568 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



SUPPLEMENT TO PART III. 



Two schedules, the Tongan and the Fijian, were received after a portion of Table 

 III. was stereotyped, and therefore too late for insertion. They were filled out 

 with much care and precision, by the Rev. Lorimer Fison, an English missionary 

 resident at the Fiji Islands, at the instance of Prof. Goldwin Smith, who very 

 kindly undertook to procure for me the Fijian system of relationship. Some notice 

 of the contents of these schedules is due to their importance, as well as to the 

 unexpected presence of Turanian characteristics in the system of these Malayan 

 nations. Their proper place in the Table is number 18 and 19. The interesting 

 observations of Mr. Fison are also worthy of careful attention. These together 

 seem to justify a formal note as a supplement to Part III. 



Horatio Hale, author of the volume on the Ethnography and Philology of the 

 United States Exploring Expedition under Charles Wilkes, U. S. N., places the 

 Tonga Islands within, and the Fiji Islands without, the boundary line circumscrib- 

 ing Polynesia. The latter are also without Micronesia. With respect to the 

 former he remarKS : " The people of the Tonga or friendly group, though belonging 

 to the Polynesian family, form a class apart from the rest. This is seen in their 

 language, which differs strikingly in several points from the others, especially in 

 the article, the pronouns, and the passive voice of the verb. Several of their cus- 

 toms are, moreover, peculiar, such as that of infant sacrifice of cutting off a finger 

 to appease tne gods. * * * It is evident that these islanders have received modi- 

 rications in their language and usages which have not affected the rest." With 

 respect to the Fijian language Dr. Prichard observes : " The grammatical structure 

 of this language has been investigated by Mr. Norris. * * * The result to which 

 he has arrived is that the Fijian is really a Polynesian dialect, though offering 

 peculiarities not found in any other, and having a vocabulary so peculiarly modified 

 that it requires some examination to perceive the resemblances, while the Polyne- 

 sian idioms display the proofs of their affinity at a glance The Fijians are a very 

 interesting people, of almost black complexion, with frizzled but not woolly hair, 

 very rude and savage in their habits, but possessed of greater physical and mental 

 energy than any of the fair Polynesians. In natural capabilities they seem to be 

 superior to any other tribe of the Pacific, though perhaps descended from a mixture 

 of the Tongan race with some Papua tribe. This hypothesis, however, was 

 rejected by Baron Willian Von Humboldt, who observed that the Fijian language 

 displays affinity to the western forms of the Malayo-Polynesian idiom, viz., the 



