ud 
: 
b 
Migrations in the Pacific Ocean. 321 
The possibility of navigating canoes eastward, opposite to 
the course of the trades, is an established fact, and a supposed 
difficulty in this view of their migrations is set aside. During 
a large part of the winter months, westerly winds prevail over 
the tropical regions and extend as far east as the farthest limits 
of the Paumotu Archipelago. The Tonga people in their inter- 
course with the Feejees, which is still sustained, take the trades 
in going to the Feejees, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, 
and wait for the westerly winds to carry them back, Among in- 
stances of voyages to the east “we have the remarkable case of 
Ulea, in the Caroline Archipelago, who was found by Kotzebue, 
in 1817, on the island of Aur one of the Radack chain, to which 
he had been driven in a canoe with three companions, a distance 
of nearly 1500 miles due east. Beechey in like manner found 
on Barrow Island, in the Paumotu Archipelago, some natives of 
Chain Island, who had been drifted by the westerly winds 600 
iles.”” 
“On our arrival at the Navigator Islands, we there saw the newly 
published work of the Rev. John Williams, entitled, ‘‘ A Narrative of 
Missionary Enterprise in the South Sea Islands.” Of the mass of in- 
formation which it contains, I was especially struck with that relating 
to the peopling of Rarotonga, the inhabitants of which consider them- 
selves to have descended in part from emigrants from the Navigator 
oup. At another of the Hervey Islands, Aitutaki, the inhabitants 
believe that their ancestors ascended from a region beneath, termed 
Avaiki. This account called to mind a similar tradition of the Mar- 
quesans, who gave to the lower region the name of Havaiki. (Stewart’s 
Voyage to the South Seas, i, 273.) All these terms are the precise 
forms which the name of the largest of the Navigator Islands (Savai’7) 
would assume in the different dialects. It seemed probable, therefore, 
that by following this clue, the different tribes of Polynesia might all 
be referred back to their original seat. On communicating these views 
to Mr. Williams, (but a few weeks before his lamented death,) he in- 
formed me that he had long entertained the opinion that the Samoan 
Islands were the source of the population of the other groups of Poly- 
nesia.” : 
Mr. Hale’s opinion, thus supported, was afterwards sustained 
by all the facts which his investigations brought to light, and 
also by incidental statements in the writings of former voyagers. 
He remarks upon one peculiarity of the Samoa group, that it is 
the only one in all Polynesia, in which the natives have a gen- 
