To the remarks concerning them already made, I will add some on their language, from the work on this subject which I have before mentioned. The author says, "The language spoken on most of the islands of the South Sea, and therefore called the Polynesian, may be considered either as primitive, or as related to, and descended from, a common source with the Malay." It is undoubtedly very old, for these people have been from an unknown period separated from all others, and before the arrival of Europeans among them, considered themselves as the whole human race.
Although, in comparison with European languages, that of Tahaiti, as belonging to an ignorant and uncultivated people, is necessarily very defective, it perhaps surpasses all others in strength, precision, and simplicity,—in the personal pronouns especially. Its resemblance to the Hebrew, in the conjugation of the verbs, as well as in the roots of some of the words, can easily be proved. Many of the words really appear of Hebrew origin: as for example, mate, dead; mara, or maramosa, bitter; rapaon, to heal, &c.
The Polynesian language being so widely extended, and spoken by the inhabitants of so many islands, who have little or no intercourse with each other, it naturally branches into many dialects. These are indeed so various, that they cannot readily be recognised as derivatives from the same stock.
The principal dialects are,—that spoken in the Sandwich Islands, or the Hawaiian; that of the Marquesas; that of New Zealand; the Tongatabuan, spoken by the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands, and the Tahaitian. All the others, as far as they are known, are more or less related to these.
The Tahaitian dialect is distinguished by its melody, as it has no broad or hissing consonants. The pronunciation is rendered difficult by its numerous diphthongs.
The substantives do not change their terminations in declension; but the cases, of which there are but three, are formed by syllables prefixed: for example—
SINGULAR.
| Nom.—Te taata—the man. |
| Poss.—No te taata—of the man. |
| Object.—He taata—to the man—and the man. |
PLURAL.
| Nom.—Te mau taata—the men. |
| Poss.—No te mau taata—of the men. |
| Object.—He mau taata—the men—and to the men. |