448 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Bishop }f!iscuiii 



a few skilled workmen, was highly developed among the historic Polynesians and 

 when an immigrant group included no tiihuiia of a given trade, that clement of 

 their original culture would tend to he lost or considerably modified. Primitive 

 cultures are not static, and isolated populations come, in time, to have distinctive 

 cultures. The legendarv history of Polynesia points to long periods of quiescence 

 and comparative isolation interspersed with jieriods of great nautical activity. 

 Features which had been developed locally during a period of isolation might be 

 carried to far distant groups during a succeeding ]ieriod of voyages. The Poly- 

 nesians were not conservative and it would have l^een possible for an immigrant 

 group, too small to materially affect the physical type of an inhabited island, to 

 profoundly modify its culture. Even during the periods of quiescence there was 

 probably intermittent contact between the Polynesian islands through the medium 

 of castaways. Some of the involuntary voyages which have occurred in Polynesia 

 during the historic period have covered great distances, and the vagaries of winds 

 and currents have sometimes carried canoes past many intervening islands to 

 landfalls thousands of miles from their starting points. Castaways were usually 

 well received and although they could hardl\- ha\-e brought about any major 

 changes in culture thev may very well ha\-e introduced single features such as 

 folk tales, superior mechanical appliances, or new forms of ornaments. Western 

 Polynesia was exposed to influences froni both Micronesia and Melanesia. There 

 is known to have been considerable contact between Samoa and the Gilbert 

 Islands; and both Samoa and Tonga have been strongly influenced by Fiji. 



In the preceding chapters of this publication a number of resemblances 

 have been pointed out between the elements of Marquesan material culture and 

 those of other parts of Polynesia. The distribution of the more important cultural 

 traits in the Marquesas, New Zealand. Hawaii, the Society Islands, Samoa and 

 Tonga is shown in the accompanying tables. Traits which are everywhere 

 present in identical form, and traits which are limited to a single locality, have 

 been omitted. The distribution of a few of the more important traits of non- 

 material culture is also shown. 



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