NATIONAL DIALECTS. 107 



The occasional occurrence of such accidents, 

 during a lapse of centuries, together with an ad- 

 venturous spirit and other causes, which often 

 actuate these islanders, of both sexes, to proceed 

 in quest of uncertain lands, may be deemed 

 sufficient to account for a gradual advance of 

 population to the easternmost islands of the 

 Pacific, or even to the shores of America. The 

 Papuan races, inhabiting the New Hebrides, 

 New Caledonia, &c., maybe cited as conclusive 

 evidence, that a portion, at least, of the Polyne- 

 sian islanders can claim an origin from lands 

 more westerly than those they now inhabit. 



As regards an identity in language between 

 the Oriental and Polynesian nations, I can 

 assert but little from personal knowledge. At 

 Timor, as I have elsewhere noticed, we found the 

 Malayan dialect accord but little with that we 

 had been accustomed to hear spoken amongst 

 the natives of the Pacific. Nevertheless, there are 

 many facts on record, proving that such identity 

 does exist ;* and, perhaps, the strongest of these 



* Mr. Marsden states, that the Tahitian words wai, 

 water ; and mata, the eyes ; are employed by the 

 Lampoons, a native tribe on the southern extremity of 

 Sumatra. The words which we found commonly used 

 by the Malays at Soutranha, and by the South-Sea 

 Islanders, were mate, to die ; niu, a cocoa-nut ; manu, a 

 fowl ; and, (as a near approach,) tana, a man. 



