November 10, 1922] 



SCIEXCE 



527 



-550 feet above the water surface of the river. 

 The storage capacity of the reservoir to be 

 ■created 'by such a dam wotild be in excess of 

 25,000,000 acre feet. The discharge of Colo- 

 rado River at this point maj' be noted, in, ap- 

 proximate figures, as ranging from 7,000,000 

 to 22,000,000 acre feet per year. The mean 

 -annual discharge may be about 15,000,000 acre 

 feet. The surface area of the reservoir would 

 ■reach 125,000 acres. 



The feasibility of a dam of the dimensions 

 proposed seems now to be generally accepted 

 by the engineers who have investigated the 

 'dam site. A reservoir at Boulder Canyon would 

 control the flow of Colorado River except the 

 contributions by the Gila River, and the stor- 

 ■age could be so manipulated that it would 

 eluninate the lower river flood menace to the 

 ■extent that this menace is due to up river high 

 stages. Such a reservoir would also regulate 

 the flow of the river for irrigation purposes, 

 thereby pei'mitting the extension of the ir- 

 rigated area, and would generate upward of 

 ■600,000 horse power for electrical transmission. 



It is not enough to know that this reservoir 

 ■should be constructed. Equally important is 

 the matter of urgency. And this applies with 

 •equal force to the reservoir control of the river 

 ■and to the placing of the lower river upon a 

 ■direct course to the Gulf. 



C. E. Grux^sky 



PROGRESS IN POLYNESIAN 

 RESEARCH 



In view of the many inquiries regarding the 

 status of the anthropological studies in Poly- 

 nesia, undertaken by the Bishop Museum, a 

 summary statement of progress and results ap- 

 pears to be appropriate. 



Systematic investigations of the origin and 

 ■culture of the Polynesian peoples have been 

 •eoudueted by the Bayard. Dominick Expedition 

 -and made possilfle by a generous gift of Bay- 

 •ard Dominick, Jr., of New York — funds given 

 to Yale University and placed by the university 

 ■at the disposal of Bishop iVIuseum. During ifihe 

 •summer of 1920 four field parties began their 

 work — the first in Tonga, the second in the 

 Marquesas, the third in Rurutu, Raivaivai, 

 Tui)uai and Rapa of the Austral Islands, the 



fourth in selected islands of the Hawaiian 

 group. Through cooperative arrangements 

 witli scientists of New Zealand, physical meas- 

 urements of the Maori and a complete survey 

 of the M^aoriori of Chatham Islands forms jDart 

 of the program. By the end of this year all 

 the field parties will have returned to Hono- 

 lulu. These surveys supplemented by investi- 

 gations in Tahiti and adjacent islands organ- 

 ized for 1923, will complete the present plans 

 of the Bayard Dominick Expedition. Con- 

 tributions to the physical anthropology' of 

 Samoa and of Tonga have been pu.blished by 

 the museum; other papers are in press or in 

 preparation for publication. 



The prosecution of this soalreh for Polynesian 

 origins aims at the solution of two distinct 

 problems: (1) the source of the physical racial 

 characteristics, which have combined to make 

 the Polynesian physical types; and (2) the 

 source of the original elements which formed 

 the basis of the ancient culture of the people. 

 Dependent upon the solution of the.se is a third 

 problem : the degree in which racial and cul- 

 tural transplantation and stratification are cor- 

 related. 



Dr. Louis R. Sullivan, physical anthropolo- 

 gist of the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, is devoting himself to the study of the 

 i-acial data secured by himself and by other 

 members of the expedition. He makes the fol- 

 lowing tentative classification of the physical 

 characters which go to make up the two basic 

 elements in the Polyn^esian ijeoples: 



Type 1 is characterized by (1) tall stature, 

 (2) moderately long heads, (3) relatively high, 

 narrow faces, (4) relatively high, narrow noses, 

 (5) straight or wavy black hair of medium 

 texture, (6) wel-developed moustache and 

 moderate beard on the chin, (7) moderate 

 amount of hair on the .body and limbs, (S) 

 light brown skin, (9) incisor rim present occa- 

 sionally, (10) femur flattened (platymerie), 

 (11) tibia flattened (platycnemic), (12) ulna 

 flattened (pl'atolenic), (13) lips above average 

 in thiokziess. Type I is the so-called Caucasoid 

 element in Polynesia; sometimes spoken of as 

 Pseudo-Caucasian or Pseudo-Mediterranean. 

 MacmiUan Brown regards it as Nordic. In its 

 characteristics it is intermediate between soma 



