CoLENSO.— 0;^ the Maori Races of New Zealand. 387 



wails and chaunts over tlie recent dead ended with — " Gro, go, away to thy 

 people." It is a curious fact, that by the Pijians, Tahitians, Tongans, and 

 Samoans, as well as by the New Zealanders, the place of departure of the 

 spirits to the unseen world is uniformly fixed at the western extremity of 

 the island. 



III. — Philological. 



40. The New Zealand tongue is a distinct dialect of the great Polynesian 

 language, spoken more or less throughout most of the numerous isles in 

 the Pacific Ocean lying east of the longitude of New Zealand. It consists 

 of fifteen letters — five vowels and ten consonants ; of the latter, two may be 

 called double, though having each but one sound. No two consonants can 

 possibly come together, and every syllable and every word ends with a 

 vowel. The New Zealand dialect has ten principal subdivisions, which 

 cannot, however, with propriety be termed sub-dialects, viz., — (1) Earawa, 

 or Northern ; (2) Ngapuhi, or Bay of Islands ; (3) Waikato ; (4) Eotorua 

 and Taupo ; (5) Bay of Plenty ; (6) East Cape and Poverty Bay ; (7) Hawke 

 Bay to the Straits ; (8) Ngatiawa, or Wellington to Taranaki ; (9) the South 

 Island; and (10) Chatham Islands. In all these sub-divisions the gram- 

 matical structure is the same, with very slight variations ; the principal 

 differences being found in words and idioms. There are, however, three 

 exceptions as to the change or dropping of a consonant : — (1.) The Bay of 

 Plenty, where n is used for ng. (2.) The Ngatiawa tribes, from "Wellington 

 to Taranaki, who alone, of the New Zealanders, have a very peculiar mode of 

 expressing the li by a kind of guttural click, or half-expressed hiatus, or 

 semi-stop ; and (3.) The Ngaitahu in the South Island, who use h for ng. 

 It is highly worthy of notice, that all these differences are also found in the 

 dialects of the various island groups, though not as in New Zealand — all in 

 the one dialect of one island or group. 



41. Its grammar is peculiar, as compared with those of western lan- 

 guages, having neither declension of nouns by inflection, nor conjugation 

 of verbs as there obtains ; all such being clearly done by simple particles 

 affixed or suffixed. Its singular is changed into the plural number by pre- 

 fixing a syllable. There is no auxiliary verb "to be," but the particle «wo 

 often supplies its place. Every verb has a causative, as well as active and 

 passive meanings. Intensitives, superlatives, and diminutives abound. It 

 has double dual pronouns, and also a double plural ; both of which may be 

 termed inclusive and exclusive, allowing of great grammatical precision in 

 speaking. It has several articles, singular and plural, and is rich in prepo- 

 sitions, adverbs, conjunctions and particles ; each bearing delicately different 

 shades of meaning. The New Zealanders all speak grammatically from their 



