PREFACE. HAVING been invited by Hon. A. Fornander to contribute a few introductory remarks to this third volume of his work on the Polynesian race, although feeling myself unworthy of such a compliment, I can at least bespeak for his work a fair hearing and an impartial verdict. It is a truly monumental work, and gives ample proof of the indefatigable industry and critical acumen of the author. Probably there is no race upon earth which, in proportion to its numbers, has been the subject of so much interest and of such minute investigation as the Polynesian. This is owing not only to the interesting character of the race, but also to the mystery, as yet unsolved, which shrouds their origin, and to their extreme isolation. The evidence both of language and tradition points unmistakably to the East Indian Archipelago as at least a stage in their eastward migration. Few, if any, will accept Dr. Lessons theory that they are nutochthons of New Zealand. And yet the intervening region of BIelnnesia is occupied by races entirely dissimilar, which separate them by thousands of miles from their nearest congeners, the brown tribes of the Moluccas....