OCEANIC MIGRATIONS. 143 



originated in the following manner. Tupaia accompanied Cook in 

 his voyage from Tahiti to New Zealand, in the course of which 

 Rurutu was discovered. As they were approaching it, Tupaia in- 

 formed them, says Parkinson, " that it was an island called Oheite- 

 roah, being one of the cluster of nine which bore the title of Oheite 

 added to them." The mistake of the Tahitian geographer probably 

 arose from being informed by his friends, who could only have com- 

 municated with him, at that time, in his own language, that this 

 island lay from Tahiti nearly in the direction of Apatoa, which they 

 supposed to mean south, when it really signifies north, or northwest. 

 As he could not doubt their assurance, he would probably take no 

 pains to verify the fact by further inquiries, and he might feel that 

 any hesitation in giving the name of the island would throw some 

 doubts upon the accuracy of the geographical knowledge on which 

 he had prided himself. However this may be, the circumstance of 

 the island being laid down in another place, under its own name, in 

 company with Rimatara, Raivavai, and the Hervey Islands, shows 

 clearly enough that he was mistaken, and that he never discovered 

 the island to be really that which he knew by its proper appellation 

 O Rurutu. 



On the whole, if we admit that Rarotonga was peopled not quite 

 nine hundred years ago, and Tupuai only about a century before its 

 discovery, we cannot suppose that more than two or three centuries 

 have elapsed since the other Austral islands received their first inha- 

 bitants. 



PAUMOTU, OR THE LOW ARCHIPELAGO. 



Pa'umotu is the Tahitian pronunciation of Paku-motu, which is the 

 proper native appellation of the archipelago. This very term may 

 serve as a good exemplification of the composition of the dialect. Its 

 meaning seems to be " cloud of islands," for paku signifies, in this 

 language (but in no other of Polynesia), a cloud, and motu signifies 

 here, as in Tahitian, an island. Like this compound name, the 

 whole language is constituted of two elements, the one similar to 

 the Tahitian, the other peculiar, and unlike any that we find else- 

 where. The words which come under the latter description are not 

 only numerous, but they are such as are usually original in a lan- 

 guage, and very rarely introduced from abroad, such as man, 

 woman, fire, water, good, bad, and the like. They seem to form 



