INTRODUCTION. xix 



of the Ancestors of the New Zealand Kace ' (Cape Town, 1857), 

 Avill be found useful and instructive. 



In the Hawaiian language there is an excellent grammar by 

 the late Judge Andrews, and Professor "W. P. Alexander has 

 published an admirable little ' Synopsis of the most essential 

 points in Hawaiian Grammar,' for the use of his students in 

 Oahu College, while Andrews's 'Dictionary of the Hawaiian 

 Language ' (Honolulu, 1865) may certainly be regarded as by 

 far the best dictionary of any Polynesian tongue which has 

 been published. It may be mentioned here, though I omitted 

 to mention the fact when sketching my short stay in the 

 Hawaiian Islands, that newspapers are regularly published in 

 its language, and the Bible has, of course, been translated. 



A short grammar and small dictionary of the language of 

 Samoa, by the Kev. G-. Pratt, was published in Samoa in 1862. 

 This being out of print, Mr. Pratt has prepared a new and 

 enlarged edition, which I believe has been published by 

 Messrs. Tiiibncr and Co., of London. This new edition con- 

 tains all the Avords Avhich have been collected by the united 

 efforts of the missionaries ; but, although he is the editor and 

 proprietor of the copyright of this Avork, Mr. Whitmee thinks 

 that the definitions of Avords are briefer and the examples of 

 their use feAver than are desirable. In some respects the 

 Samoan is one of the most important of the Sawaiori or 

 Malayo-Polynesian languages, and there can be little doubt 

 that it is the parent of some of the members of this family, 

 such, e.g., as the Tokclau and Ellice Islands dialects. I have 

 heard it stated, moreover, that the Samoan version of the Bible 

 published by the indefatigable British and Foreign Bible 

 Society is one of the best versions of the Protestant Bible 

 extant. Still more recently, in 1880, Father Violette has pub- 

 lished in Paris an English, French, and Samoan Dictionary, 

 Avith a Samoan grammar, the merits of Avhich I haA r e had no 

 opportunity of judging. 



Of the Tongan language a A r ocabulary by the ReA 7 . S. Rabonc 

 was published in Vavau in 1845. This is far behind the 



