30 THE POLYNESIAN WANDERINGS. 



use of the same class of data by other students as the basis upon 

 which to combat their conclusions when they differ from his own. 

 He says of his predecessors in this field : 



They trusted mainly if not wholly on the comparison of words, chiefly 

 the pronouns and numerals, in which there is always great liability to 

 error, and which apart from comparison of grammar and structure can 

 never be conclusive. As to the pronouns, for instance, Bopp, and Max 

 Muller following him, chose to regard the Malay kita, kami, we, and kamu, 

 ye, as composed of an article ki, or ka, and the pronouns ta, mi, mu. This 

 enabled Bopp to compare the latter with the Indo-European pronouns, 

 and Max Muller, it should be added, to compare them with equal prob- 

 ability or improbability with the Turanian ; and by this method the Oceanic 

 pronouns might just as well be compared with any others whatsoever. The 

 fact is, as the Melanesian clearly shows, that this ki, or ka, is not an article 

 at all, and that this comparison of Bopp, and also that of Muller, founded 

 on the notion that it is, is illegitimate and futile. 



In this chapter it has been my aim to present the line of Dr. 

 Macdonald's argument as simply as possible; to avoid, wherever it 

 might be done, the complexity and intricacy of the detail of his 

 method; and in general to refrain from debating the controversial 

 points which arise, the latter pleasure being reserved for the critical 

 examination of his material, upon which now we shall enter. 



