Abstract
THE Rev. Francis A. Allen has issued a reprint of the paper read by him at the late Congress of Americanists in Copenhagen on Polynesian antiquities. The stupendous Cyclopean monuments, platforms, terraces, walls, colossal statues, scattered over the South Sea Islands are graphically described, and regarded as forming a connecting link between the ancient civilisations of Asia and America. The theory is that America was mainly peopled by two streams of migration from Asia—a nomad Mongolic, proceeding directly by the Straits of Behring, and now represented by the Apaches, Utes, Comanches, and other wild tribes of California, Oregon, Colorado, &c.; and a semi-civilised, proceeding from Further India and China across the islands of the Pacific Ocean to Mexico, Central America, and Peru. On their way across the archipelagoes these peoples left traces of their presence in Micronesia, Hawaii, Tahiti, and especially Easter Island, the last-named distant only some 2600 miles from the mainland of South America. The resemblances between these monuments and those of Peru and Mexico are dwelt upon, and they are further compared with those of Java (Boro-Boro), Cambodia (Angkor-Vaht), and others in Southern Asia. The theory, which is not altogether novel, is supported by other arguments based on considerations of traditions, usages, religions, languages, and the like, brought together from various sources not always of a trustworthy character. It is suggested that the Chinese tradition of the discovery of Fusang by the monk Hoén-Shin may not be altogether an idle tale. Allusion is made to Schoolcraft's exploded legend of Hiawatha; and some more than doubtful authorities are referred to in proof of the affinities between the American languages and those of Japan, North-East Siberia, and Indo-China. Nevertheless, if not always critical, the paper is learned and lucid, and worth reprinting, if only for the great number of data here brought together as bearing directly or indirectly on the point at issue.
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Geographical Notes . Nature 31, 18–19 (1884). https://doi.org/10.1038/031018b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/031018b0