CHAP. VI. J POLYNESIAN MIGRATIONS. 93 



Zealand is in 34 27' south lat. and 173 4' east 

 long., thus embracing almost the extreme limits 

 of the Polynesian Ocean, or of that part of it which 

 is occupied by the true race of Oceanians. The 

 reader, knowing how studded with islands is the 

 intermediate space, many of them uninhabited, but 

 producing fruits sufficient to serve as food for man, 

 will perhaps say, " Is it not more likely that the 

 Sandwich Islanders, if leaving purposely or by 

 chance their former home, should have fallen in 

 with one of those islands, and settled where the 

 climate was mild and genial, instead of going where 

 it is always variable, and often rigorous ? I have 

 no answer to this objection, and it is in vain to 

 attempt to account for that endless mixture and 

 separation, not only of different races, but of differ- 

 ent divisions of one and the same race, which we 

 find in the islands of the great ocean. The mere 

 proximity of the islands, or even prevailing winds, 

 explain nothing. In the Chatham Islands, for in- 

 stance, which are nearly 300 miles to the south-east 

 of New Zealand, live the remains of an aboriginal 

 race, who in a short time will have disappeared 

 before the intruding New Zealanders, and who, 

 although Polynesians, have nothing in common 

 with the latter. The New Zealanders knew no- 

 thing of that island before they came there in 

 European ships. 



The migration of man in the great ocean is not 

 more mysterious than that of plants or animals ; 



