THROUGH THE MISTY AGES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2561, 8 September 1915, Page 6

THROUGH THE MISTY AGES

—»—t—.— ABORIGINAL PEOPLES OF THE PACIFIC DR. MACMILLAN BROWN IN NEW CALEDONIA Professor J. MacMillan Browii, of Umstchurch, who is a recognised auon - aboriginal peoples of tha Xaoifio, returned from Now Caledonia, via Australia, by the Manuka yesterday after an absonco of some m.onths from Isow Zealand. "To ethnographers," said Professor MacMillan Brown to an interviewer yesterday, "New Caledonia has been out of the beaten track. They have toiio to tho Solomons, the New Hebrides, and to New Guinea, but nobody goes to New Caledonia, a fact which made it all the more interesting to me, I can assure you. Curious Basis of Society, "I foiind that at one time the Polynesians must have come to New Calodoma m their great war canoes (without their women), and established them, selves on the East Coast, and there, being a strong warlike people, \ mastered tho villages. That-is evident'from'the customs that prevail and tho framework of their society. You see, throughout Melanesia and the Papuan Group, the basis of socicty is matrilineal—descent through tho mother. The . children looked to their mother as the head of the family, and it was the mother's brother' charge to provide forthe children. The father, curiously enough, lotted' after his sister's children. As the result of this strange arrangement' there was no accumulation of family tradition, honour, or property—no chiefs or great men arose. Every village was a thing untfl itself, and its people were not ablo to understand the language spoken, in the nest village, only five'or. six miles away perhaps, ft is in Polynesia where the patrilineal descent holds good, and the tribes and the chiefs at tho head of them have their traditions, ' ft* l " low to recall the deeds of glory perfanned by their ancestors. That is in Polynesia—from Hawaii to New Zealand, from Tonga to Easter Island. As tho result there have always been tribal chiefs, if not kings, in this vast realm, all of whom hare Kept genealogies, some' of which go back for 5000 years. So it is conclusive that it was an invasion of Polynesians which changed tho entire basis of the society* of New Caledonia, which geographically, should have the matrilineal basis. Ungual Proof. "Further confirmation of this," con- , tinued the speaker, "was made available through a young native whom I came in contact with on the north-east coast. A tall, slenderly-built young mail with aquiline features, oval face, and of tho lighter skin of , the Polynesian type. Journeying with him, I learned to shape a rough vocabulary with the aid of signs and a smattering, of French he had. I got from him that the word for tribe was "wanga," and that the word for canoo was "wanga." This, it was at onco apparent, was a slight corrnp- i tion of ; tho Polynesian word "whaka,"'' meaning canoe, and so it was evident that tho arrivals in the big canoes had first, established tribes in New CaW donia. It was the samo with tho popu-' lar prefix ."K" of tho island, which waa obviously ■ a reduction of the Polynesian "Ngati" (meaning the descendants of), or ati-, another Polynesian ver» sjon of the same prefix. The invasion must have been, fairly recent, not more than two or three centuries,' I should say, for there had not been suffi-, cient time, for tho Polynesians to amalgamate the ..various villagos into big tribes with common interests and destinies. On the East Coast, too, the Polynesian types abounded—the moro European type, .with the light skin, aquilmo features, and, in sonic instance.» light hair. On the west coast, however, 75 per cent., of the people are negroid, with prominent muzzles, fattened nostrils, thick lips, and kinky, hair. I could not help being struck at their resemblance to the estinct Tas- . manians or the natives of South Australia;. I took an interesting photograph of one old woman, who would easily pass muster for Truganini, the last of tho. Tasmanians. The infusion from Southern Australia must have been fairly recent. , Polynesian Carved Stones. "Another Polynesian' sign in New Caledonia was found in the deep carv- . ings on the rocks all along:tho north and east coast; and the erection of dolmens or Druidical stones—one flat stone being laid horizontally on two vertical pillars'of stone. Here aro some of the sketches of these markings or carvings which I took on the spot: Hereisatree a tree in transition, tie human form in transition, and this wheel-like object is intended for the sun—practically tha same as have been found on other me-' golithio stones. There I also found this saucer-like' object, with, all the sticks. ' That is quite familiar. Moutelius, the Swedish archaeologist, decided, and his decision was aooepted by the scientifiq world, that it was intended to represent a canoe, with the paddles held upright. These megolithic stones esisti throughout Polynesia. They have tho' big 24ft. shaped stones in Tonga, where ' they also have the carved tombs of thq kings—great truncated pyramids of, dressed stone. It was the same in Tahiti and Hawaii, whilst they had the huge megolithio platforms at Easter Island and the Marquesas, and in New, Zealand we liavo the tattooed rocks at" Kawhia—tho spiral tattoo similar to' what I saw at Now Caledonia. Polynesians From Western Europe. "We may therefore decide, through. t-Ho evidence of those megolithio stones, that the Polynesian peoples came originally from Western Europe. There' similar remains of a pre-historic period 1 exist .in plenty (bearing the closest relation to the stones in theso Polynesian, islands) at Stoneheiige, in Ireland, Brittany, Carnac, and in Morocco. Tie carving of wooden statuary for the chief's ■ house, found in' New Caledonia was another connecting link with thei Polynesian,idea and influence. Still anothor factor was the canoe. The New Caledonian primeval canoe was a dugout, but they learned at a later period to. build tho .staunch double canoo of t'lio Polynesians. Polynesia is tie home' of tho double canoe." All the time he lias been in New CaW donia Dr. MacMillan. Brown has beeri studying the language of tho natives' : from which, with his knowledge of other Pacific tongues. Ike is able to trace lingual relationships. Ho has already been engaged on the study of the Pacific languages for six years, and considers that thero is still new matter for another, six years' work. One day, the result of his researches may mean a most valuable contribution to tha world's limited store of literature dealing with pro-historic times in the Pacific-