Polynesian Dog — Luomala 
221 
representative of the pre-European variety was 
much disputed. 
Four Polynesian archipelagoes — Hawaii, New 
Zealand, Society, and Tuamotus — had living na- 
tive dogs at the time of European discovery. 
Archeological evidence from the Marquesas now 
shows that dogs had become extinct or very 
rare there by 1595, when Europeans are first 
known to have discovered the islands. Some 
islands, like Tonga, that had no dogs but recog- 
nized them, may also have had them once or 
heard about them from other islands. 
Dogs are thought to have been brought to 
Polynesia by the first human discoverers and 
settlers of the area. The frequency with which 
early European artists showed dogs in canoes 
suggests that the dogs perhaps always made 
sure that they were not abandoned. Wood-Jones 
hoped through studying Pacific native dogs to 
learn something of their owners’ migrations. 
One natural scientist favored New Guinea as a 
dispersal center of people and culture. Another 
who compared dogs of New Guinea and neigh- 
boring islands of Melanesia, not all of which 
had dogs, likened them to the Australian dingo. 
The dingo has also been compared with dogs 
to the westward in Indonesia and to the east- 
ward in New Zealand. However, the fact that 
dogs of unknown breeds were introduced into 
New Zealand from Australia in the nineteenth 
century makes the question of dingo and Maori 
dog relationship difficult to answer without 
scientific measurements of ancient native forms. 
Although Polynesian dogs have been likened to 
many different mongrels and curs of the Old 
World, some natural scientists consider their 
closest kin to be among Asiatic pariah dogs. 
The place of Micronesian dogs in the Pacific 
scene remains to be considered. 
The taxonomists, from their limited primary 
source material, feel that at least two breeds, 
which they do not define clearly, existed in 
Polynesia at the time of discovery by Europeans. 
The most distinctive of the superficial traits (the 
only kind described) was perhaps the length or 
quality of the hair. Some Maori and Tuamotuan 
dogs were especially valued for the long silky 
texture of their hair. Very early the natural 
scientists remarked on the possibility of adapta- 
tions resulting from the owners’ care and ex- 
ploitation of their animals for food or fur. Re- 
cent studies of native canine teeth show that the 
predominantly vegetable diet of pre-European 
Hawaiian dogs favored the development of 
caries. Latter-day concepts, like that of genetic 
drift, have not been considered in connection 
with the possible emergence of local varieties 
as the result of line breeding from perhaps a 
single pair isolated on an island. Study of Ha- 
waiian canine skulls shows the persistence of 
the long upper carnassial tooth, a primitive trait, 
but the emergence of noticeable deviations in 
some characteristics of the skull as compared 
with Papuan and Australian forms. 
To state the goals of those studying Pacific 
dogs makes these goals more specific than they 
are actually stated in most studies, but they 
underly the research of the past and remain for 
that of the future. The purposes have been: ( 1 ) 
to trace through the spread of domestic animals 
the wanderings of their owners as they dis- 
Fig. 22. Petroglyphs that include dogs, Nuuanu 
Valley, Honolulu, Hawaii (Bishop Museum Negative 
6809). 
