618 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION F. 



Sandwich Islands. One hundred years later they peopled New Zealand. 

 " Their universal tradition is that tliey came from the west, and when 

 they die they return to Avaiki. Avaiki is the Sanscrit name of Hades, 

 and to this day it is the Hades both of the Buddhists and the Brahmins." 

 — Fornander. 



On the western end of every island there is a " naithombothombo," a 

 jumping-off place, where the souls of the departed follow the setting sun 

 to the home of their fathers. 



2. Names of Places. 



The recurrence of names like Rewa and Poonah, in places far apart 

 as India and Fiji ; Nusa, Papua, and Rotumah in western and eastern 

 Polynesia, thousands of miles apart. ?^avaii, Manua, Upolu, Tonga, &,c., 

 found in the Western Pacific are referred to in the ancient songs of the 

 Eastern Polynesian?. Hawaii, in the Sandwich Islands, and Savaii, in 

 Samoa are simply different pronunciations of the same name. Hapai 

 (Fijian Sapai or Savai), Hawaiki, Sawaiki are other forms of the name, 

 and all represent Java iti, i.e.. Little Java, or as we should say, New Java. 



The Maori tradition is that they came from Hawaii, but Hawaii is 

 simply the Maori pronunciation of Savaii, in Samoa. 



3. Language. 



The Polynesian and Papuan languages appear to be of Aryan origin, 

 "with Semitic and Turanian elements. The Rev. George Pratt, 40 years 

 resident in Samoa, in preparing a grammar of that language, was struck 

 by the many points of similarity between the Hebrew and the Polynesian, 

 so far as the grammar of the two languages is concerned. The Rev. Dr. 

 Macdonald, of the New Hebrides, found so many Semitic words in use 

 by the people of that group, that he regarded their language as of 

 Semitic origin. I, on the other hand, could trace many of these words 

 to Aryan roots ; which is simply another proof of what is now an ac- 

 knowledged scientific fact— the common origin of all languages. 



The Aryan of Polynesia is pronounced by Judge Fornander to be 

 pre-Vedic, less highly developed — hence more primitive than Sanscrit. 



The word Aryan is derived from yj ar., to plough. Another deriva- 

 tion of the word signifies "the noble." The Polynesian word for noble 

 or chief is '•'■Ariki " or "■Ari'i.'^ 



The pronouns afford a good illustration of the Aryan element in 

 these languages. 



First person — Aryan form, agam; Sanscrit, o/taw; Greek and Latin, 

 ego ; Malay, aku ; Maori, ahmi ; Samoan. &c., au ; New Britain, New 

 Ireland, and Duke of York Island, iau ; Fiji, an (second person, iko = 

 ego). 



Second person singular — Aryan base, yu ; Greek, v-fiei9, ye. New 

 Britain, u and iu (= yu) ; New Ireland, iu and id ; Duke of York 

 Island, u and ui ; New Guinea, oi ; East Polynesian, oe and koe. 



Third person singular, pronoun — Base?; Sanscrit, i-dani ; Latin, 

 is, ea, id; New Britain, New Ireland, Duke of York Island, and New 

 Guinea, i and ia ; Fast Polynesian, /«; Malav, ia, iya ; Hebrew, (M). 

 Hu (F) Hi. 



