» APPENDIX. 193 



The language of these islanders differs from that of the Ota- 

 heitans so much that they do not easily understand each other : 

 yet I believe that both are radically the same. Taata is man, at 

 Otaheite ; in Paamuto, Tanaka ; which is almost the same as Ka- 

 naka, the word for man in the Sandwich Islands ; and not very dif- 

 ferent from Tangata in New Zealand. Some of the Low islanders 

 say their ancestors came from the south-eastern islands ; others say 

 from the Marquesas; again there are some who assert that their 

 forefathers arrived from islands to the westward : so that no reli- 

 ance can be placed upon the little yet known of their origin. There 

 is, however, reason for supposing that the earlier inhabitants were 

 not of one famUy, or tribe ; but that they were emigrants from more 

 than one quarter. 



In most of the entrances to harbours in the lagoon islands, there 

 is a strong current of tide, which sets in and out alternately, about 

 six hours each way. The tide rises nearly two, or at most three, 

 feet. It is high water at about one, on the days of fuU and new moon, 

 among the western groups of islands, and from half an hour to an 

 'hour later among those which lie towards the south-east. The cur- 

 rents which do not appear to be caused by tide are irregular ; and, 

 as yet, too little is knovra of their usual direction to enable any one 

 to say more than that during settled weather, and a steady trade 

 wind (south-easterly), the surface waters in general move westward 

 from five to twenty miles a day ; and that in the rainy season, from 

 October to March, when westerly vpinds, squalls, and rain are fre- 

 quent, the currents vary most, and occasionally set eastward, at the 

 rate of from half a mile to two miles an hour. 



Numerous instances are upon record of canoes being drifted out of 

 their course — even several hundred miles — by currents and westerly 

 winds : few narratives of voyages in the Pacific are without a notice 

 of them : and they materially assist in explaining how remote, and 

 perhaps very small, islands, may have been first peopled from the 

 west : against the direction of the generally prevalent wind. 



No. 35. 



The British Resident at New Zealand, to His Britannic Ma- 

 jesty's Subjects, who are Residing or Trading in New Zealand. 



The British Resident announces to his countrymen that he has 

 received from a person who styles himself "Charles, Baron de 



