20 
ing, or less of what maybe called the religious instinct. There 
has therefore been more difficulty in finding a fulcrum upon 
which to rest the lever by which they are to be lifted. They 
no doubt, like other men everywhere, possess the capacity for 
religious belief and worship, but it is naturally of a low order. 
Hence Christian missions have been more difficult, and the 
success achieved has been less, in proportion to the means 
used, than among the other people of the Pacific. 
The following broad characteristics of the Papuan languages 
I give in substance from a paper of my own recently contri- 
buted to the Philological Society. Consonants are freely used, 
some of the consonantal sounds being difficult to represent by 
Roman characters. Many of the s} T llables are closed. There 
is no difference between the definite and the indefinite article, 
except, perhaps, in Fiji. Nouns are curiously divided into 
two classes, one of which takes a pronominal postfix, the other 
which never takes such a postfix. The principle of this division 
appears to be a near or more remote connection between the 
possessor and the thing possessed. Those things which are 
connected with a person, as the parts of his body, &c., take 
the pronominal postfix. A thing possessed merely for use 
would not take this postfix. For example, in Fijian the word 
luve means either a son or a daughter — one’s child, and it 
takes the possessive pronoun postfixed, as luvena; but the 
word ngone , a child, but not necessarily one’s own child, takes 
the possessive pronoun before it, as nona ngone , his child, i. e., 
his to look after or bring up.* Gender is only sexual. Many 
words are used indiscriminately, as nouns, adjectives, or verbs, 
without change ; but sometimes a noun is indicated by its 
termination. In most of the languages there are no changes 
in nouns to form the plural, but a numeral indicates number. 
Case is shown by particles, which precede the nouns. Adjec- 
tives follow their substantives. Pronouns are numerous, and 
the personal pronoun includes four numbers — singular, 
dual, trinal, and general plural; also inclusive and exclusive. 
Almost any word may be made into a verb by using with 
it the verbal particles. The differences in these particles 
in the various languages are very great. In the verbs 
there are causative, intensive or frequentative, and reciprocal 
forms. 
I have already said I believe these people belong to the 
same race as the Papuans of New Guinea and some other 
parts of the Indian Archipelago. Those who know the latter 
* Hazlewood's Fijian Grammar , pp. 8 and 9. 
