120 Origin and Migrations of the Polynesian Nation. 



of Latin Europe, that the Indians of the missions familiarise 

 themselves more easily with an American idiom than with that 

 of the metropolis. In the forests of the Oroonoko, I have heard 

 the wildest Indians speak two or three tongues. Savages of 

 different nations often communicate their ideas to each other by 

 an idiom which is not their own."f 



Another extraordinary coincidence in the civilisation of the 

 Indo-Americans with that of Polynesia presents itself in the fact 

 of there having been in both a language of ceremony, distinct 

 from the language of common life. I have shewn in a former 

 part of my lecture that there was such a language not only 

 among the Indo-Chinese nations of Eastern Asia, but in Polynesia 

 also, especially in the larger islands and among the more advanced 

 tribes, as in Samoa and Tahiti ; as, for instance, when inferiors 

 addressed their superiors, when a plebeian addressed a chief, or 

 when the latter addressed his prince. This language of ceremony 

 did not consist in the use of a few phrases of deference and 

 respect, such as those in use in European languages, in address- 

 ing royalty or nobility. It constituted, so to speak, a separate 

 language, and pervaded the whole economy of speech. " The 

 Mexicans," says Dr. Eobertson, when alluding to the singular 

 circumstance, which he had no idea of its having ever obtained or 

 been observed among any other people, — " The Mexicans had not 

 only reverential nouns, but reverential verbs ;" and the use of 

 any other than this reverential language in conversing with a 

 king or higher chief, would both in Mexico and Tahiti, have been 

 held tantamount to high treason. This feature of resemblance 

 between such widely dissevered portions of the human family is 

 surely of such a character as not to be mistaken for a mere 

 accidental coincidence ; it constitutes rather an evidence of the 

 absolute identity of the Indo- American and Polynesian nations 

 that cannot be gainsaid. 



The right of property was recognised and established among 

 the Indo- American nations ; but the lower orders generally cul- 

 tivated a considerable extent of ground in common, the produce 

 of which was laid up in storehouses, called tambos, and distributed 

 at certain periods, agreeably to some established custom. Now 

 it is very remarkable that the practice of the New Zealanders 

 was precisely similar. The kumaras, or sweet potatoes, of that 

 island are always cultivated pro bono publico by persons set apart 

 for the purpose ; the produce being afterwards distributed 

 according to rule. The storehouses in New Zealand are always 

 taboo, the violation of which by any person is death. I suspect 

 the Spaniards have either reported the word inaccurately, or 

 disguised it a little with their peculiar pronounciation ; for the 



t Personal Narrative, vol, iii. p. 247. 



