Barstow.—Stray Thoughis on Mahori and Maori Migrations. 237 
these objects. And the words becoming reduced, sounds became fewer, 
and were modified by climate and surroundings. Being always in small 
scenes, it is no wonder that the dialects of the Pacific are meagre, and that 
the use of many words, and of the sibilant were lost. Only Samoans now, 
of all the Mahoris, retain the ‘s,’ but it is remarkable that the New Zea- 
landers, who, some think, only left Savaii some few centuries ago, must 
hardly have lost the ‘s’ when first discovered by Europeans. For Dr. Mars- 
den, who could only have acquired native names from Natives, in his visits to 
the country, speaks of the Chief * Shunju' and the place ‘ Shukianga,’ for 
names ever since known as Hongi and Hokianga.’’ Thus far Mr. Ranken. 
Much more weight could be allowed for resemblance or dissimilarity in 
language, had the Mahori race possessed any means of reducing to writing 
their respective dialects ; but it must be borne in mind that we Europeans 
have fitted their sounds to our letters, and that this even has been done by 
different people with diverse accoustic perceptions: thus, two different 
people hearing the same individual pronounce the same word might spell it 
differently, many words they certainly would not agree upon using the same 
letters to express ; and in instituting comparisons between vocabularies of 
the speech of different islands allowance must be made for this. As an 
instance, the word for “land,” ** whenua " in New Zealand, beginning with 
“wh” is “fenua,” commencing with “f” in Tahiti, as spelled, yet the 
sounds are all but identical.* 
Mr. Ranken contends that the Samoan emigrants lost their ** s” on the 
coral atolls, having there no use for that letter ; but how did the inhabitants 
of the rich islands of Tahiti, Rarotonga, Marquesas, Sandwich Islands, all 
alike lose it ? Did the population which at one time crowded densely all 
these places undergo a preliminary term of probation on atolls till they 
dropped their *s'" ? Would rovers or cast-aways in canoes be likely to see 
only low reefs, and pass by, unobserved, islands many thousand feet high ? 
If Samoa was the source of the second migration to the South Sea Islands, 
does it not seem more feasible that the “s” was introduced into their 
speech after their colonies had been thrown off, than that every colony with- 
out exception had dropped that one particular letter ? 
The Samoans have no “r,” on what principle have New Zealanders, 
Tahitians, and Rarotongans, invented for themselves that letter. Samoans 
have neither “k” nor ^w"; why are these letters in use amongst our 
Natives and the Kanakas of the Sandwich Islands ? Were these three let- 
ters required by the dwellers on coral atolls for the purpose of expressing 
terms for which an “ s" was inadequate, and therefore invented by them ? 
Or, if derived, whence ? 
* Mr. Vaux gives due weight to these facts. 
