CHAP. I.] INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 303 



by Professor Lee, at Cambridge, in 1820, the style 

 of orthography is certainly not correct. The native 

 who was had recourse to when that dictionary was 

 compiled must have pronounced certain sounds dif- 

 ferently from most of his countrymen, or errors 

 must have been committed in catching the sounds. 

 The missionaries, whose translations were of great 

 help to me in compiling the dictionary, have adopted 

 the orthography as I have given it. I also thought 

 that my dictionary and grammar would be of service 

 to the emigrants, as Professor Lee's work, which is 

 meritorious in every other respect, is now out of 

 print. 



We are still very deficient in our knowledge of 

 the Polynesian languages. No one of the mission- 

 aries has shown himself to be a good linguist ; no 

 one of them has succeeded in deciphering the native 

 traditionary poetry, which undoubtedly would re- 

 compense the labour of the historian and ethnologist. 



The importance of a more exact study of languages, 

 as the means of understanding the mind of these 

 nations, is not yet sufficiently acknowledged amongst 

 those who could contribute most largely to increase 

 our stock of knowledge. " To search into the dif- 

 ference of the structure of human languages, to 

 elucidate their essential condition, to arrange their 

 apparently infinite variety in a more simple manner, 

 to trace the sources of that variety, as well as its 

 influence on the thoughts, feelings, and sensations 

 of men, to follow the intellectual development of 



