288 JOSHUA RUTLAND, ESQ., ON 
Pacific: but in Madagascar bark cloth was used simply soaked 
until it was comparatively soft, but it was not welded. I have 
brought two pieces with me, if you would like to see the difference. 
Here is a piece of Samoan topa cloth made of the paper 
mulberry ; and attached to this piece of matting is a piece of 
Malagasy cloth made from the bark. 
[ Hxhibiting the specimens. | 
But while dissenting from some of the propositions used in the 
paper, I entirely agree with the general conclusion, namely—the 
ethnological affinities of the Maories, Polynesians, and Malagasy. 
Professor OrcHarD.—I think we are indebted to the author for 
his interesting paper. Whether or not we agree with him in all 
his conclusions we shall probably do so on the final one—“ to a 
people who have left such traces behind them a place amongst the 
leading nations of antiquity must assuredly be assigned.” 
I could have wished that some explanation had been given with 
regard to the curious custom of enlarging the ears. It appears to 
have been a custom followed by the predecessors of the present 
inhabitants of Haster Island—the predecessors who erected the 
wonderful monuments found there. The author says, ‘‘ This 
curicus custom links together the builders of the mysterious 
monuments, the modern inhabitants of Oceania, the natives of the 
Amazon valley, and the highly civilized Peruvians.” Whether or 
not the evidence would be considered decisive on this point, I 
think we at all events apprehend that the paper shows the extreme 
antiquity of human civilization, and it gives another blow to the 
theory once held, but now, I suppose, pretty well exploded, of the 
primeval savage, and contirms the doctrine of Heber that the 
savage could not have been the primitive state of man. The 
savage was never known to civilize himself, but in every instance 
is the descendant of a more civilized set of people. 
Mr. Marrin Rovuse.—I would only say that despite the criticisms 
which have, in some cases, been justly spoken against the paper, it 
is one of the most fascinating and well-considered papers that I 
have had the pleasure of listening to or have taken part in reading 
at the Victoria Institute. It may be that some of the arguments 
are not so complete as to justify the conclusions, but certainly the 
argument of language is exceedingly strong. What could be 
stronger than the fact that the same word, pronounced in the same 
way, denotes the cocoa-nut tree in Madagascar and Eastern 
