands, as they 

 are also called, are distributed over a vast space, 

 stretching across a hundred degrees of longitude 

 from New Britain (149 E.) to Easter Island (109 



17' W. ), and across seventy degrees of latitude from 

 Hawaii (23 N. ) to Stewart Island at the southern 

 extremity of New Zealand (47 20' S.). But the 

 aggregate extent of dry land in this boundless 

 expanse of some 11 million square miles scarcely 

 exceeds 170,000 sq. in., of which nearly two-thirds 

 are comprised in the New Zealand Archipelago, 

 while the total population is probably less than 

 1,500,000. See the map at WORLD, and also the 

 physical map at AUSTRALIA. 



Polynesia comprises the three broad divisions 

 of Micronesia, Melanesia, and East Polynesia, 

 which are determined partly by geographical 

 position, and partly by ethnological conditions, 

 and each of which is again subdivided into several 

 secondary groups. Thus, Micronesia (Gr. mikros, 

 'small,' nesos, 'island') lies in the extreme north- 

 west almost entirely north of the equator, and con- 

 sists exclusively of small volcanoes and atolls, 

 forming the five archipelagoes of the Marianas 

 (Ladrones), Pelew, (Palaos), Carolines, Marshall, 

 and Gilbert, all inhabited by heterogeneous popula- 

 tions in which most of the oceanic and perhaps 

 some of the continental elements are represented. 

 So also Melanesia ( Gr. melas, ' black ' ) lies in the 

 extreme west entirely south of the equator, and 

 consists mainly of comparatively large upraised 

 crystalline, coralline, and volcanic islands disposed 

 in parallel chains from north-west to south-east, 

 forming the eleven archipelagoes of the Admiralty, 

 Bismarck (New Britain and New Ireland), 

 D'Entrecasteaux, Louisiade, Solomon, Santa Cruz, 

 Banks, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Loyalty, 

 and Fiji, all inhabited by the Melanesian or dark 

 Oceanic race. Lastly, East Polynesia lies on both 

 sides of the equator, mainly east of a line drawn 

 from New Zealand between Fiji and Samoa to 

 Hawaii, and consists of the twelve volcanic and 

 coralline archipelagoes of Hawaii (Sandwich), 

 Phoenix, Ellice, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga, Ker- 

 madec, Austral (Tubuai), Cook, Tahiti, Tuamotu 

 (Paumotu), and Marquesas, besides the large 

 sedimentary and igneous region of New Zealand 

 and numerous sporadic islets, such as Norfolk, 

 Chatham, Kapaiti, Easter, Manihiki, Tongareva, 

 Uvea, and many others. This division is the 

 exclusive domain, apart from recent white immi- 

 grants, of the large brown race, commonly called 

 ' Polynesians ' in a special sense. 



Subjoined is a table of these multitudinous 

 insular groups, with their areas, populations, and 

 political status. 



Group. Area in sq. m. Pop. 



I. MICRONESIA 



Mariana 450 10,000 



I'elew 200 12,000 



Caroline 400 30,000 



Marshall 160 11,000 



Gilbert (Kingsmill). 170 41,000 



II. MELANESIA 



Admiralty 770 



Bismarck 16,000 



U'Entrecasteaux 1,100 



Louisiade 870 



Solomon 16,300 



Santa Cruz 0,200 



Hanks 190 



New Hebrides 6,000 



New Caledonia. 6,500 



Loyalty 1,100 



Fiji 8,000 



III. EAST POLYNESIA 



Hawaii 6,700 



Phoenix 16 



Ellice 14 



Tokelau 12 



Samoa 1,000 



Tonga 460 



Kermadec 40 



Austral 106 



Cook(Hervey) 140 



Germany and U.S. 



Germany. 



Germany. 



Germany. 



England. 



2,000 Germany. 

 70,000 Germany. 



1,000 (?) England. 



2,000(?) England. 

 175,000 England and Ger. 



6,000 England. 



4,500 England. 

 62,000 Independent. 

 43,000 France. 

 20,000 France. 

 125,000 England. 



Tahiti (Society).... 

 Tuamotu (Low) .... 

 Marquesas 



600 

 360 

 480 

 New'Zealand 104,000 



81,000 

 60 



3,300 

 620 

 35,000 

 30,000 

 100 

 1,400 

 11,500 

 17,000 

 5,600 

 6,000 

 604,000 



United States. 



Independent. 



England. 



England. 



U.8. and Germany. 



England. 



England. 



France. 



England. 



France. 



France. 



France. 



England 



