POLYNESIAN REUCS IN MELANESIA. 59 



We shall next take up in a series of tables the relations of Melane- 

 sian tongues with the Proto-Samoan (uniformly exhibited in bold- 

 face type), the data upon which each of these mutations rests, and 

 certain other results which have a bearing on our study. These 

 tables are prepared for all the Melanesian languages for which a 

 sufficiency of data is available. Several of the groups in the pre- 

 ceding catalogue, while seeming to be well enough equipped with 

 examples, have not been included in this tabular review for the 

 reason that earlier compilers, to whose efforts we owe these data, 

 have not been precise in identifying the language. Such omitted 

 collections are to be seen under the headings of New Guinea, New 

 Britain, New Ireland, large lands in which are many distinct 

 languages. 



Prefixed to each of these tables will be found two particular notes. 

 The figure following the note Polynesia expresses the number of 

 words in the available material in each language which are identi- 

 fied as of Polynesian stock. The note of Quality is a valuable index 

 which will be explained and discussed at length after the prelimi- 

 nary matter has been arranged. 



The final notes in each table call for slight explanation. Under 

 the note Identical are assembled those words in which the Melane- 

 sian is the same in consonant and vowel structure as either the 

 Proto-Samoan or the modern Samoan, or where the vowel change 

 is so slight as to be explained by the difference in the system of 

 reducing the language to our alphabet by those missionary collec- 

 tors whose zeal must serve as the excuse for their lack of skill. 

 The second note refers to those words, otherwise identical, which 

 have lost their ending by abrasion. Under Consonant Identity are 

 listed those words of identical consonant skeleton where the vowels 

 have undergone change, and the converse is the case under Vowel 

 Identity. In the next pair of notes we record those cases where 

 the consonant skeleton has undergone a mutation, but where the 

 vowels remain constant or terminal abrasion has taken place. 



