40^ 



A VOYAGE TO 



1777. of the men (if it is to be called dancing), although it does 

 not confifl: much in moving the feet, as we do, has a thou- 

 fand different motions with the hands, to which we are 

 entire ftrangers ; and they are performed with an eafe and 

 grace which are not to be defcribed, nor even conceived, 

 but by thofe who have feen them. But I need add nothing 

 to what has been already faid on this fubjecft, in the account 

 of the incidents that happened during our flay at the 

 iflands *. 



Whether their marriages be made lafling by any kind of 

 folemn contrad:, we could not determine with precifion; but 



* If, to the copious defcriptions that occur in the preceding pages, of the parti- 

 cular entertainments exhibited in Hapaee and Tongataboo, we add the general view 

 g{ the ufual amufements of the inhabitants of thefe iflands, contained in this para- 

 graph, and compare it with the quotation from the Jefuit's Letters, in a former note 

 (p. 255.), we fliall be ftill more forcibly ftruck with the reafonablenefs of tracing 

 fuch fingularly refembling cuftoms to one common fource. The argument, in 

 confirmation of this, drawn from identity of language, has been already illuflrated, by' 

 obferving the remarkable coincidence of the name, by wliich the Chiefs at the Caroline 

 Iflands, and thofe at Hamao, one of the Friendly ones, are diftinguifhed. But the 

 argument does not reft on a firgle inftance, though that happens to be a very flriking 

 one. Another of the very few fpecimens of the dialedl of the North Pacific Iflanders, 

 preferved by father Cantova, furnifhes an additional proof. Immediately after the 

 paiTage above referred to, he proceeds thus : " Ce divertifi'ement s'appelle, en leur 

 " langue, tanger ifaifil; qui veut dire, la plainte des femmes." Lettres EdifianUs ^ Cu' 

 rietifes, Tom. xv. p. 315, Now it is very remarkable, that we learn from Mr. An- 

 derfon's colleflion of words, which will appear in this chapter, that la plainte des 

 ft-mrnes, or, in Englifli, the mournful fong of the wornen, which the inhabitants of the 

 Caroline Iflands exprefs in their language tanger ifaifily would, by thofe of Tongata- 

 boo, be exprefied tangee vefaine. 



If any one fliould flill doubt, in fpite of this evidence, it may be recommended to 

 his confideration, that long feparation, and other caufes, have introduced greater va- 

 riations in the mode of pronouncing thefe two words, at places confefledly inhabited 

 by the fame race, than fubfift in the fpecimen juft given. It appears, from Mr. An- 

 derfon's vocabulary, printed in Captain Cook's fecond voyage, that what is pronounced 

 tangee at the Friendly Iflands, is taee at Otaheite; and the vefaine of the former, is 

 the waheine of the latter. 



it 



