444 'Proceedings. 



" At about a quarter after seven o'clock, on the evening of the 5tli of 

 August, and -while at work in the bush, observed a light very much brighter 

 than the moon, which had just risen and v/as only two days past the full, 

 shining brightly in a clear sky. The light appeared to be a large round ball 

 of fire, about the size of the moon, travelling from an easterly direction 

 towards the west. The ball of fire burst, and a portion of it apparently 

 struck the ground at about 50 to 100 yards from my house at Karori. The 

 meteor produced a very strange feeling upon me, but which I cannot 

 describe. 



" There was a rumbling noise at the time of the descent of the meteor." 



The Chairman, Mr. Braithwaite, and Mr. Steward, remarked that they 

 had a,lso seen the meteor referred to. 



Dr. Hector hoped that such unusual phenomena would be closely 

 observed in future. In Europe, the whole of the circumstances would be 

 recorded with the greatest accuracy, and he suggested that all who had 

 made observations should reduce them to writing, and send them to the 

 Secretary. 



2. " On the Orthography of the Maori Language," by J. C. Crawford, 



r.&.s. 



Abstract. 



It was a subject of congratulation to the inhabitants of ISTeAV Zealand, 

 that in the reduction of the Maori tongue to a written language, a system of 

 orthography has been adopted similar to that of the languages of Southern 

 Europe, inasmuch as the letters are pronounced as they are spelt. 



The Maori tongue has been thereby relieved from the grotesque aspect 

 which many aboriginal and Eastern languages have assumed, under the 

 attempt to reduce them to intelligible sounds, by the use of the undefined 

 and variable English alphabet. It would not be out of place to offer a few 

 remarks on the peculiarity of the English orthography, of the application of 

 the same system to the pronunciation of the classical languages, and of the 

 effects thereby produced on the inhabitants of the British Isles, and of other 

 countries, with whom they have become associated. 



The great peculiarity of the English tongue, as distinguished from the 

 languages of the European continent, is the number of medial sounds which 

 it contains. 



These sounds are represented by the usual Eoman alphabet, each vowel 

 having, in consequence, to do duty for a great variety of sounds, which 

 makes it so difficult for the foreigner, accustomed to well-defined sounds in 

 his own language, to acquire the correct pronunciation of the English 

 tongue. 



Erora this cause, the defect of what may be called vowel-deafness has 



