Ancient Mariners 69 



observer. But in Polynesia the wanderers themselves were the 

 first colonists on the islands. There was at first no question of 

 admixture. The mariners from the west discovered these islands 

 when they were uninhabited. They planted the first colonies 

 there. That is why the Polynesians present traits so strikingly 

 reminiscent of the mixture of the so-called "Mediterranean " and 

 Armenoid " Eaces of the West. In the course of their wander- 

 ings they became intermingled with Ethiopians and Arabs, and 

 Indians and Malays, but the substratum of the oi'iginal stock 

 that populated Polynesia was composed of sailors from the 

 Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, into whose constitution the 

 enterprising southern branch of the Armenoid Race entered so 

 largely. 



But the fact that the wandering mariners were themselves 

 the colonizers of Polynesia, which therefore became the most 

 exclusively maritime population in the history of the world, is 

 not the only new factor we have to study when we enter Upon 

 the domain of Oceania. 



As far east as the limits of Indonesia we have seen that the 

 mariners whose exploits we are studying wei'e searching for gold 

 and pearls. They displayed no interest in places where these 

 and similar forms of wealth were not to be found. But when 

 they reached Melanesia they seemed to have arrived at the 

 easterly limit of the objects of their search. The pearl-beds along 

 the northern coasts of New Guinea would have lured them on 

 and directed their course into Oceania, but when they reached 

 the islands of the Pacific they would discover that their ordinary 

 inducements to settle down were missing. 



If we can judge' jf their behaviour elsewhere we may assume 

 that, as they visited island after island of Polynesia without 

 discovering either gold or pearls, they did not stay, but pushed' on 

 further in the quest of such riches. 



No doubt the great belt of pearl shell (see map B) encouraged 

 their hopes of finding pearls and guided their course across the 

 Pacific {C). But there can be little doubt that these hardy anc[ 



