The Pacific: The Least Known Region 



55i 



mens of the art have been assembled for 

 comparison. The translation of their, 

 writing will perhaps unlock knowledge 

 of immense value to many questions of 

 the origin, migration, and history of the 

 Pacific races. 



DID THE MOON COME OUT OF THE PACIFIC 

 OCEAN 



Of not less importance will be an in- 

 vestigation affecting the origin of the 

 Pacific Ocean bed itself — the greatest de- 

 pression on the globe. Many ingenious 

 theories have been advanced on this sub- 

 ject, and among these the two following 

 are interesting: 



The first hypothesis suggests that the 

 Pacific area was formerly occupied by a 

 land-mass which has subsided below sea- 

 level, probably by volcanic agency. The 

 volcanic system extending round the Pa- 

 cific littoral of Asia and America lends 

 considerable color to the theory, and 

 would represent the edge of the sunken 

 plain. At this point of fracture the sub- 

 jacent molten contents of the earth have 

 found vent, and thus by dispersal have 

 built up the coast mountain chains. If 

 this be true, the present island groups of 

 the Pacific would represent the summits 

 of former mountain systems. 



Whatever the cause of the isolation of 

 the present archipelagoes, evidences are 

 not lacking that they have at some time 

 been connected with other land-masses. 

 The absence of mammals of any im- 

 portance, however, would suggest this 

 period to be so remote that the severance 

 occurred before the evolution of these 

 creatures. The land mollusks, whose 

 nearest affinities must be sought in geo- 

 logic fossils, also point to the islands as 

 having been isolated in the remote past. 



The second geological theory of the 

 Pacific which has claimed credence is 

 that the land-mass which formerly occu- 

 pied its depression was, in the age before 

 the solidification of the globe was too 

 far advanced, whirled off by centrifugal 

 force, and now composes our satellite, 

 the moon. A comparison of the shores 

 of west America and east Asia with other 

 evidence suggests some truth to this re- 



markable theory, for the coast lines will 

 be seen to bear the same relation to one 

 another as that possessed by the inden- 

 tures of a legal document. 



Why do Pacific mammals, reptiles, and 

 birds become more scarce as we progress 

 across the ocean from east to west? 

 What is the origin of the Hawaiian 

 birds? How did the flightless birds of 

 New Zealand originate, and what was 

 the evolution of the gigantic wingless 

 moa? Why is the nearest living rela- 

 tive to the extinct dodo found in Samoa? 

 What is the import of the presence of 

 the same species of a fresh-water fish in 

 two rivers situated on opposite sides of 

 the Pacific? Have the Australian mar- 

 supials a common origin with those of 

 America, and does their presence con- 

 tribute to the theory of an intervening 

 continent ? These are a few of the many 

 interesting questions whose solution 

 would contribute much to the establish- 

 ment of truths of material importance to 

 modern knowledge. 



The investigation of all the above 

 questions, except perhaps those affecting 

 such stable subjects as geology, must be 

 undertaken in the immediate future if 

 any satisfactory result is to be achieved. 



The total disappearance of the inhabit- 

 ants of some islands has created a gap 

 which is now as impossible to bridge as 

 that between our own civilization and 

 the European Stone Age. In this way 

 much that is necessary to a true under- 

 standing of the Pacific has forever dis- 

 appeared, and many perplexing prob- 

 lems can now never be solved. The 

 work of the early navigators was suffi- 

 cient to the knowledge of the day in 

 which it was conducted, but the signifi- 

 cance of habits, of custom, of rites, of 

 legends, and of arts was ignored or 

 wrongly interpreted, and an inexhaust- 

 ible store of priceless information re- 

 mained unheeded until it has been ef- 

 faced and has forever passed away. 



THE EXTRAORDINARY CIVILIZATION OF 

 THE POLYNESIAN 



And here it may be said that the plane 

 of culture which has disappeared before 



