470 
APPENDIX. 
where it was made. In some of the islands we have seen the 
outline of a fish portrayed in the same manner, to denote that 
one of that species or size had been taken near the spot; some¬ 
times the dimensions of an exceedingly large fruit, &e. are marked 
in the same way. 
With this slight exception, if such it can be called, the natives 
of the Sandwich and other islands had no signs for sounds or 
ideas, nor any pictorial representation of events. Theirs was 
entirely an oral language; and, whatever view we take of it, 
presents the most interesting phenomenon connected with the 
inhabitants of the Pacific. A grammatical analysis would ex¬ 
ceed my present limits; a few brief remarks, however, will con¬ 
vey some idea of its peculiarities ; and a copious grammar, pre¬ 
pared by my respected colleagues, the American missionaries in 
those islands, and myself, may perhaps be published at no dis¬ 
tant period. 
The language of the Hawaiians is a dialect of what the mis¬ 
sionaries in the South Seas have called the Polynesian language, 
spoken in all the islands which lie to the east of the Friendly Is¬ 
lands, including New Zealand and Chatham Island. The extent 
to which it prevails, the degree of perfection it has attained, the 
slight analogy between it and any one known language, the in¬ 
sulated situation and the uncivilized character of the people by 
whom it is spoken, prove that, notwithstanding the rude state of 
their society, they have bestowed no small attention to its cul¬ 
tivation, and lead to the inference, that it has been for many 
ages a distinct language; while the obscurity that veils its 
origin, as well as that of the people by whom it is used, prevents 
our forming any satisfactory conclusion as to the source whence 
it was derived. 
The numerals are similar to those of the Malays ; and it has 
many words in common with that language, yet the construction 
of the words and the rules of syntax appear different. In the 
specimen of languages spoken in Sumatra, given by Mr. Marsden 
in his history of that island, some words appear in each, common 
in the South Seas; and it is difficult to determine in which they 
preponderate. In looking over the Malayan grammar and dic¬ 
tionary by the same gentleman, many words appear similar in 
sound and signification ; but there are a number of radical words 
common to all the Polynesian languages, as kanaka , man, ao, 
light, pouri , darkness, po , night, ra or la, sun, marama, moon, 
maitai, good, ino, bad, ai, to eat, and moe, to sleep, which, 
though very nearly the same in all the South Sea languages, ap¬ 
pear to have no affinity with orang, trang, klam, malam, ma - 
taari, and shems , bulan, baik, buruk, makan, and tidor, words 
