Linton — The Marquesas Islands . 447 



CONCLUSION 



In spite of the large amount of literature dealing with Polynesia, few parts 

 of this vast region have been carefully studied and there is no part for which the 

 information can be considered at all complete. New Zealand is probably the best 

 known locality. Satisfactory, but by no means complete, information is available 

 for Hawaii and Samoa and the present activities of Bishop Museum will contrib- 

 ute additional information regarding Tonga, the Austral Islands and the Mar- 

 quesas. 



Accounts of the culture of single localities are chiefly valuable as a basis for 

 the careful comparative study, which alone can throw light on the relations of the 

 various Polynesian groups and ultimately on the larger questions of Polynesian 

 origin and diffusion. The final solution of Polynesian problems can come only 

 from a correlation of the evidence along all lines. Comparative studies based on 

 a single class of evidence — traditions, religion, material culture or physical type — 

 serve to arrange the data in order and make them available for such correlation. 

 Theories based upon such partial studies can only be tentative but are justifiable 

 on the basis of Bacon's dictum that truth can be brought out of error much more 

 readily than out of chaos. 



Recent studies of physical type have proved conclusively that the Poly- 

 nesians are not a pure race but are made up of at least three racial elements 

 (70). These elements are a dolichocephalic negroid race, a dolichocephalic or 

 mesocephalic race which shows Caucasic affinities, and a brachycephalic race with 

 slight Mongoloid affinities which Sullivan calls Indonesian (79, b, p. 18). The 

 frequency and distribution of the two non-negroid races seems to indicate that 

 they entered the region in nearly pure form. All three races are present in most 

 of the Polynesian islands but they vary in the proportion which they bear to the 

 total population of each group. The negroid element is strongest in Easter 

 Island but is important in northern New Zealand and is found throughout south- 

 eastern Polynesia. The Caucasic element is strongest in northern New Zealand 

 and the Marquesas. The Indonesian element is strongest in Tonga but is im- 

 portant in Samoa, southern New Zealand, Hawaii and the northern Marquesas. 



Polynesian material cultvu^e shows an even more complex condition. The 

 climate and products of all the Polynesian islands except New Zealand are so 

 nearly the same that local difference in culture can not be ascribed to environ- 

 mental causes, but it is hard to determine which of them are due to differences in 

 the culture of the original settlers of each group. Many of the Polynesian 

 groups are separated from their nearest neighbors by hundreds of miles of open 

 sea and must have originally been settled by very small parties of immigrants. 

 The tuhiina system, which placed the more important industries in the hands of 



[187I 



