Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/633

Rh human migrations and revolutions have taken place in this region on a scale large enough to cause the displacement of whole races. The curious monuments of Easter Island, although far inferior in artistic work to the wood-carvings of Birara and New Zealand, may perhaps be the witnesses of a former culture, no traditions of which have survived among the present aborigines. These monuments may possibly be the work of a Papuan people, for skulls found in the graves differ in no essential feature from those of New Guinea.

The Polynesians, properly so called, to whom the collective terms Mahori and Savaiori have also been applied, and who call themselves Kanaka, that is, "men" have a light-brown or coppery complexion, and rather exceed the tallest Europeans in stature. In Tonga and Samoa nearly all the men are athletes of fine proportions, with black and slightly wavy hair, fairly regular features, and proud glance. They are a laughter-loving, light-hearted people, fond of music, song, and the dance, and where not visited by wars and the contagion of European "culture" the happiest and most harmless of mortals. When Dumont d'Urville questioned the Tukopians as to the doctrine of a future life, with rewards for the good and punishment for the wicked, they replied, "Among us there are no wicked people."

Tattooing was wide-spread, and so highly developed, that the artistic designs covering the body served also to clothe it; but this costume is now being replaced by the cotton garments introduced by the missionaries. In certain islands the operation lasted so long that it had to be begun before the children were six years old, and the pattern was largely left to the v skill and cunning of the professional tattooers. Still, traditional motives recurred in the ornamental devices of the several tribes, who could usually be recognized by their special tracings, curved or parallel lines, diamond forms, and the like. The artists were grouped in schools, like the Old Masters in Europe, and they worked not by incision as in most Melanesian islands, but by punctures with a small, comb-like instrument slightly tapped with a mallet. The pigment used in the painful and even dangerous operation was usually the fine charcoal yielded by the nut of Aleurites triloba, an oleaginous plant used for illuminating purposes throughout eastern Polynesia.

In Samoa the women were much respected, and every village had its patroness, usually the chief's daughter, who represented the community at the civil and religious feasts, introduced strangers to the tribe, and diffused general happiness by her cheerful demeanor and radiant beauty. But elsewhere the women, though as a rule well treated, were regarded as greatly inferior to the men. At the religious ceremonies the former were