REPORT ON THE HUMAN CRANIA. 
113 
mingled. These variations can be sufficiently accounted for on the theory that two 
distinct races, a dolichocephalic Papuan and a brachy cephalic Mahori, are in some 
islands pure, in others mingled with each other, either in distinct colonies living side 
by side in the same island, or by intermarriage ; though on the western side of the 
Pacific region the brachycephalic Malay and Negrito have without doubt exercised an 
influence in modifying the cranial and other characters of some of the islanders in that 
region. But this theory, although combining a large mass of facts, yet does not overtake 
all the ethnological problems presented by the study of the anthropology of this extensive 
and widely scattered archipelago. There are certain residual quantities, of which it is 
not possible to give a satisfactory explanation on the supposition that these are the only 
races which have ever occupied these islands. I refer more especially to the remarkable 
archaeological monuments that have been found in certain of them. Of these the 
megalithic remains on Ponape or Ascension Island ; the megalithic platforms, stone houses, 
and colossal stone sculptures of the human figure on Easter Island, the curious cruciform 
stone platforms on Maiden's Island, the megalithic dolmens on Rotumah, to the north of 
the Fiji Islands, and the megalithic monuments in Tongatabu and some of the Gilbert 
Islands are the most noticeable. The natives appear to have no traditions of the 
construction of these massive remains, and to be themselves unable now to erect similar 
objects. The question therefore arises, have they so far degenerated from some higher 
grade of intellectual development as to have lost both all memory of the deeds of their 
ancestors and the power of executing such works, or did these owe their origin to some 
pre-existing race which inhabited the Pacific region. We cannot look to Australia as a 
centre of migration to the northwards of a race possessing a higher culture and civilisation, 
capable of architectural design and execution, for the aboriginal Australians are in their 
intellectual development and knowledge of useful arts much below either the Polynesians 
or the Melanesians, and besides, they are not a sea-faring people. Neither does it seem 
probable that, if these remains had been constructed by early Polynesian settlers, all 
memory of them would have departed, for there is ample evidence on many of the islands 
inhabited by the Polynesians of the propagation by oral tradition throughout hundreds 
of years of the valorous acts of their great chiefs. Mr. W. Colenso has gathered 1 from the 
modern Maoris a most interesting set of legends which have been transmitted for centuries 
from father to son ; the Rev. W. Wyatt Gill has collected traditions from the Hervey Islanders 
embracing five or six centuries ; 2 and the Rev. George Turner tells us 3 that the Samoans 
trace the genealogy of the chiefs of the Malietoa family for twenty-three generations. 
Various theories have been advanced as to the origin of the Mahoris or brown 
Polynesians. They have been regarded by a few as of American descent, and as having 
1 Trans. New Zealand Institute, vols. i. xi. xiii. xiv. 
2 Joum. Anthrop. Inst., vol. vi. p. 7, 1877. 
3 Samoa a Hundred Years Ago, London, 1884. 
(i!OOL. CHALL. EXP. PART XXIX. 1884.) Ff 15 
