Malayan and Polynesian Languages and Races. 179 



licolo " seemed to be quite a different nation from any we 

 had yet met with, and speak a different language. Of about 

 eighty words collected by Mr Forster, hardly one bears any 

 affinity to the language spoken at any of the islands I had 

 ever been at. I observed that they would pronounce most 

 of our words with great ease. They express their admira- 

 tion by hissing like a goose."* 



The words given by Forster accord with this description 

 of its phonetic character. They imply 12 consonants, instead 

 of the meagre numbers of the Polynesian dialects. These 

 are b, d, g, k, I, m, n, h, r, s, t, and 3/ ; and they are com- 

 bined in a manner not only unknown to the Polynesian, but 

 to the Malay and Javanese, as db, ts, and rg. 



Among the thirty-three words, there are three which are 

 corrupted Malayan : the words " eye," " ear," and the verb 

 " to die," which, however, instead of mati, is mats. 



Another Negro language is that of Tanna, also one of the 

 New Hebrides. Forster gives forty-one words of it. Cook 

 observes of it : " It is different from any we had before met 

 with, and beai'S no affinity to that of Malicolo ; so that it would 

 seem the people of this island are a distinct nation." t 



To judge by the list of words, the Tanna has thirteen con- 

 sonants, several of which differ from those of the Malicolo. 

 They are b, f, g, k, I, m, n, ii, p, r, s, t, and v. The words 

 abound more in vowels than the Malicolo, and the harsh 

 combinations of them existing in the latter are absent. 



There are but two words in the Tanna which are the same 

 as in the Malicolo, those for the verb " to drink," and for 

 " a house." There are six Malayan words, viz. that for " a 

 cocoa-nut," for " land or country," for " the sea," for " fish," 

 and for "a chisel,'' which last is erroneously translated by 

 Forster, " hatchet." I can find in it only one word of the 

 Polynesian, that for " chief," or " priest." 



Of the language of New Caledonia, Forster has given thirty- 

 eight words. This seems to have twelve consonants, differing 

 in some respects both from those of Tanna and Malicolo. They 

 are b, g, k, I, m, n, h, 7i, p, r, t, and w. Cook considers this lan- 



* Cook's Second Voyage. t Ibid. 



