188 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



in color and handsomer than their predecessors, and spoke a different 

 language. For some time the two parties lived together in harmony ; 

 but after two or three generations the warriors of the Banep party, 

 influenced by the beauty of the Amoi females, rose upon and killed 

 the men, and took the women for wives. From this source all the 

 inhabitants of the Kingsmill Group are descended. 



The tradition states further that the natives of Amoi brought with 

 them the breadfruit, and those of Banep the taro ; but the cocoa-nut 

 and pandanus were found upon the islands. 



If we are to consider this account as an historical fact, every cir- 

 cumstance points to the Navigator Islands, (Samoa,) as the source of 

 the Amoi people. The Tarawan language has no s, nor any substi- 

 tute for that letter ; and the change from Amoa to Amoi (or rather, 

 perhaps, Amoe) is not so great as proper names frequently undergo 

 in the pronunciation of foreigners. Banep is probably the same as 

 Bandbe ; for the direction which Kirby assigned to it was found to be 

 a mistake. At Makin the natives knew of the same island, and de- 

 scribed it as lying to the northwest. 



The evidence of language confirms this tradition, so far as the 

 means of comparison exist. For the Samoan these are ample, and 

 the resemblance of many of its words to the corresponding terms in 

 the Tarawan dialect is evident on the most cursory inspection. The 

 following are a few instances. It must be recollected that the Ta- 

 rawan has neither f, I, s, nor v. The first it sometimes omits, and 

 sometimes supplies by b ; the / is changed to r or n ; the s is dropped 

 entirely, and the v is changed to w. The concluding vowel was fre- 

 quently omitted by the interpreters, though it probably is not by the 

 natives. Where the Jc has been dropped by the Samoan from a word 

 in which it originally existed, the Tarawan sometimes inserts, and 

 sometimes omits it. 



SAMOAN. TARAWAN. 



amo, . . . amo, ... to carry on the back. 



tau, .... tau, ... to take. 



pu, .... pu, ... the conch-shell. 



tagi, . . . toyi, ... to cry. 



pou, . . . pou, . . . post. 



afi, ai, ... fire. 



fafine, . . aine, . . . woman. 



yafa, -go. (i. o. ~gaa) , . fathom. 



fanwa, . , . benua, . . . country. 



fulufulu, . . . buruburu, . . fur. 



