LANGUAGE. 
377 
rua , two, or an under-ground food store, dua or siloe in 
Morocco, didi for riri, anger, Tonga dido, for Tonga riro, 
a volcanic mountain. The s is there used in the word Shongi , 
or Hongi in Shohianga, for Hokianga. The f is pronounced, 
in some parts of New Zealand instead of w, as fenua for 
wenua, in Waikato, it is sounded in Bangi afia instead of Rangi 
a whia ; in the Middle Island the ng is also dropped in tan- 
gata, which is pronounced taata, as in some of the isles ; this 
seems to indicate a more recent arrival of a portion of the 
natives from their parent isle, and this idea is supported by 
the darker color of those Maori ; the w is there also dropped 
and the k substituted for the ng, as Akaroa for Wangaroa. 
Like the Japanese and Tartar tongues, Maori substantives 
have no gender, they form all their cases and other modifica- 
tions by particles prefixed, as he tangata, no te tangata, i to 
tangata, a man, of and by the man ; nga tangata the men, 
so with te wahine, the woman, or te mea the thing. 
An ancient tradition of the natives of Aitutaki , an island 
to the north of Rarotanga appears to bear an independent 
testimony to the truth of the Maori tradition of their origin. 
The Aitutakians state that their ancestors originally came 
from a country called Anaiki, precisely the form which the 
name of Savaii, the largest of the Samoan group, would 
assume in the Hervey Island's dialect, comparing this with 
the New Zealand traditions of Hawaiki, still called Hawaii, 
the close resemblance of the two accounts is seen, and in 
them is a strong proof of the common identity of the Poly- 
nesian ; none of that race had a written language, although 
a few hieroglyphics, and apparently a few characters of a 
language have been discovered on Pitcairn's Island, together 
with stone implements. 
Even the Peruvians, with all their civilization, had only 
the Quipus, which was little more than the Wampum of 
North America ; the one being a cord about two feet long, 
composed of different colored beads, the other of several 
colored strings, which by certain positions and knots were 
made to represent various numbers, either of men, cattle, or 
other things, but it was necessary to know which, or they 
