H 



U M 



A 



N 



F 



s 



r I 



E 



C 



I 



E 



S. 



3SS 



fpeak a language related to that of the Tagalas.* The vicinity of or i gin 

 feme of the New-Caroline illands, and the fimilarity of their cuf- 



OF SOCI- 

 TIES 



toms and manner 

 is fpread all over 



make 



highly probable, .that the 



fame 



than 



3 



that great clufter of iflands, extending for mon 



J and from thence to Byrons Ifland 



degrees of longitude 



and fome of thofe iflands where the Taheitean dialed is fpoken, is 

 not fo great a diftance. By this line I prefume to trace 



/ 



the fir ft 



migration of the tribes, who firft peopled the Eaftern South-Sea 



If we add to this the great fimilarity between the manners 



ifles. 



and cuftoms of the inhabitants of the Caroline iflands, and thofe of 

 the Friendly ifles, this line of migration muft appear to be lome- 

 thing more than mere conjedure. 



L 



The moft authentic accounts of a modern philofophic traveller -f 



L ^ 



inform us, that a kind of feudal fyftem is received by the Malays, 



\ 



which, as far as we know, admits of feveral ranks of men, very 

 much in the fame manner as we obferved in the Society ifles ; ai 



d 



The 



they poflefs likewife their lands by a kind of feudal tenure, 

 ^reat chief or king, grants to the inferior chiefs, a diftrid: or pro- 

 vince : under them, the reft of the Arees or chiefs have portibns of 

 land allotted to them ■; and the Manahounes, though not of the 



Z z 2 



roy 





I 



M 



•of the fecond book of Goblen, in de$ Broffes Hittoire des Navigations, aux Terres Aultralesj 

 vol. li. p. 495. . 



^ Mr. le Poivre, ^ 



/ 



