373 
THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
matters, learnt the three following words of the- dialed of i 777 . 
Hamoa. , ^ dy ' 
'Tamolao % a chief man. 
! Tamaety, a chief woman. 
So lie, a common man.. 
Feejee, 
* In two or three preceding notes, extracts have been made from the Lettres EdL 
fiantes et Curieufes, as marking a ftrong refemblance between fome of the cuftoms of the 
inhabitants of the Caroline Iilands, and thofe which Captain Cook defcribes as prevail¬ 
ing at an immenfe diftance, in the iflands which he vifited in the South Pacific Ocean. 
Poffibly, however, the prefumption, arifing from this refemblance, that all thefe iflands 
were peopled by the fame nation, or tribe, may be refilled, under the plaufible pretence, 
that cuftoms very fimilar prevail amongft very diftant people, without inferring any other 
common fource, befides the general principles of human nature, the fame in all ages, and 
every part of the globe. The reader, perhaps, will not think this pretence applicable to 
the matter before us, if he attends to the following very obvious diftinclion: Thofe cuf¬ 
toms which have their foundation in wants that are common to the whole human fpecies, 
and which are confined to the contrivance of means to relieve thole wants, may well be 
fuppofed to bear a ftrong refemblance, without warranting the conclufion, that they who 
ufe them have copied each other, or have derived them from one common fource ; human 
fagacity being the fame every where, and the means adapted to the relief of any parti¬ 
cular natural want, efpecially in countries fimilarly uncultivated, being but few. Thus 
the moft diftant tribes, as widely feparated as the Kamtfchadales are from the Brazilians, 
may produce their fire, by rubbing two fticks upon each other, without giving us the leaft 
foundation for fuppofing, that either of them imitated the other, or derived the invention 
from a fource of inftruclion common to both. But this feems not to be the cafe, with 
regard to thofe cuftoms to which no general principle of human nature has given birth, 
and which have their eftablifhment folely from the endlefs varieties of local whim, and 
national fafhion. Of this latter kind, thofe cuftoms obvioufly are, that belong both 
to the North, and to the South Pacific Iflands, from which we would infer, that , they 
were originally one nation 5 and the men of Mailgeea, and the men of the New Philip¬ 
pines, who pay their refpecls to a perfon whom they mean to honour* by rubbing his 
hand over their faces, bid fair to have learnt their mode of lalutation in the fame fchool. 
But if this obfervation Ihould not have removed the doubts of the fceptical refiner, pro¬ 
bably he will hardly venture to perfift in denying the identity of race* contended for in the 
prefent inftance, when he fhall obferve, that, to the proof drawn from affinity of cuftoms, 
we have it in our power to add that moft unexceptionable one, drawn from affinity of 
language. Tamoloa\ we now know, is the word ufed at Hamoa, one of the Friendly Iflands, 
to fignify a Chief j and whoever looks into the. Lettres Edifiantes et Curieufes , will fee, that 
this 
