United States Exploring Expedition. 401 



the most important dialects, (including those of the Sandwich, 

 Society, Friendly, Navigator, and Hervey islands and New Zea- 

 land,) and from this comparison and the traditions of several of 

 these islands, it is believed that the original seat of the popula- 

 tion — viz. in the Navigator Islands — has been satisfactorily de- 

 termined, and the course of the migrations has been traced out 

 by which the different groups were peopled. 



The vast island or continent of New Holland has heretofore 

 been generally supposed to be inhabited by numerous tribes 

 speaking languages entirely distinct. An opportunity however 

 was found of obtaining a grammatical analysis of the languages of 

 the inhabitants of two tribes living more than two hundred miles 

 apart, and ignorant of each other's existence ; which has resulted 

 in showing a clear and intimate resemblance, not merely in the 

 great mass of words, but in the inflections and minute peculiari- 

 ties of the two languages. By the aid of several vocabularies, 

 the comparison has been extended across the entire continent, and 

 has afforded fair grounds for believing that the inhabitants of New 

 Holland, like those of Polynesia, are one people, speaking langua- 

 ges derived from a common origin. Much information was ob- 

 tained from the missionaries and others, concerning the character, 

 usages, and religious belief of this singular race. 



The inhabitants of the extensive and populous Feejee group 

 have been viewed with peculiar interest, from their position be- 

 tween the yellow Polynesian tribes on the east, and the Oceanic 

 negroes on the west. The result of inquiries, pursued with care 

 during a stay of nearly four months, has been to throw new and 

 unexpected light on the origin of this people, and their connec- 

 tion with the neighboring races. A mass of minute information 

 in regard to the customs, traditions and languages of these isl- 

 anders, including a grammar and a dictionary of about three thou- 

 sand words, will be given to the public. 



The Kingsmill Islands are another interesting group, first ac- 

 curately surveyed by the vessels of the expedition. They lie in 

 the western part of the Pacific, directly under the equator. They 

 are sixteen in number, all of coral formation, the highest land on 

 any of them rising not more than twenty feet above the level of 

 the sea, and their united superficies not exceeding a hundred and 

 fifty square miles. They afford no stone but coral, no quadru- 

 peds but rats, and not more than thirty species of plants. Yet 



Vol. xliv, No. 2.— Jan.-March, 1843. 51 



