46 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



miles as its length. The captain also states that the island is 

 now fully 150 feet high. But yesterday and to-day (October 

 19th) the volcano, as seen from Nukualofa, is again as active 

 if not more so than ever. 



The difficulty of putting on paper anything like a correct idea 

 of this grand sight will be fully admitted by every lover of science, 

 but we trust that this short description will enable some who 

 were not permitted to be with us to form some idea of this 

 magnificent spectacle of our latest volcanic eruption. 



Art. VI. — The Maori Language, with Remarks on the Reform of 



English Spelling. 



By James Coutts Crawford, F.G.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, '21st October. 1885.] 



Prefatory. 



I use, for illustration, the vowels as generally pronounced in 

 Italian, German, Spanish, excluding the French modifications. 

 In a reform of the English alphabet it is difficult to say how to 

 express the sound of the English e, the Continental i. This 

 latter vowel is so much used in English, in such words as 

 tin, sin, &c, that it would be difficult to establish as e, and 

 therefore, perhaps, the German ie will be preferable for the 

 purpose. 



I use the German diphthongs an, ai, ei, iu. Italian, I think, 

 has no diphthongs, the vowels in that language are all pronounced 

 separately. I have used ae to represent the English a, as in 

 fate. This is perhaps non-phonetic, but it is in accordance with 

 Teutonic usage ; a has always the broad sound, as in man. 



I have used ao to represent the English aw, as in law, but I 

 am inclined to think that it would be better to adopt for this 

 purpose what appears to be the Dutch plan, viz., aa. 



It is sometimes inconvenient to use the German ie to repre- 

 sent the English e, as for instance, in Scripture names. In 

 those cases I have retained t alone. 



It is a matter for congratulation that, whoever reduced the 

 Maori tongue into a written language, has avoided the absurd 

 attempt to adopt it to English vowel sounds, and has adopted 

 the Continental vowel system and pronunciation. The Maori 

 language has, in consequence, assumed a form and appearance 

 of structure and of culture which would have been lost had the 

 English system prevailed, and the result is, that the moment a 



