1 34 Pearls. 



100 dollars, but ordinary lads and men are worth 

 40 to 60 dollars, whilst girls vary from 50 to 100 

 dollars, according to age and beauty. 



The Sooloo language is a difficult one, and 

 there are not a dozen Europeans who can speak 

 it. Mr. Haynes, who has lived for several years in 

 the group, has framed an extensive dictionary, and 

 he finds a far greater resemblance between the 

 Sooloo and Fijian tongues, than between the Fijian 

 and the other Malay languages. Whether the mi- 

 gration has in former ages flowed from Polynesia 

 westwards or whether the current took an easterly 

 direction from Malayan countries^ will probably never 

 be known ; but there is a very close resemblance 

 to be found in the words expressing the numerals, 

 and those elements and natural phenomena which 

 are everywhere the earliest and simplest forms of 

 speech. 



In the formation of verbs also there is a 

 remarkable similarity, the Fijian prefix vaka 

 being closely akin to the invariable Sooloo prefix 

 fnak. 



The Fijian language may be said to abound 

 in dental consonants and final vowels, whereas the 

 Sooloo native, with his mouth full of betel nut 



