IO 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



itself is not a distinct unit. The people who inhabit New Zealand belong to the same race. 

 Although the Polynesians are all of one stock, and speak dialects of a common language, jet 

 they are far from being unmixed. However, the term is in general use, and has been 

 found to be more or less convenient. The Polynesians, according to universal testimony, are 

 one of the very finest races in the whole world. In their habits they are clean and tidy, 

 with a sense of order and neatness never found among barbarous peoples. The reader will 

 perceive, on examining our illustrations, that the type of face shows a marked approach to 

 that of the European. The hair, always an important feature in determining race, is dark 

 brown or black, smooth and curly, and quite unlike the frizzly hair of the Papuan, or the 

 perfectly straight black hair of the Malay. As a rule the Polynesians have not much beard. 

 In stature they are fully equal to Europeans. Unlike the Malay, their disposition is cheerful, 

 and they are fond of dancing, singing, and all kinds of amusements. 



One of their games resembles draughts, but is not so simple. Perhaps it is the same 

 game as that which, as we see from the frescoes on temple and tomb, was played ages ago 

 by Egyptian Pharaohs and their wives. The board has 238 squares, divided into rows of 

 fourteen. Another game is to hide a stone in a piece of cloth and try to find it by 

 hitting with a stick; here betting is the chief excitement. Cricket has been introduced by 

 Englishmen, and the late Robert Louis Stevenson said that in Samoa, where he lived, 

 cricket matches used to be played by whole villages, some hundreds on a side, so that a 

 game sometimes lasted for weeks! At length the waste of time and cost of entertaining the 

 visitors reached such a pitch that the chiefs interfered. Ball games are very popular. In 



the Hawaiian game called lain, a wheel- 

 shaped stone (maik) is thrown as far 

 as possible; and players have been known 

 to stake all their property, their wives 

 and children, their arm- and leg-bones 

 (after death), and at last even their own 

 persons, on one throw. Boys and girls 

 get np races among themselves not 

 separately, for the girls can run as well 

 as the boys. In Tahiti and in Hawaii 

 surf-swimming is a favourite pastime. 

 Children have toy-boats. New Zealanders 

 are very fond of flying kites. Games 

 with the fingers also are common. 



POLYNESIAN RELIGION. 



"ANIMISM," universal animation, or the 

 endowing of all things with a soul, is 

 the foundation of all Polynesian religion. 

 But we must guard against misinter- 

 preting the words "spirit" and "soul," 

 as the terms are used here. " Soul " 

 generally means "life," a sense also 

 found in the Hebrew Psalms. In Tahiti, 

 the term for " spirit " extends to the 

 squeaking of rats, or the talk of children 

 in their sleep! Everything has its soul, 

 be it a tree, a stone, an implement, or 

 an animal. Thus arose the primitive 



i'hoto by Mi'. J. J. Li*tf/\ St. John's folkf/e^ C(tlilbri<.l(jK. 

 A GIRL OF THE TONGA ISLANDS. 



