The sum, perhaps, of all the distinctions of the sort already indicated, will give between Polynesia and Micronesia, the difference between a Dutchman and an Englishman; certainly not less--probably more. Probably more, because the very considerable difference in the details of the two mythologies has yet to be added. A brief notice of these may be found in Prichard's chapter on the Marianne Islanders; and this reference is all that our space allows. That the difference, however, of the superstitions is _not less_ (probably _greater_) than the difference between the languages is a safe conclusion.
The differences in the general moral character of the two divisions lie within a small compass. Coldness of manner in general, less tendency to bloody warfare, less laxity amongst the female part of the population, and less cannibalism, are points wherein the Micronesian character has the advantage. The Micronesian domestic arts also, such as dyeing and weaving, are in advance of the Polynesians.
3. _Distribution of Protonesian characteristics._--Which of the two divisions has the most of these? This is partially answered by some of the observations which have just preceded: two other facts answer it more fully.
_a._ The opinions of MM. Durville and Lesson, as to the connexion of the Micronesians with the Mongolians--without being evidence in favour of the Micronesian branch being the more _Protonesian_, of the two, this is, certainly, a fact in favour of its being the more _continental_.
_b._ The opinion of Le Gobien, one of the early Missionaries, "that the Caroline Islanders came from the Philippines."
4. _Details of the distribution within the limits of a single division._--The question as to the particular part of Micronesia, or the particular part of Polynesia, from which the rest of the respective areas was peopled, is so much a part and parcel of the broader question as to the origin of the population _en masse_, that it belongs, in its entirety, to a latter stage of our inquiries. Still there are a few facts which may be noticed at once; and these apply to Polynesia Proper.
Assuming as a postulate, that the direction of the line of population is from east to west (or _vice versâ_), from north to south (or _vice versâ_), &c., it is reasonable to suppose that each isle has been peopled from the one nearest to it, and that _exclusively_. Hence no second source of population is to be assumed _gratuitously_. Upon reasonable grounds, however, it _may_ be assumed; _e.g._ in the Marquesas, it is said, that the difference of dialects for the different islands is scarcely consistent with a population from the Paumoto group exclusively. So also, in the Sandwich Islands, although Nukahiva is the _primâ facie_ source of the population, Tonga elements occur in a degree beyond that in which they are found in Nukahiva itself. Here, also, the inference of a second element is legitimate.