134 ELLIOT SMITH, Distribution of Mummification. 



doubt because in India and the west the disturbances 

 created by other cults have destroyed most of the evidence). 

 From Indonesia the " heliolithic " culture-complex 

 was carried far out into the Pacific and eventually reached 

 the American coast, where it bore fruit in the develop- 

 ment of the great civilizations on the Pacific littoral and 

 isthmus, whence it gradually leavened the bulk of the 

 vast aboriginal population of the Americas. 



[When this communication was made to the Society 

 my sole object was to put together the scattered evidence 

 supplied by the practice of mummification, and other 

 customs associated with it, in substantiation of the fact 

 that the influence of ancient Egyptian civilization, or a 

 particular phase of it, had spread to the Far East and 

 America. Since then so much new information has come 

 to light, not only in confirmation of the main thesis, but 

 also defining the dates of a series of cultural waves, that 

 it will soon be possible, not only to sketch out in some 

 detail the routes taken by the series of ancient mariners 

 who spread abroad this peculiarly distinctive civilization, 

 but also to identify the adventurers and determine the 

 dates of their greatest exploits and the motives for most 

 of their enterprises. In collaboration with Mr. J. W. Perry 

 I hcpe soon to be ready to attempt that task. 



I have deliberately refrained from referring to the 

 vexed question of totemism in this communication, 

 although it is obvious that it is closely connected with 

 the " heliolithic " culture. I have used the expression 

 " serpent worship " in several places where perhaps it 

 would have been more correct to refer to the serpent- 

 totem ; but so far from weakening, the consideration of 

 totemism will add to the strength and cogency of my 

 argument. 



When I assigned (p. 65) a comparatively late date for 



