Abstract
SOME important studies of two Polynesian peoples are published by the Bayard Dominick Expedition in the Memoirs of the Bishop Museum at Honolulu.1 In vol. ix. Mr. H. D. Skinner gives a comprehensive account of the almost extinct Morioris of Chatham Islands. Of these only two living representatives were found in a population of foreigners, most of whom were Maoris. One other was living in New Zealand. In vol. viii. Mr. R. Linton discusses the material culture of the Marquesans, and in vol. ix. Mr. L. D. Sullivan their somatology. These are also a dying and diseased race and Mr. Sullivan doubts whether there is a wholly sound physical specimen alive, while Mr. Linton considers that their language and portions of their culture may be preserved for several generations by their numerous half-Chinese or half-European descendants, who are more resistant to disease than the pure-blooded natives.
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RAY, S. Past and Passing Peoples of Polynesia. Nature 114, 295–296 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/114295a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/114295a0