16 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
recognize them as his own, but would write them 
down as native words. Pickaninny is a specimen 
of this kind. 
It was not in words only, but also in their appli¬ 
cation, that the most ludicrous mistakes were made 
by the people. “ Oli mani,” a corruption of the 
English words “ old man/’ is the common term for 
any thing old ; hence, a blunt, broken knife, and 
a threadbare or ragged dress, is called “oli mani.” 
A captain of a ship, at anchor .in one of the har¬ 
bours, was once inquiring of a native something 
about his wife, who was sitting by. The man 
readily answered his question, and concluded by 
saying, “ Oli mani hoi,” she is “ also an old 
man.” 
Part of each day was by several devoted to 
the study of the language, while once a week, 
the whole met together for conversation and 
mutual aid. The only means they had of ob¬ 
taining it was, by observing carefully the native 
sounds of words, and then writing down the cha¬ 
racters by which they were expressed. In this 
they found great difficulty, from what generally 
proves a source of perplexity to a learner, in his 
first attempt at understanding a foreign tongue, 
viz. the rapidity with which the natives appeared 
to speak, and the want of divisions between the 
words. The singular fact of most of their syl¬ 
lables consisting of a consonant and a vowel, 
and a vowel always terminating both their syllables 
and their words, increased their embarrassment in 
this respect. 
It was a circumstance highly advantageous to 
the Missionaries, that the Tahitians were remark¬ 
ably loquacious, often spending hours in conver¬ 
sation, however trivial its topics, patiently listening 
