R. A, Daly — Problems of the Pacific Islands. 157 



scientific staff ; a place where ideas are pooled and many com- 

 parative studies made ; a hospitable roof under which would 

 be gathered certain specialists, invited to work up the collec- 

 tions in their respective fields. Doubtless in some instances 

 collections would be sent to other centers for study, but on 

 their return to headquarters, these materials would become 

 part of a main body forming a unique, permanent museum. 

 Systematic arrangement of all collections at one locality must 

 be of enormous value to the investigators. In contrast, think 

 of the practical impossibility of thorough comparative studies 

 among the existing Pacific collections, now housed in public 

 and private establishments all over the earth ! 



One other of the main reasons for this comprehensive survey 

 may be noted. The area concerned covers 35,000,000 square 

 miles, but less than one per cent of it is land. Hence, so far 

 as the islands themselves are concerned, their study, complete 

 enough for the more pressing needs of science, is quite 

 feasible. When accomplished, the work would have brought 

 to book most of the essential facts which are ever likely to be 

 won in the geology, anthropology, and biology of one-sixth 

 of the earth's surface. It is safe to say that no other geo- 

 graphic province of equal land area will furnish such a rich 

 store of facts. The correlation of these must fundamentally 

 affect our understanding of the whole globe. Whatever else 

 the outcome, the world of science would look with satisfaction 

 at the record of what can be discovered and deduced regard- 

 ing the land and shallow-water problems of the mid-Pacific. 



Field considered. — What is the field under consideration? 

 Most of the oceanic islands of the Pacific are included in the 

 three major groups, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesia. 

 These are practically included between the parallels of 25° 

 North Latitude and 25° South Latitude, and between the 

 meridians of 130° East Longitude and 130° West Longitude. 

 Thirty principal archipelagoes are there represented. A few 

 other groups, including Juan Fernandez and Galapagos, as 

 well as a number of small, isolated islands, lie outside the 

 limits of Oceania proper. In Brigham's " Index " the names 

 of 2600 islands and islets appear.* The names of about 600 

 islands are entered on his key maps. Apart from mere rocks 

 or insignificant islets, the total number is probably about 

 3000. 



Wagner, Supan, and a few other authorities have computed 

 the areas of the different archipelagoes. f The results have 

 been compiled in the form of the following table : 



*W. T. Brigham, Index to the Islands of the Pacific, Memoirs Bishop 

 Museum. Honolulu, vol. i, No. 2, 1900. 



fH. Wagner and A. Supan, Petermann's Geogr. Mitteilungen, Erg. 

 Hefte, vol. xxii, p. 236, 1891. 



