8 POLYNESIAN researches; 
The following table, principally from Wallis, 
Cook, and Wilson, will shew their relative situa¬ 
tions 
SOUTH LAT. WEST LONG. 
Meatia,.17<> 53' 0" . . 148« 9' 45" 
Tahiti, north point, . 17 29 17 . . 149 S3 15 
Eimeo, . .... 17 30 0 . . 150 0 0 
Maiaoiti, or Sir Charles 
Sander's Island, . 17 28 0 . . 150 40 0 
Huahine, . ... 16 43 0 . . 151 6 45 
Raiatea, ..... 16 46 0 . . 151 38 45 
Tahaa, three miles northward of Raiatea. 
Borabora, .... 16 27 0 .. 151 52 45 
Maurua, .... 16 10 0 . . 152 30 0 
Lord Howe's Island, 16 46 0 . . 154 12 45 
Scilly Island, ... 16 28 0 . . 155 24 45 
In the preceding list I have adopted the ortho¬ 
graphy introduced by the first Missionaries, and by 
the press now established among the people. This 
has not been done from caprice or affectation, but 
because the letters approach the nearest to the 
signification of the sounds used by the natives 
themselves. In the words Otaheite, Otahaa, &c. 
sounds were exhibited which do not belong to the 
names they were intended to express, and on this 
account only they have been rejected. 
As the native names of persons and places will 
unavoidably occur in the succeeding pages, a brief 
notice of the sounds of the letters, and the division 
of some of the principal words, will probably fami¬ 
liarize them to the eye of the reader, and facilitate 
their pronunciation. 
The different Polynesian dialects abound in vowel 
sounds perhaps above any other language; they 
have also another striking peculiarity, that of 
rejecting all double consonants, possessing inva¬ 
riably vowel terminations, both of their syllables 
and words. Every final vowel is therefore dis- 
