Polynesian Origin
p. 38 · Read in the full issue
From Our Own Correspondent
Honolulu, July 20.
11/fR. John F. G. Stokes, former curator the Bishop Museum. Honolulu, and an authority on the early history of the Polynesians, said in a lecture recently that, though theories differ as to the origin of the Polynesians, he is con vinced they were pushed out of their former country by the Malays.
Being at home on the water, it was easy for them to migrate in a general easterly direction into the Pacific, using the countless islands as convenient step ping stones.
While there are North American influ ences to be found in the Pacific, there are stronger ones, particularly in langu age, which point in the direction of India and the Malay peninsula, according to Mr. Stokes.
He said that Hawaii, culturally, is a child of Tahiti, because evidence shows that the main stem of the Hawaiian people came from there. However, some of the Tahiti and other southern Poly nesians migrated to Japan, inter-married, and then moved over to Hawaii. Mr.
Stokes has traced an overlay of Japanese customs in Hawaii, though the racial effect of Japan is almost negligible.
Hon. I. H. Carruthers, M.L.C., of Western Samoa, returned to Apia with his wife by the July Matua, after a short visit to New Zealand.