THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
4 T 5 
Zealand, and Otaheite; but, ftill, a great number of words 
are either exactly the fame, or fo little changed, that their 
common original may be fatisfa&orily traced. The lan¬ 
guage, as fpoken at the Friendly Iflands, is fufficiently co¬ 
pious, for all the ideas of the people; and we had many 
proofs of its being eafily adapted to all mufical purpofes, 
both in fong and in recitative ; belides being harmonious 
enough in common converfation. Its component parts, as 
far as our fcanty acquaintance with it enabled us to judge, 
are not numerous ; and, in fome of its rules, it agrees 
with other known languages. As, for inftance, we could 
eafily difcern the feveral degrees of comparifon, as ufed 
in the Latin; but none of the inflections of nouns and 
verbs. 
We were able to colleCt feveral hundreds of the words; 
and, amongft thefe, are terms that exprefs numbers as far 
as a hundred thoufand ; beyond which they never would 
reckon. It is probable, indeed, that they are not able to go 
farther; for, after having got thus far, we obferved, that 
they commonly ufed a word which expreffes an indefinite 
number. A fhort fpecimen, feleCted from the larger voca¬ 
bulary, is here infertecl, with the correfponding words, of 
the fame fignification, as ufed at Otaheite, on the oppofite 
column ; which, while it will give, as we may fay, ocular 
demonftration of their being dialects of the fame language, 
will, at the fame time, point out the particular letters, by 
the infertion, omiflion, or alteration of which, the varia¬ 
tions of the two dialeCts, from each other, have been 
effected. 
It muft be obferved, however, that our vocabularies, of 
this fort, muft neceffarily be liable to great miftakes. The 
ideas of thofe, from whom we were to learn the words. 
1777. 
July. 
were 
