476 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 
Malays, occur have never been visited by any roaming 
Malay tribe. We must go further back for an explana- 
tion which will account for the fact. The correct ex- 
planation, I think, is that these words were in common 
use amongst the original peoples who inhabited the Malay 
Peninsula prior to the Malay irruption, and that they 
became the common property of both races. There were in 
the language of the Papuan races, in that of the mixed 
races which constitute the brown Polynesians, whom the 
Malays drove out, were adopted by the Malays, and so are 
found to-day in all branches of these families. One of the 
most striking examples | know of is in the word “ rumah,” 
a house. This word occurs in the form of “‘ ruma,’’ Duke 
of York Island; San Cristoval, in the Solomons, and in 
“motu ”’ in New Guinea, “‘luma”’ in the Solomons, “ uma” 
in Javanese, ‘““suma”’ in Fate, and in varying forms in 
several other islands. As I have stated, there is not the 
slightest probability that any wandering Malays have ever 
visited these groups; but the word is there, and it is also 
in the Malay Archipelago. The word for house in Poly- 
nesia is ‘fale,’ “vale,” ‘“ whare,”’ or some similar form; 
and widely different as these words “.rumah”’ and “ fale ”’ 
appear to be, I believe that they both belonged to some 
common ancient stock, for I have found both used by 
Melanesians in one group in the present day. In Duke of 
York the common word is ‘“‘ruma,” but the pure Poly- 
nesian word “pal” (fale) is also used by that people for 
au outhouse, whilst in New Britain, only a few miles away, 
‘““pal’’ is the common word for house. ‘“‘ Ruma”’ has been 
generally retained in Western Polynesia, whilst “ pal,” 
“fale,” “vale,” ‘‘ whare,” have been adopted by those 
who travelled farther eastward; but in a pure Melanesian 
group both words are used by the people living there. In 
one case “ pal’ has supplanted “ruma’”’ as the word for 
house, whilst in the other ‘‘ruma’’ is the common word, 
and ‘“ pal’’ becomes an outhouse only. A full comparison 
of these languages will show that in many other instances 
the same words are used to express the same or similar 
meanings in Malay, Melanesian, and Polynesian groups. 
“ Prau,”’ a boat, in Malay, is “ parau,” a ship, in Duke of 
York, and “ folau”’ in Samoan; and giving the same words 
in the same order, we have ‘‘ikan,” a fish; “iam,” ‘ ia,” 
“bua,” fruit; ua,” “fua;” °* mata,” the veye; o* matay 
mata akai,”’ a root; “aka,” “ad,” “lima,” the hand; 
“lima, lima,” and many other similar instances. An 
objection is sometimes made that it is unreasonable to 
think that the lower and unaggressive Melanesian race 
