ETHNOGRAPHY OF BRITISH NEW GUINEA. 93 



at that there is a connection between the newly found and 

 the well known, and there will be a decided tendency to 

 adopt the old as a standard and to refer the new to it. 

 Those who first became acquainted with any New 

 Guinea languages came from Samoa and Niue, where is 

 found the fullest and most complete form of Polynesian 

 speech." The numerous words which are common to 

 the Motu (which is the only language of this district of 

 New Guinea which has been thoroughly studied) and 

 Polynesians "are also common in the Melanesian region. 

 This leads to a further inquiry : Did the Motu and 

 the Melanesians receive these words from the Eastern 

 Polynesians ? Before answering this it is necessary to 

 observe that the Motu contains numerous words which are 

 in the Melanesian of the Melanesian islands and do not 

 appear in Samoan. A comparison of vocabularies shows 

 that the Motu and the Melanesians stand in the same 

 relation to the Samoan, whatever that relation may be." 

 Mr. Ray shows that where Polynesian words diverge 

 from Melanesian it is due to "worn down or abbreviated 

 pronunciations of the fuller Melanesian, and the Motu 

 has preserved a fuller form of certain words than the 

 Samoan and hence presumably an older form. But there 

 is a more important feature in the Motu language of New 

 Guinea which distinguishes it from the Polynesian. Words 

 are not used in the same way. The grammars of the languages 

 are not essentially different, but in the Polynesian there is 

 a tendency towards simplification which is not found in 

 the Motu. It seems that we must regard the Samoan 

 forms as in a later stage than that of the Melanesian. The 

 Motu follows the Melanesian rule and is thus presumably 

 in an older stage than the Samoan. Much more could 

 be written to show that it is with the Melanesian tongues 

 that the Motu of New Guinea should be included and not 

 with the Polynesian. The same method applied to the 

 Kerepunu, the Aroma, Suau, and other dialects akin to 

 the Motu, points to the same relationship. The Motu 

 grammar is entirely Melanesian and non-Polynesian. 

 Such words as are common to it and the Eastern Poly- 



