458 MciJioifs Bcniicc P. P>isliop Ilfuscuiii 



It can be seen from the tables that Samoa and Tonga show a closer cul- 

 tnral agreement than any other two Polynesian localities. The Marquesas and 

 New Zealand show an almost ecjually close agreement. The Society Island culture 

 occupies an intermediate position with numerous resemblances to both the 

 Samoan-Tongan and Maori-Marquesan cultures. The Hawaiian culture resembles 

 the Maori and Marquesan on the material side, but its non-material fea- 

 tures are more closely related to those of the Society Islands and western 

 Polynesia. 



The Maori and Marquesan cultures show so many similarities that, in the 

 absence of historic contact, they must be considered as not very divergent de- 

 velopments of a single ancestral culture. The content of the various New Zea- 

 land culture areas outlined by Skinner (/8) has not yet been established, but 

 most of the traits common to New Zealand and the Marquesas seem either to 

 have been limited to the north island or to have been much luore highly developed 

 there. According to Maori traditions the north islanders were descendents of im- 

 migrants who came to New Zealand from Tahiti and the Cook Islands in the 

 twelfth century (Smith, 79, p. 22t,). The traditions of the southern Marquesans 

 indicate migration from Tahiti and the Cook Islands, and mention groups still 

 farther to the west. It seems practically certain, therefore, that a culture similar 

 to the historic Maori and Marquesan cultures formerly existed in southeastern 

 Polynesia. 



The Maori and IMarquesan cultures differ from the Samoan and Tongan 

 cultures in so many respects that the two complexes must have been largely de- 

 rived from dififerent sources. The original cultures of Samoa and Tonga prob- 

 ably differed considerably from the historic ones. Cannibalism and the use of the 

 bow as a weapon in Tonga, and the elaborate club forius of both Tonga and 

 Samoa were due to Fijian influence. The Samoans ascribe the introduction of 

 tapa making to a Fijian chief and their tapa making implements are almost 

 identical with the Fijian ones. The slotted drum was almost certainly borrowed 

 from Fiji. Legged pillows were probably borrowed from Fiji, where the form 

 of the coiffure made them necessary. Legged utensils may also have been bor- 

 rowed as such utensils are more numerous and of more diverse form in Fiji 

 than in either Samoa or Tonga. E\'en the use of round or oval houses may not 

 have been a feature of the original Samoan-Tongan cultures for round houses 

 are practically absent in Indonesia and Micronesia but are found in both Fiji 

 and New Caledonia. 



The western Polynesian cultures have manv features in common with 

 Micronesia. The resemblances seem to be more marked in the Caroline and Mar- 

 shall groups than in the Gilbert Islands. Micronesia is still too imperfectly 



[198] 



