92 Origin and Migrations of the Polynesian Nation. 



At the same time I confess that it was an observation of De 

 Zuniga's that led me into what I shall presently shew is the only 

 right track of discovery for the solution of the very difficult 

 problem of the distribution of man over the great continent of 

 America. The passage I allude to, which is rather long, is as 

 follows : — 



" No doubt can be entertained that the radical language, from 

 which all these (Polynesian) dialects spring, prevails from Mada- 

 gascar to the Philippines, with local shades of dhTerence. It is 

 spoken too in New Guinea (?), and in all the islands to the 

 southward, in the Marianas, in the islands of San Duisk" (the 

 Sandwich Islands), "in those of Otaheite, and in almost all the 

 islands in the South Sea as far as the isle of Pasquas" (Easter 

 Island), " which is not more than six hundred leagues distant 

 from the coast of South America. On observing that the proper 

 names of places, about the middle of the continent of South 

 America, are very similar to those of the Phillippines, I endeavoured 

 to procure a vocabulary of this country, and did not fail to ex- 

 amine with great diligence and attention the few words of the 

 language of Chili which Ergilla mentions in his Araucana, and 

 which I found perfectly conformable to the language of Tagala. 

 The name Chili is a derivation from this language : the cor- 

 morant is called cochile ; and this is the name which the Malays 

 give to the sons of their kings. Chilian, which is a town of Chili, 

 is a compound from the language of Tagala, in which language 

 the termination an gives the signification town. Thus, from 

 Cachile, we draw Cachilian, meaning a town where there are cor- 

 morants. Mapocho, which is the situation where the city of 

 Santiago stands, is another word of Tagalic composition, signify- 

 ing a town ; and pocquiot being a kind of herb, we form the 

 name Mapocquiot, a town in which there is abundance of this 

 herb. In Chili they frequently double the syllables in forming 

 a word, as ytayta, biobio, lemolemo, colocolo. A great many 

 other worJs are either actually of Tagalic derivation, or assimi- 

 late closely to that language. In examining the structure of 

 these two languages, we are compelled to conclude that they 

 flew from one and the same source ; and I dare affirm that the 

 Indians in the Philippines are descended from the aborigines of 

 Chili and Peru, and that the language of these islands derives 

 itself immediately from the parent source, those of the neigh- 

 bouring islands being dialects of this. Many will urge the 

 absurdity of this supposition, on the plea that the more immedi- 

 ate vicinity of the Philippines to Malacca must have occasioned 

 them to be colonised by the Malays, as our historians generally 

 assert. I do not deny that these islands could easily have been 

 peopled by the Malays ; but how could they colonise the Islas de 

 Palaos (the Pelew Islands), and the Marianas, which are distant 



