Tuomson.—On Moriori Connection. 237 
seat of the Maori race. And here I may express a thought which has 
occurred to me, in conclusion,—that the native chiefs of New Zealand, while, 
by the treaty of Waitangi, they ceded and yielded up the sovereignty of 
their territories to the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland only forty-four 
years ago, now also, in her capacity as Empress of India, is she the Sovereign 
of their race by archaic connection from time immemorial, far preceding the 
age of history or of letters. 
Art. XX.—Moriori Connection. 
By J. TunwsuLL Tuomson, F.R.G.S., F.R.S.8.A., etc. 
(Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 23rd August, 1879.] 
Tur basis of this paper rests on a Moriori vocabulary, prepared by S. 
Deighton, Esq., R.M., Chatham Islands, furnished to the Native Depart- 
ment, Wellington, at the instance of Government, and it forms a proper 
sequel to the several papers I have written on the ** Whence of the Maori," ` 
etc. 
For distant readers it is necessary that I should explain that the Moriori 
iribe is by tradition said to have occupied the New Zealand islands before the 
coming of the Maori. A small remnant now only exists in the isolated and 
remote Chatham Islands, situated some 200 miles to the east of the main 
group; and to record what yet exists of their language has for some years 
been the desire of the authorities of the department in charge of native 
affairs. By the courtesy of Mr. T. W. Lewis, secretary to the Native 
Department, I have been entrusted with the analysis of a copy of the 
above-mentioned vocabulary with the view of ascertaining its philologieal 
connection with kindred races. 
The vocabulary consists of 168 words, principally radical or primary. 
But, for the purposes of a comparative vocabulary*, the words are reduced 
to 155 in number, and of these 115 are pure Maori; hence the Moriori can 
only be said to be a dialect of this Polynesian race which now inhabits New 
Zealand—it is distinctly not a separate language. Under these circum- 
stances, it would be tedious and out of place to transcribe the whole of Mr. 
Deighton’s valuable vocabulary. I have therefore confined myself to 
making a comparison of those Moriori words which are not pure Maori, 
showing where they are to be found amongst other Malagas-Malayo- — 
Polynesian, or Barat races. 
* Some of the words are phrases, and for some I have not been able to find the 
Maori equivalent. : 
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