148 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



As to the time which has elapsed since their arrival, our conclu- 

 sions, being formed on grounds of a vague and general character, 

 must be merely approximative. The New Zealand dialect differs 

 quite as widely from the Samoan, as does the Tahitian, although the 

 points of difference are not identical. Each idiom has pursued its 

 peculiar. course in departing from the common type ; but the distance 

 which both have attained is nearly the same. Judging from this fact 

 alone, we might be induced to suppose that the emigrations by which 

 New Zealand and Tahiti were peopled, took place about the same 

 time. 



Now, as regards the latter island, we have seen that all the groups 

 of eastern Polynesia (Rarotonga, Nukuhiva, Hawaii, &c.) have de- 

 rived from it, either entirely or in great part, their population, lan- 

 guage, customs, and mythology. We observe, moreover, that one 

 general stamp pervades them all, in these respects, and that they 

 differ very strikingly, in many points, from the natives of the western 

 group (Samoa and Tonga). It seems certain, therefore, that between 

 the time of the settlement of Tahiti by Samoan emigrants, and the 

 sending forth of the colonies which peopled the surrounding groups, 

 sufficient time must have elapsed for the language to have undergone 

 considerable alteration, and for their religious belief, tabu-system, and 

 much of their social polity to have taken a new and peculiar form. 

 If the Rarotongans have been established nine centuries in their 

 present abode, and the Hawaiians fourteen, it seems impossible, on 

 any calculation of probabilities, to allow less than three thousand 

 years to the Tahitian people. 



CHATHAM ISLAND. 



Our information concerning this island, was derived from an Eng- 

 lish sailor, at the Bay of Islands. He said that he had lived for some 

 time upon it, and found the natives similar to the New Zealanders, 

 but less civilized. They had the tradition that their ancestors were 

 from the East Cape of New Zealand, and were driven in their canoes 

 out to sea by a northwest gale. In this condition they fell in with 

 Chatham Island, and established themselves upon it. This took 

 place, as near as our informant could learn, about ninety years ago. 

 It is probable that this account is in the main correct, with the excep- 

 tion of the time, which they could hardly have had the means of 

 computing with much accuracy. These original inhabitants of Chat- 



