The composite story is also found in the Gazelle peninsula of New Britain, and as this carries with it the Indonesia-Melanesia area we may predicate a common origin of the story with the Hamitic one. Those who support the view held by Prof. Elliot Smith would grant this also for the South American area.
The foregoing is not the only suggestion concerning the method of the transmission of the "Perverted Message" tale. Dr. F. Graebner, in enumerating the characteristics of what he terms the Malayo-Nigritic culture of Africa,[1] says, that in the mythology of this culture the moon seems to be the chief element and sends the knowledge of eternal life by an animal, but the swifter animal gives the message reversed. Following Frobenius, Ankermann and other German ethnologists, Graebner regards this culture as having been introduced into Africa from Indonesia; Dr. G. Montandon prefers to call it the "prémaléo-nigritique" culture.[2]
It may reasonably be asked whether all these different peoples, or at all events some of them, could not have arrived independently at similar conclusions. It does not appear to me that the relation of the phases of the moon to human life and death is an idea likely to occur often, nor does the distribution given by Sir James Frazer suggest that this has been the case. The ecdysis of immature insects and of Crustacea, the shedding of the skin of frogs and lizards, and the still more dramatic sloughing by snakes could not fail to be noticed, and the sluggish behaviour and dull colouring before the event would be contrasted with the access of vigour and bright colouration afterwards. There is not much difficulty in believing that the imputation of immortality to such animals might occur independently to many different peoples. This is the easiest way of dealing with such problems, but the less obvious connection with the reputed loss to mankind of a similar power creates
