OCEANIC MIGRATIONS. 193 



place at a comparatively modern period, not more, perhaps, than five 

 or six centuries ago. The natives say that, a few generations back, 

 the number of people was much less than at present, wars were less 

 frequent, and the communication between the islands was free and 

 safe. The grandfather of the present king of Apamama, more than 

 a hundred years ago, visited every island of the group, for the purpose 

 of seeing what he considered the world. At present, from the hostility 

 which prevails between the different clusters, such an undertaking 

 would be impossible. We have elsewhere (p. 120) stated our reasons 

 for believing that the name Samoa, for the Navigator Group, from 

 which amoi is probably derived, is of late adoption. 



One word of the Tarawari language, viti, may be noticed as an 

 evidence of the communication which exists among the tribes of the 

 Pacific. The Feejee Group, Rotuma, Vaitupu, and the Kingsmill 

 Group, are situated nearly in a line from north to south, with inter- 

 vals of about five degrees between them. They are inhabited by 

 different races, having distinct languages and customs. At Vaitupu, 

 the natives called some bananas which we had on board (a fruit that 

 does not grow on their island) futi o Rotuma, or bananas of Rotuma, 

 showing that they had intercourse with the latter island. They also 

 called an iron axe tokifai, i. e. Feejee axe, and we may presume that 

 they first acquired a knowledge of iron at Rotuma, to which island it 

 had been brought from Viti. From Vaitupu the metal was probably 

 carried, in like manner, to the Kingsmill Islands, where the word fat 

 became biti, and was used no longer as an epithet, but as a common 

 noun.* 



SYNOPSIS OF MIXED LANGUAGES. 



The table and formulae which follow are to be considered merely 

 as expressing, in a succinct form, the conclusions with respect to the 

 composition of some of the Oceanic languages which have been stated 

 in the course of this essay as the result of our investigations. 



* See what is said (pages 130, 139,) concerning the change in meaning which proper 

 names undergo at the second remove. 



49 



