EFFORTS TO ACQUIRE THE LANGUAGE. 15 
tber. The simple declaration, Good-night, brother, 
would be unintelligible to the Tahitians, though the 
language were correct; a corresponding wish among 
them would be, la ora na oe i teie nei po , “ May 
you have peace or life this night/’ This circum¬ 
stance shews the difficulties they had to contend 
with, even when they had acquired the meaning 
of many of the substantives and adjectives in the 
language. 
In these embarrassments they had no elementary 
books to consult, no preceptors to whom they 
could apply, but were frequently obliged, by ges¬ 
tures, signs, and other contrivances, to seek the 
desired information from the natives; who often 
misunderstood the purport of their questions, and 
whose answers must, as often, have been unintel¬ 
ligible to the Missionaries. A knowledge of the 
language was, however, indispensable ; and many 
of the Missionaries employed much of their time 
in making excursions through the neighbouring 
districts, spending several days together with 
the chiefs at their own habitations, for the 
purpose of observing their customs, and obtaining 
an acquaintance with the words which they em¬ 
ployed in social intercourse. This was the more 
necessary, as the natives who reside in those parts 
visited by shipping, soon pick up a few of the 
most common English phrases, which they assi¬ 
milate as much as possible to the native idiom, 
and apply almost indiscriminately, supposing they 
are thereby better understood, than they would be 
if they used only native words; yet these words 
are so changed in a native’s mouth, who cannot 
sound any sibilant, or many of our consonants, 
and who must also introduce a vowel between 
every double consonant, that no Englishman would 
