NATORE 
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1913. 
THE PEOPLING OF MELANESIA. 
Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse einer amtlichen 
_. Forschungsreise nach dem Bismarck-Archipel 
im Jahre 1908. III. Untersuchungen iiber eine 
melanesische Wanderstrasse. Von Dr. Georg 
Friederici. [Mitteilungen aus dem Deutschen 
Schutzgebieten. Erganzungsheft Nr. 7.] Pp. 
iii+182. (Berlin: E. S. Mittler und Sohn, 
1913.) Price 3.60 marks, 
N this volume Dr. Friederici has used the re- 
I sults of his personal inquiries into the linguis- 
_tics and ethnology of the Bismarck Archipelago 
in an endeavour to trace the path of the Melanesian 
people from Indonesia to their present settlements 
east and south of New Guinea. 
In the second volume of the “Results” of the 
Hanseatic South Sea Expedition of 1908 Dr. Fried- 
erici gave a compendious account of the ethno- 
graphy and languages of the archipelago, with 
special studies of certain implements and naviga- 
tion. From these he concluded that there was 
evidence of a considerable connection between the 
people of the Bismarck Archipelago and those of 
the region roughly indicated by a line drawn 
from the Southern Philippines across north-east 
Celebes, to the Moluccas in the neighbourhood of 
Ceram and Buru. The present volume deals with 
the evidence in more detail. A comparison of the 
languages of the Barriai and related peoples of 
North New Pommern shows many agreements in 
grammar and vocabulary with the group of lan- 
guages known as the Bahasa Tanah of the Alfurus 
{or inlanders) of Ceram and the adjacent Moluccan 
islands, and Dr. Friederici concludes that the 
Melanesians originally came from that region, 
though they were considerably modified by another 
stream of immigrants from the region included 
between the Southern Philippines, North Borneo, 
and the Minahasa peninsula of Celebes. On reach- 
ing the Bismarck Archipelago a portion of the 
Moluccan swarm passed through Vitiaz Strait and 
settled along the coast of south and south-eastern 
New Guinea. Another portion, after colonising the 
shores of New Pommern and New Mecklenburg, 
passed through Dampier Strait to the northern 
islands of the Louisiades, the Southern Solomons, 
and the New Hebrides. The immigrants from the 
sub-Philippine region took a more northerly. route 
by the Admiralty group to New Hanover, East 
New Mecklenburg, and the Solomon Islands. 
Although his argument is based mainly on the 
languages, Dr. Friederici recognises the difficulties 
in definitely fixing the position of the Melanesians, 
which arise from their great variation in physical 
appearance and culture. But he maintains that a 
NO. 2304, VOL. 92] 
471 
close agreement in the fundamental structure of 
the languages and the presence in them of impor- 
tant and. numerous common words is evidence of 
the presence of the carriers of the languages in the 
‘places where they are now found. He points out 
also a number of ethnological facts which support 
the conclusions based on linguistics. 
Dr. Friederici’s book will be found of much 
value to the student of oceanic ethnology. - It 
increases very considerably our knowledge of the 
languages of the Bismarck Archipelago. It affords 
a satisfactory indication of at least one path by 
which the speakers of Melanesian languages en- 
tered the Pacific, though it leaves still unsolved 
the problems of the northern and eastern Pacific, 
and the details of the dispersal of the Melanesian 
swarm after its passage through the Vitiaz and 
Dampier channels. 
The work would have been improved by an 
index, and in the absence of a purely linguistic 
map of the archipelago there is some difficulty in 
locating the languages. The names do not always 
agree with those appearing on maps in former 
volumes of the ‘‘Results.” Sipnry H. Ray. 
REGIONAL AND GENERAL GEOGRAPHY. 
(1) Tirol, Vorarlberg und Liechtenstein. By 
Prof. K. W. von Dalla Torre. Pp. xxiv + 486. 
- (Berlin: W. ‘Junk, 1913.) . Price 6 marks. 
(2) Mittelmeerbilder. Gesammelte Abhandlungen 
zur Kunde der Mittelmeerlander. By Dr. Theo- 
bald Fischer. Zweite Auflage, besorgt von 
Dr. A. Rihl. Pp, vi+472. (Leipzig and 
Berlin: B. G. Teubner, 1913.) Price 7 marks. 
(3) La Région du Haut Tell en Tunisie. (Le Kef, 
Téboursouk,. Mactar, Thala) Essai de Mono- 
graphie Géographique. By Dr. Ch. Monchi- 
court. Pp. xiv+487+plates. (Paris: Librairie 
Armand Colin, 1913.) Price 12 francs. 
(4) Animal Geography: The Fauwnas of the Natural 
Regions of the Globe. By Dr. M. I. Newbigin. 
Pp. 238. (Oxford:. Clarendon Press, 1913.) 
Price 4s. 6d. 
(5) 4 Commercial Geography of the World. By 
O: -J-. Rx. Howarth... Pp. 2362. (Oxford): 
Clarendon Press, 1913.). Price 2s.. 6d. 
(1) —) ROF. VON DALLA TORRE’S contribu- 
tion to Junk’s ‘‘Natur-Fithrer ” is pro- 
duced in the well-known style of “ Baedeker’s 
Guides,” and is a scientific companion for the 
pedestrian or the cyclist. The commonplace 
details as to hotels and meals, railway-tickets, and 
gratuities to custodians, are omitted altogether; 
in their place we find a truly marvellous amount 
of information on natural phenomena, from scenic 
details to botanical species, arranged  topo- 
graphically, just as we come across them on the 
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