LIST OF VERBS AND PRONOUNS.

MALAY DIALECTS.

PAPUAN DIALECTS.

New Hebrides.

New Caledonia.

Australia.

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT.

Aneiteum, New Hebrides.

Tak baslama stik num, on aim atahugether atua abuissemen uasem; im-naheka atamaig ou un, im nahees atahatg ou uu, im kurimatau ou un, im nifo ou un, im nijil itaai ou un.

NOTES TO THE APPENDIX.

In the foregoing list the consonants have the same sound as in English, with the exception of the double consonant ng, which is pronounced, not as is usually done in English, as if spelled ng-g as in finger, pronounced fing-ger, but simply ng as in singer, pr. sing-er; but, as in the Malay dialects every syllable ends in a vowel, ng is joined to the beginning of the syllable, not to the end. Thus Rangi (Heaven) is divided Ra-ngi.

The vowels are sounded as in French or Italian, or in Latin as pronounced in Scotland and on the continent of Europe, thus—

û as obscure û, in the French language, or as û in the Scotch word Kiltirn, gaiter. Every vowel is sounded.

Of the preceding lists the Tahitian and Australian were obtained from the Rev. L. E. Threlkeld, Sydney, formerly missionary, first in Tahiti and afterwards at Lake Macquarie. The Samoan, from the Samoan Reporter, and the Rev. A. Macdonald, Auckland, formerly of Samoa. The Tongan, from the Rev. S. Rabone's Tongan Lexicon. In List of Nouns, No. I, Niua and Futuna, Fiji, Rotumah, Aneiteum, Tuaulu, Mare, and one of Lifu, were extracted from a paper by the Rev. G. Turner, in the Samoan Reporter for March, 1847. In No. II., Uea and Fiji were from the interpreter on board the Havannah, who also supplied me with Uea, No. I., and other collateral information. In the numerals, Fiji and Rotumah are from the Samoan Reporter, and Hawaiian from Hawaiian Statute Laws. All the rest I obtained from the lips of natives.

In the whole of the lists the Malay may be regarded as general correct; but in the Papuan dialects, from the differences being so many and so great, and the languages being so little previously known, an approximation to accuracy is all that can be expected. This, however, is sufficient for the purpose of comparison.

The most superficial examination shows the essential unity of the Malay, and the endless varieties of the Papuan; the resemblances in the Papuan dialects being in structure, not in words. The connection traceable is vastly fainter and immeasurably more remote than is seen in the Malay. The causes of change must have been very much longer in operation.

NOTULAE (1.) Erumango – The Erumangons who use the Malay numerals have omitted the second, raised the following seven one place respectively, and supplied the ninth by one of the words used to denote the tenth. See ten in New Zealand list.

(2.) Uea – The Malay inhabitants of Uea in the Loyalty group, originally a colony from Uea or Wallis’s Island, have retained the numerals of their Malay ancestors up to five; but they have adopted the quinary arrangement of their Papuan neighbours, and discontinue the use of the Malay numerals above five. Thus falling back in civilization.

(3.) Australia – The natives of Lake M’Quarie have no names for the numerals above three. To express four they hold up the four fingers of one hand, and exclaim yande, thus: and to express five, they use the same word but hold up both the four fingers and the thumb. What appears singular is, that their language is defective in nothing else; in all other respects it is full and copious. In Western Australia also, the natives count only to four.