46 ON THE OEIGIN AND MIGEATIOXS OF THE POLYNESIAN NATION. 



■wMch is at least 2,000 miles from tlie American land. But this 

 testimony of that eminent navigator La Perouse is decisive 

 against the hypothesis of De Zuniga. " Westerly winds," says 

 that distinguished navigator, " are at least as prevalent as those 

 from the eastward in the vicinity of the equator, in a zone of 

 7 or 8 degrees north and south ; and they" (that is the winds 

 in the equatorial regions) " are so variable that it is very little 

 more difficult to make a voyage to the eastward than to the west- 

 ward." To the same effect Captain (afterwards Admiral) Hunter, 

 K.N., the second Governor of New South "Wales, observes in the 

 narrative of his voyage from Port Jackson to Batavia, in the year 

 1791, " It was very clear to me, from the winds we had experi- 

 enced since we came to the northward of the line, that at this 

 time of the year (the end of July), and generally during the 

 height of the north-west monsoon in the China seas, these 

 (westerly) winds do som.etimes extend far to the eastward of the 

 Philippine Islands, and frequently blow in very heavy gales." 



Having thus disposed of the preliminary objection as to the 

 alleged impossibility of getting to the eastward in the Pacific 

 Ocean, I observe that the Polynesian race exhibits the clearest 

 evidence of an Asiatic origin. 



Pirst, — In the distinction of caste, which, as I have already 

 observed, although not existing in New Zealand, for the reason I 

 have mentioned, was as clearly developed in the Priendly Islands 

 as it ever was in India. 



Secondly, — In the singular institution of Taboo, which obtains 

 universally in the South Sea Islands, and is evidently also of 

 Asiatic origin. The word Taboo corresponds pretty nearly with 

 the Latin sacer or the (xreek avaOefxa, the person, place, or thing 

 under tahoo, being what the Latins would call sace?' diis coelestihuSj 

 holy or sacred to the celestial gods, or sacer diis infernis, accursed 

 or devoted to the infernal gods. It may be difficult indeed to 

 account for so singular an institution as the Polynesian taboo ; 

 but its Asiatic origin is evident and unquestionable. Its influence 

 and operation may be traced from the Straits of Malacca, across 

 the whole Continent of Asia, to the Sea of Tiberias and the Isles 

 of (xreece. In Ionia, in Hindostan, and in Tahiti, the person, the 

 place, or the thing that was subjected to the influence of the 

 mysterious tahoo was, in the words of the Latin historian, augurus 

 patrum, et prisca formidine sacrum, abstracted from the common 

 usages of life, by a superstitious dread, the result of ancient 

 religious observances. 



Thirdly, — Numerous Asiatic customs and observances are 

 practised in the South Sea Islands, as well as in the Indian 

 Archipelago, which closely adjoins the Continent of Asia, and 

 must therefore have been originally peopled from that continent. 

 Of these, however, our time will only allow me to mention one, 



