Polynesians

The Origin Of The Polynesians

BY means of a book recently published, and by newspaper articles, Mr.

Thor Heyerdahl, leader of the Swedish expedition which drifted across the South-eastern Pacific on the raft Kon-Tiki, is plugging away at his theory that Polynesia was peopled from South America.

The theory is interesting, but not con vincing. The overwhelming mass of evi dence indicates that the Polynesian folk arrived in the South-eastern Pacific in a series of migrations which started origi nally in East Africa and South-East Asia.

There seems to be little doubt, how ever, that there was some communica tion between South America and the Polynesian Islands —there is botanical and other evidence which cannot be re futed. This evidence has been a puzzle to investigators for a long time; but the drift of Mr. Heyerdahl’s raft provides the explanation. It is quite possible— in fact, it seems certain —that a few people from South America were blown to sea, and were caught up in one or other of those great currents, and eventually ar rived in some of these islands groups of what is now French Oceania. Thus Poly nesia got the sweet potato, and some remnants of South American native cul ture which are in evidence up to the present day.

The story of the drift of the Kon-Tiki raft is a fascinating one and is told and illustrated in lively fashion by the Swedish voyagers.