NO. II MELANESIANS AND AUSTRALIANS HRDLICKA 3I 



discussion due notice is taken of the assumed evidence on the sub- 

 ject, including the vague early references to " blacks " in the Darien 

 region and elsewhere, as well as of all the seeming proofs advanced 

 by Rivet, but they are found wanting, and the author, while not 

 closing the door to any possible new and more satisfactory evi- 

 dence, remains in general unconvinced or skeptical. Speaking of the 

 supposed relations of the Chon (Patagonian and Ona) with the Aus- 

 tralian languages, he says: 



It remains uncertain whether the word comparisons of Rivet do justice to the 



realities of the languages used The dictum of Wilhelm von Humboldt 



that such comparisons should not be trusted readily is true even today 



For the present it cannot yet be said that the similarities he [Rivet] brings 

 forth can be regarded as assured facts." 



As to the ethnographical resemblances enumerated by Rivet, Leh- 

 mann is of the opinion " that it is still too early to draw, from his 

 comparisons, any valid conclusions." " 



The question of the Darien or other " Negroids " is undecided ; 

 the subject calls for further investigation. 



An able treatment of the subject of migrations to America from the 

 Pacific was presented in 1933 by Roland B. Dixon,**" one of the 

 foremost American ethnologists. His principal conclusions on the 

 problem were as follows : 



It has been seen that the claims for similarity between American and Oceanic 

 traits are in the majority of cases only superficially true. The resemblances, 

 so far as they exist, are analogies and not homologies, and as soon as one studies 

 details, the differences are found to be both significant and fundamental. (P. 344.) 



A further point of significance is that if we are to explain the presence of 

 these Polynesian or Melanesian traits in America as due to diffusion, why do 

 we not also find here other traits equally or even more characteristic of the 

 supposedly immigrant peoples? (P. 345.) 



I believe, therefore, that quite apart from the lack of validity of many of 

 the analogies claimed between American and Oceanic cultural traits, the 

 practical difficulties in the way of diffusion as an explanation are well-nigh 

 insurmountable. (P. 351.) 



^" " Es bleibe dahingestellt, ob die von Rivet versuchten Wortvergleichungen 



dem wirklichen Wesen der herangezogenen Sprachen gerecht werden 



Noch heute gilt der Ausspruch Wilhelm von Humboldts zu Recht, dass man 



sich derartigen Vergleichen night leichtglaubig anvertrauen darf Es kann 



heute noch nicht gesagt werden, dass die von ihm aufgestellten Gleichungen 

 als geisicherte Tatsachen angesehen werden diirfen." (P. 326.) 



^' " dass es noch verfriiht ist, aus den von ihm vorgenommenen Vergleichen 

 irgendwelche endgiiltigen Schliisse zu ziehen." 



'"The question of possible Polynesian voyages to America is discussed more 

 especially by this author in his paper published in 1934. 



