Amongst the principal of these alterations is the omission of many passages exhibiting extreme niceties of the language, which, although useful to the finished scholar, were thought to be scarcely necessary to the ordinary student, and were complained of as embarrassing to the beginner.
The author begs to express his acknowledgments to his friend Mr. Fenton, late Resident Magistrate of Waikato, and one of the few who have studied the language grammatically, for carrying the present work through the press.
Kohanga, Waikato, January, 1862.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
[a]Independently] of minute and numerous subdivisions, it may, perhaps, be correct to state that there are spoken in this the northern island seven leading dialects, each more or less distinguished from the other—viz., 1st, the Rarawa, or that spoken to the northward of Kaitaia; 2nd, the Ngapuhi, or that spoken in that portion of the island as far south of Kaitaia as Point Rodney on the eastern coast, and Kaipara on the western; 3rd, the Waikato, or that spoken in the district lying between Point Rodney and Tauranga on the east, and Kaipara and Mokau on the west; 4th, that spoken in the Bay of Plenty; 5th, the dialect of the East Cape and its neighbourhood, in which, perhaps, may be included that of Rotorua, though in these two places many little differences might be detected; 6th, that spoken in the line of coast between Port Nicholson and Wanganui, though here, also, at least four distinct branches might be traced; 7th, and last, that spoken between Wanganui and Mokau. The dialect of Taupo may be, perhaps, considered a mixture of those of Rotorua and Waikato.
All these may be stated to bear to each other a remarkable radical affinity. Many words, it is true, may be found in one which are unknown in another; but the grammar of any will give a great insight into the texture of all.
The Waikato dialect is very generally known throughout the larger portion of the island. It has deeply tinctured that of Taupo, is well known at Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty, and has been carried to the summits of Taranaki by the multitudes whom its fierce warriors once dragged from thence in slavery, and whose chains have been since snapped by the power of the Gospel. Ngapuhi to the northward are well acquainted with it, from the number of slaves who had been fetched from thence by the warrior Hongi; and a little before his time it was carried to the neighbourhood of Port Nicholson by two large and distinct migrations—one by Ngatitoa, who were the original possessors of Kawhia, another by Ngatiraukawa, who formerly occupied Maungatautari, and as far as Taupo.
The four tribes also who now occupy the banks of the Thames resided, formerly, for a very long period, in Waikato, and, being sprung from the same stock, speak a language so similar that a critical ear can scarcely tell the difference between the dialects of the two people.[1]
The origin of this people,—what part of this island was first occupied,—whether it was not colonized by different migrations from different islands,—are points as yet buried in darkness.