ii8 



SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



This diagram (Fig. lo) illustrates the necessity for defining the amount 

 of correlation involved in a given comparison. It is, of course, obvious 

 that the shift of power is not wholly determined by the lower temperature 

 of high latitudes. There is, however, no doubt that physical vigour is 

 somewhat higher at lower temperatures, though Huntington is convinced 

 that the optimum occurs at 63° F. ; while the best mental work is done 

 in regions with an average temperature near 45° F. (Huntington 1938). 

 These facts must have a bearing on the evolution of all forms of culture. 

 Probably of equal importance in the shift of empire are other factors 

 such as ' freedom from invasions.' Invaders attacked Europe from Asia 

 and Africa at first ; and later, Britain was saved by her insular position 

 from many continental attacks. Command of the Atlantic seaboard, and, 

 chief of all, readily accessible coal supplies also contributed to this shift 

 to the north-west. 



We may use as an illustration of the value of the ' Zones and Strata 

 Concept ' that complex of races and cultures which characterises the 



Fig. 10. — Correlations of Temperature and Empire. Other factors are discussed 



in the text. 



Indian and Pacific areas. The writer has had the advantage of travelling 

 widely in Eastern Asia and in the Pacific, and this has focused his atten- 

 tion on the general principles underlying dispersion in this area. It is 

 quite obvious that every widespread characteristic in Polynesia has 

 migrated from west to east — and that any cultural contacts with America 

 can be completely ignored in a general study. Let us examine the data 

 in Easter Island — the farthest of these isolated groups from Asia (Fig. 11). 

 It is almost 14,000 miles from the Caspian area to Easter Island, yet I hope 

 to demonstrate a culture sequence stretching across all this vast expanse. 

 Two remarkable features in Easter Island are the well-known stone 

 statues and the undeciphered script incised on wooden tablets. There is 

 no reasonable doubt (as the Routledges (19 19) have shown) that the 

 statues, with their bird-man decorations, are of the same culture-complex 

 as is common in the Solomon Islands, some six thousand miles to the 

 west (Fig. 11). Hevesy (1933) and Hunter (1934) are satisfied that the 

 script, the only one used by Polynesians, is connected with the remarkable 

 Mohenjo Culture which flourished in the Indus region about 3000 B.C." 

 It is true that objections have been raised by Metraux (1938) that the script 

 was not understood by any living Polynesian, and that the tablets of mimosa 

 wood, etc., are not likely to be many centuries old, some indeed being 



