460 
APPENDIX. 
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, what¬ 
ever view we take of it, presents the most interesting phe¬ 
nomenon connected with the inhabitants of the Pacific. 
A grammatical analysis would exceed my present limits ; 
a few brief remarks, however, will convey some idea of 
its peculiarities ; and a copious grammar, prepared 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 
Missionaries in the South Seas have called the Polynesian 
language, spoken in all the islands which lie to the east 
of the Friendly Islands, 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 insulated 
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 atten¬ 
tion to its cultivation, 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 pre¬ 
ponderate. In looking over the Malayan grammar and 
dictionary by the same gentleman, many w 7 ords appear 
similar in sound and signification ; but there are a number 
of radical words common to all the Polynesian lan¬ 
guages, as kanaka , man, ao, light, pouri , darkness, po , 
night, ra or Za, sun, marama , moon, mcdtai , good, ino , bad, 
ai , to eat, and moe to sleep, which, though very nearly the 
same in all the South Sea languages, appear to have no 
affinity with orang , trang , klam , malam, mataari , and shems , 
bulan, baik, baruk, makan , and tidor, words of the same 
meaning in Malayan: notwithstanding this, there is a 
