50 
plank-canoe, secret societies, masked 
dances and ancestral cults. Dismissing 
for the purposes of this enquiry the valid- 
ity of these groups, and the correctness of 
the conclusions drawn in regard to their 
distribution in the Oceanic area, let us 
very briefly consider the evidence brought 
forward to prove their presence as funda- 
mental and integral parts of American 
culture. 
Beginning with North America, we find 
it stated that except for a few forms in the 
western United States which are of the 
type of the self-bow with flat cross-section, 
all other bows north of Mexico are either 
derivatives of the composite Asiatic or the 
reflexed, strengthened Arctic bow. Inci- 
dentally it may be noted that the state- 
ment could hardly have been more ineor- 
rect, as with few exceptions it is precisely 
in the west and on the Pacific coast that 
the strenethened bow is common, whereas 
the self-bow of rectangular cross-section is 
for the greater part of the eastern portion 
of the country the prevailing type. The 
presence, however, of the self-bow in North 
America is given as the first argument for 
the existence here of the Melanesian cul- 
ture. It is to be noted, however, that this 
type of bow is almost the simplest and 
least elaborated form possible, the only 
simpler form being that where the stick 
has been left round in its natural state. 
Therefore the fact that this simple form 
of bow, which is in other parts of the world 
widely distributed, occurs both in America 
and in Melanesia does not constitute evi- 
dence of any historical relation between 
the two cultures. 
For the Melanesian bow-culture in 
Melanesia, pile-dwellings are given as one 
of the most important characteristics, and 
their presence in America is signaled in 
Florida and on the northwest coast. So 
far as the first case is concerned, the rather 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 889 
obvious relationship to similar types in 
northern South America, and the known 
Antillean and South American influences 
which have affected the Floridian penin- 
sula and the adjacent parts of the Gulf 
shores, are wholly ignored; and to regard 
the occasional instances of the use of 
wooden blocks a few inches in height under 
the foundations of northwest coast houses 
as traces of pile-dwellings seems to strain 
the theory of historical relationship to the 
breaking-point. Pottery of coiled tech- 
nique is referred to as another link con- 
necting Melanesia and America, but here 
again little importance can be given to re- 
semblances in such a simple factor, for the 
coil process is one of the most common 
methods employed in pottery-making by 
people the world over where the potter’s 
wheel is not known. ‘T willed basketry is 
attributed to the Pueblo and Muskogean 
tribes, but its possible historical connec- 
tion in the latter case at least, with Antil- 
lean and South American types, and its 
partial dependence on material, are both 
overlooked. The use of spoons which, con- 
trary to the author’s statements, is very 
widespread in North America, is a further 
striking example of an extremely simple 
implement, not whose peculiar form or 
decoration, but whose mere existence is re- 
garded as evidence of cultural relation. 
Similarly without real value and in part 
erroneous as to fact, are the references to 
the paddle with handle at right angles to 
the shaft, and to communal dwellings. 
Since paddle shafts must either end in 
some form of cross-handle or be, like a 
broom-handle, without the cross-grip; and 
since dwellings must be either communal 
or not communal, there being no tertium 
quid, it hardly seems that the presence of 
one of the only two possible forms in each 
ease should be regarded as evidence of 
cultural influence or identity. 
