28 ELLIOT SMITH, Distribution of Mummification. 



made for the strictly utilitarian purpose of draining the 

 fluids from the body. I have dealt with this point 

 already (vide supra). His second objection was that 

 there were no links between Egypt and Papua to indicate 

 that the custom had spread. The present communication 

 is intended to dispose of that objection by demonstrating 

 not only the route by which, but also how, the practice 

 reached the Torres Straits after the long journey from 

 Egypt. 



It will be noticed that this criticism leaves my main 

 arguments from the mummies quite untouched. More- 

 over, the fact that originally I made use of the testimony 

 of the mummies merely in support of evidence of other 

 kinds (the physical characters of the peoples and the 

 distribution of megalithic monuments) was completely 

 ignored by my critics. 



But, as I have already remarked, it is not merely the 

 remarkable identity of so many of the peculiar features of 

 Papuan and Egyptian embalming that affords definite 

 evidence of the derivation of one from the other ; but in 

 addition, many of the ceremonies and practices, as well 

 as the traditions relating to the people who introduced 

 the custom of mummification, corroborate the fact that 

 immigrants from the west introduced these elements of 

 culture. In addition, they also suggest their affinities. 



" A hero-cult, with masked performers and elaborate 

 dances, spread from the mainland of New Guinea to the 

 adjacent islands : part of this movement seems to have 

 been associated with a funeral ritual that emphasised a 

 life after death. . . . Most of the funeral ceremonies and 

 many sacred songs admittedly came from the west " 

 (Haddon, 25, p. 45). 



" Certain culture-heroes severally established them- 

 selves on certain islands, and they or their followers 



