Language. — The language is the next point which claims our attention. That of the Polynesian negroes differs from the dialects of Eastern Polynesia in one remarkable feature; which is, that, in the former, many of the words and syllables terminate with a consonant, whereas in the latter, both the one and the other invariably end with a vowel. Of the first I know but little; but with the other I am perfectly familiar, and to it therefore I shall confine my observations.

In this language their are eight dialects; and, for the sake of clearness, I shall select the Tahitian as the standard, and compare the others with it. I do this, however, not because I think it is the original; for the Hervey Island dialect appears to possess superior claims to that title, as it is so much more extensively spoken, and bears a closer affinity to the other dialects, than the Tahitian; but because the latter was first reduced to system. The islanders who speak the different dialects of this language are, the Tahitian and Society, the Sandwich, the Marquesan, the Austral, the Hervey, the Samoa, the Tongatabuans, and the New Zealanders.

The Sandwich island dialect differs from the Tahitian in the frequent introduction of the k and l, and the rejection of f, as in the following words.