138 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



the h, of which the former is found in the Samoan, and both in 

 the Tahitian. With these exceptions, however, which affect neither 

 the substance nor the form of the language, but only its pronuncia- 

 tion, the Rarotongan is almost pure Tahitian. Were the k and ~Q 

 dropped from the former, and the f and k inserted in their proper 

 places, the languages would be so nearly alike, that a translation of 

 any work from one into the other would probably be unnecessary. 



The Rarotongan has, however, a few peculiarities, in which it 

 differs from the Tahitian ; and in these it generally agrees with the 

 Samoan. Thus the latter uses the nominative sign 'o frequently and 

 the former rarely ; in this respect the Rarotongan accords with the 

 Samoan. The Samoan has two adverbs of a peculiar character, 

 which are affixed to verbs to express facility or difficulty, as fai-yofie, 

 easy to do, fai-yatd, hard to do. The Rarotongan has the same, as 

 rave-yoie, easy to do ; rave-yata, hard to do. These are not in the 

 Tahitian. There are also several words which the Rarotongan seems 

 to have derived from the Samoan, as 



SAMOAN. RAROTONGAN. TAHITIAN. 



fili, ..... iri, ..... maiti, .... to choose. 



filoi, .... iroi, ..... anoi, .... to mix. 



Klipi, .... ririyi, ..... ninii, .... to pour out. 



'0 (ii, . . . . ko ai, ..... 'o vai, .... who 1 



noanoa, . . . akanonoa, . . . fetii, .... to tie. 



fa'alava, . . . tarava, .... da, ..... rafter. 



manaia, . . . manea, .... purotu, . . . handsome. 



maualalo, . . . moraro, .... haahaa, . . . low. 



With regard to some of these it will be observed that the Rarotongan 

 differs from the Samoan not according to the usual dialectical changes, 

 but irregularly ; and this is what frequently happens where words of 

 one language are adopted into another from oral communication, as 

 we observe in the Norman French portion of our own tongue. But 

 as the Tahitian is itself an offspring of the Samoan, it may be 

 thought that the Rarotongan words given above are merely old and 

 obsolete Tahitian. In that case, we should probably find them in the 

 Hawaiian, which is, like the Rarotongan, of Tahitian derivation. As 

 we do not, the presumption is that they are some of the words which 

 the descendants of Tangiia have learned from those of Karika. 



Mr. Williams informs us (p. 169), that the present high chief, 

 Makea, is the twenty-ninth in descent from Karika. This would 



