VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS. 185 



In a recent work on the Melanesian languages, the Rev. Dr. 

 Codrington^ deals with the languages of the islands of the Solomon 

 Group which lie east of New Georgia. Some of them, as he ob- 

 serves, fall naturally into two divisions : those which belong to 

 Ulaua, Malaita, XJgi, San Cristoval, and the part of Guadalcanar 

 adjacent ; and those of Florida, the parts of Guadalcanar opposite, 

 and the nearest extremity of Ysabel. In the first region, the 

 lanomao-e of Faofani on the north coast of San Cristoval, is somewhat 

 distinct ; and in the second, that of Savo is strangely diflferent in 

 some respects.^ 



The languages of the large islands of Choiseul, Bougainville, and 

 Bouka and of the numerous smaller islands in their vicinity, or, 

 in other words, the languages of the western portion of the Solomon 

 Group have hitherto scarcely come within the cognizance of the 

 philologist, and are therefore not referred to by Dr. Codrington in 

 his comprehensive work. It is probable that that of the islands of 

 Bougainville Straits may form the centre of another group of the 

 Solomon Island languages, as it is spoken by a dominant tribe of 

 natives who have extended their raids to the island of Bouka. Yet, 

 it is a singular circumstance that the natives of Takura, a village 

 on the adjoining coast of Bougainville, cannot understand the lan- 

 guage spoken by the inhabitants of the islands of Bougainville 

 Straits. I met twelve of the Takura men visiting the island of 

 Faro, who wer-e onl}^ able to make themselves understood by the 

 Faro people through the medium of an interpreter. 



Little communication appears to take place between the natives 

 of the Straits and those of the islands of Vella-la-vella, Bononcfo, 

 and Simbo (Narovo) to the eastward ; and judging from a vocabulary 

 obtained by Captain Cheyne ^ in 1844 from the inhabitants of Simbo, 

 or Eddystone Island as it is also called, a native of this island would 

 be scarcely able to make himself understood by the people of 

 Treasury Island nearly eighty miles away. As shown in the foot- 

 note* where the numerals up to ten are compared, all the Simbo 



1 "The Melanesian Languages," by E. H. Codrington, D.D. Clarendon Press, 1885. 



2 For instance, the Savo notation forms an exception to the decimal system of counting 

 which prevails in the Solomon Islands. 



2 "A Description of Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean." London 1852. 



* One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Wine Ten. 



Simbo Kamee Karu Kuay Mantee Leema Wouama Weetu Kalu Seang Manosa. 



Treasury < j^^, Elua Episa Efate Lima Onomo Fito Alu UUa Lafulu. 



Sun Moon Fire Sleep Spear Bad Star. 



Simbo Gawaso Popii Eku Puta Opuree Ekarenah Keenda. 



Treasury \r?^„ Ilella Fell Sueli Portulu Paitena Bito-bito. 



