Vaux.—On the Probable Origin of the Maori Races. 31 
no means always the case) under the corresponding letter in the preceding 
list. The following list of words, taken from the same preface, illustrates 
this matter even more clearly,— 
| 
Fakaafo. | Samoan. | Tongan. Maori. | Rarot. Tahitian. | Hawaian. |Marquesan. 
Foe Foe Foe Hoe Oe Hoe Hoe Hoe 
Tonga Tonga Tonga Tonga Tonga Toa Kona { av 
Sina Sina Hina Hina Ina Hina Hina Hina 
Ik Ta Ika Ika Tk Ta ; Tk 
ak Va’a Vaka Waka Vaka Va’a Wa’a Vaka 
Songi Songi . Hongi ongi Ongi Hoi Honi Hongi 
Tufunga | Tufunga | Tufunga | Tohunga| Taunga | Tahua | Kahuna | Tuhuna 
Kupenga | ’Upenga | Kupenga | Kupenga | Kupenga| ’Upe’a Upena | Kupeka 
In the same preface, it is further remarked that 7 and d are often hardly 
distinguishable from one another, a fact, which I notice has been preserved 
in Lee’s (or rather Kendal’s) ‘‘ New Zealand Grammar,” where dua, todu, 
dima, and wadu are found instead of the present spelling of, rua, toru, rima, 
andwaru ; that, in writing Hawai, k has been ‘erroneously’ adopted in the 
place of t; and that, throughout the dialects, there are comparatively few 
changes of vowels, and, when these occur, they are usually owing to con- 
sonantal influences. Thus, in Hawaian, hohu, honua, maia’, and maika’i 
represent the feta, fenua, and maitaki of other dialects. Mr. Alexander, also, 
thinks that, in the consonantal sounds, the Hawaian is one of the softest 
and most attenuated of the dialects, being surpassed in that respect only 
by the effeminate Marquesan. 
I proceed now to take the different parts of the Grammar in the 
order set forth in Dr. Williams’ ‘‘Grammar,” noticing— 
I. The Articles ; and, here, I at once observe a very general agreement, 
such modifications as there are, applying usually only to the injtial letters. 
Generally, with the exception of the Tongan, each dialect has a Definite 
and Indefinite Article. Thus Maori has te and he; Tahitian, Raro- 
tongan, and Mangarevan, te and ¢; Hawaian, ke (for te) and, sometimes, it 
would seem from Buschmann, fe ; in Tongan, he is the only article, but ko 
is often used in answering a question, as, koa tangata, aman. When several 
things come together, ko is generally used and he omitted, and so before 
proper names—as, ko Tuo, ko Koumete,ko Finow. Dr. Maunsell has further, 
I think, rightly considered that the indicator of the Plural in Maori (nya) 
* If this adoption of the k for the ¢ be really an universal error, as implied in this 
statement, it cannot be too soon corrected, as it may gravely mislead those students, 
especially in England, who are attempting to trace the inter-connexion of the different 
dialects of Polynesia. But this must be done, if at all, at Honolulu, and by authority. 
