142 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



Raivavai on the east, or Rurutu and Rimatara on the west," But 

 that an island twelve miles in circuit, and of considerable elevation, 

 could have remained long undiscovered in the midst of an inhabited 

 group, is quite inconceivable. We should be compelled, for this 

 reason only, to suppose that the other islands, also, had not been very 

 long peopled. 



The evidence from their language confirms this opinion. Mr. 

 Williams (Missionary Enterprises, p. 449) says: "The Austral 

 islanders, including Rurutu, Raivavai, Tupuai, and Rimatara, have 

 a [dialectical] distinction of their own, but have been taught to use 

 the Tahitian Scriptures, which they read fluently, and understand as 

 well as if written in their own tongue.* The peculiarity of this 

 dialect appears in the rejection [from the Tahitian] of the f and h, 

 without supplying any substitutes ; and trifling as this may appear, 

 the difference of sound it occasions is amazing." Now this peculiarity 

 is precisely what would be caused by the union of some emigrants 

 from Rarotonga, who would not be able to pronounce those letters, 

 with others from Tahiti. This will appear clearly from the following 

 examples, extracted from the same author (p. 451) : 



house. good. woman. man. cloth. to believe. spirit. 



Tahitian : fare, maita'i, vahine, taata, 'ahu, fa'aroo, varua. 



Rarotongan : are, nteitaki, vaine, tagata, kakau, akaropo, vaerua. 



Austral : are, maita'i, vaine, taata, 'au, a?aroo, varua. 



It will be observed that, by striking out from the Tahitian line of 

 words all the letters which are not contained in the Rarotongan, we 

 obtain the words of the Austral dialect. The same result will follow 

 nearly, if we strike out from the Rarotongan the letters which are 

 not contained in the Tahitian. There will still, however, be a slight 

 difference in some of the words, as in those for "good," "cloth," and 

 " spirit." The Austral dialect, it appears from this, has only six con- 

 sonants, m, n,p, r, t, and v, a smaller number, probably, than is found 

 in any other tongue. The guttural catch, marked by the inverted 

 comma, should, however, be added, as constituting a distinct element. 



The island of Rurutu is laid down twice on Tupaia's chart, once 

 under its proper name ( Ururutu), and in its proper place, according 

 to the real bearings (see p. 6), and again under the mistaken name 

 of Ohiteroa (Great Feejee), and in the mistaken position which 

 Tupaia's English friends induced him to assign to it. The error 



* This even the Rarotongans could not do. See Williams, p. 103. 



