114 FUNAFUTI 



If this be the true history of the island, how then did it 

 acquire its inhabitants ? (Fig. 33.) Did they climb 

 upwards, like the corals, as the island was submerged, or 

 did they arrive as flotsam and jetsam of the sea? As 

 regards the natives there can be but one answer they 

 came by boat. In former days the Polynesians possessed 

 excellent sea-going craft, in which they were accustomed 

 to make long voyages, steering by the stars and other 

 signs in the sky. They well knew how to preserve food 

 by drying, and thus had no difficulty in provisioning for 

 a cruise. The routes they followed in passing from 

 island to island are gradually becoming known to us, 

 and have been indicated on a chart by Professor Haddon. 

 Considering the remarkable similarity of language which 

 characterises all Polynesia, from New Zealand on the 

 south to the Sandwich Isles on the north, there can be 

 little doubt that the migrations of these peoples must 

 have taken place comparatively recently, and, judging 

 from tradition, one might conjecture within the last seven 

 or eight hundred years. 



Thus long before the illustrious townsman of this city, 

 John Cabot, had anticipated Columbus in his famous 

 voyage to America, these navigators, whom we libel with 

 the name of savages, were venturing on equally arduous 

 explorations, with still more imperfect means at their 

 command. It was not often, however, that long 

 voyages of over a thousand miles were made of set 

 purpose ; too frequently they were the result of accident, 

 as when frail canoes were overtaken by a sudden storm 

 and driven at the mercy of the winds, sometimes to 

 perish miserably, sometimes by good hap to land on 

 undiscovered shores. 



The Funafuti people seem some of them to have 

 entered the island with intent, others are mere waifs and 

 strays cast away by shipwreck on the reef. The pre- 



