74 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
affirmed that the word or sentence was correctly pro¬ 
nounced by the Missionary, it was left for more careful 
and deliberate investigation. Sometimes they endea¬ 
voured to find out words, by presenting to the natives 
different combinations of the letters of their alphabet: 
thus they would pronounce the letters a a, and say, 
‘^what is that?’' The natives would answer by pointing 
to the fibrous roots of a tree, or the matted fibres 
round the cocoa-nut stalk, which are called aa. They 
would then pronounce others, as a i, and ask what it 
meant \ the natives, putting their hand to the back of the 
neck, and repeating a^, told them that that part of the body 
was thus called. By this means they sometimes discovered 
the meaning of a variety of words, which they did not 
before know were even parts of the language. In speak¬ 
ing of their progress, shortly after they had commenced 
this department of labour, they observe, We have already 
joined some thousands of words together, and believe 
some thousands yet remain.” Still their progress was 
but slow, and one of them^ who has perhaps made himself 
most familiar with the native tongue, has frequently 
assured me, he was ten years on the island, before he 
knew the meaning of the word ahiri^ corresponding to 
the English word if^ used only in connexion with the 
past tense of the verb to have, as If I had seen,” &c. 
While the Missionaries were thus employed, the chiefs 
continued friendly and attentive; the people, however, 
began to manifest that propensity to theft, which they 
evinced even on the first visits they received. This 
obliged them to watch very narrowly their property. 
Clothing and iron tools appeared to be most earnestly 
sought; and, notwithstanding the measures of security 
which they adopted, their blacksmith’s shop was robbed by 
