402 Essays. 
Again, tediously to fashion their war implements of whalebone and of jade 
(green or axe-stone), instead of hardwood, was wholly a new thing to them; 
and these substances were only occasionally to be obtained, and that slowly 
and with great trouble and labour. Could such a change, such an entire 
revolution—one, too, almost needless—have taken place save in a very long 
lapse of time? Moreover, the peculiar carving of all their greenstone 
breast ornaments (Aeitiki), which possess great sameness, and which might 
be correctly styled national, differs from any other Polynesian carving, 
particularly in the invariably reclined, not erect, head, and in only having 
three fingers to each hand, which striking peculiarities also invariably obtain 
in all their old carving: could such a great change in the national taste have 
taken place in a few generations ? Lastly, the tattooing of their chiefs, 
which entirely differs from all other Polynesian islanders, and which has 
certainly not varied in the least during the last 150 years: could such an 
universal revolution in their old tastes possibly have taken place in the short 
period which preceded, of 350 years ? 
(5.) Language.—The negative evidence to be obtained from this source 
is very important. Language adheres to the soil, when the lips which spoke 
it are resolved into dust. “Mountains repeat, and rivers murmur, the voices 
of nations denationalized or extirpated in their own land." Tt has already 
been briefly shown in what respects the New Zealand dialect differs from 
other dialects of the great Polynesian language, as far as relates to the 
change or substitution of letters; but there are still greater differences 
observable in the dialects of the two groups, Sandwich and Samoan—from 
one of which it has been said the New Zealanders emigrated hither—and the 
dialect of New Zealand; of which the great difference in the causative verb 
in the Sandwich Islands, and of “the distinct and permanent vocabulary of 
words” used in addressing chiefs, can only be here mentioned. It is also 
noticeable that the names of “gods” whom the mythical emigrants are said 
to have consulted before leaving, are not known as such in those islands ; 
and all the names of the emigrants themselves are pure New Zealand words, 
which do not exist in the dialects of those islands. Their traditions and 
songs, however ancient, are all very distinct; for although some of the New 
Zealand myths do possess a few of the names of the numerous Polynesian - 
“gods” or deified heroes, they are all assigned a very different and inferior 
position and work by the New Zealanders. Could all this have been brought 
about in less than a very large number of years? So with the sub-dialects 
observed in New Zealand, which agree in their outline characters with others 
in the Pacific, as has been already stated, and which were much more strongly 
. defined formerly than they are now (mainly owing to the introduction of a 
3 written language within the last thirty years, which has caused the chosen 
