COM NUNIC ATE ID.

,rhc Dialect Of Samoa, (the
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Malay. by i. Heath, ManonO, Samoa.


The readers of this journal are aware
that the question, "Whence originated
the PovnCsian tribes:' is one to which its
READERS attach some measure of import
ance. That the numerous groups of
the Pacific had common origin, is evi-
sdent from the similarity of their dialects.
ARTICLE 6, of the II. Spectator, for July,
al53S, and article 2, in the number for
ganuary, 1899, afford specimens of this
Similarity. Every one who is conversant
iwith two or more dialects can furnish
abundant examples of the same kind.
|grhc writer of this has compared the Sa-
Smoan dialect with the Tonga, Hawaiian,
.pTahtian, Harvey Islands and New Zea-
)and, and with brief specimens of a few
Others. and finds multitudes of words rad
icaly the same in them all, each having,
ht the same time, its own peculiarities.
gThe Samoan has the or slight guttcral
|here others have the k, yet the latter
sound is substituted by many of the ma
StWes for the t. 1t has also the nasal
Whcrc others have the n; the or f where
Others have the h and the INSTEAD of the
y.


I On this general similarity, however, we
flo not intend now to dwell, but to insti-
tutc a comparison of the Samoan Gas a
3pecimen) and the Malay. The most
Aeuable hypothesis yet advanced certainly
is that which supposes the Polynesians to
have migrated from the parts where the
Nlalay language is spoken, and has, for
bges, prevailed. 1t is of little consequence
% our enquiry whether Java, or Sumatra,
pr the Malayan Peninsula, was the prmi-
fve cradle of that race. ''The language,
Asays Mr.. Marsden,) prevails throughout
2 very extensive portion of what is vague
~ termed the East Indies, including the
Southern part of the peninsula beyond the
fianges, now bearing the name of the
Nlalayan Peninsula, together with the ISL
pnds of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes,
ghnd innumerablc others,'.. "as far to the
Eastward as the Moluccas, to the south
fvard as the island of Timor, and to the


northward as the PHILIPPINES" This he
Pals "llither Polynesian," to distinguish


from further Polynesia, by which he de-
8lsnates the numerous islands eastward of
New Guinea. So that he makes the
ASholc one immense nation.


II Of the similarity of the dialects preva-
9ent in ''lIilher Polynesia" Mr.. M. says


pc had the most abundant proof from va
9'ous yocabuarics and other documents in
h's possessions; and the fact appears evil
tlent from the specimens published by
pun in his "IIistory of Sumatra," and
miscellaneous works, by Sir S. Raffles, in
hls "History of JAVA" by DR.. Richards
N his "Physcal History of Mankind,' .
and by others.


OF the family likeness of the Hither
Polynesan and Further PoIynesian, some
specimens are given by Mr.. Davies in the
H. Spectator for Jan. 1899. With the far
greater number of the Malay words he


pas there given, the Samoan has cores
Pondng ones. In some instances also,


he rescmblances here are nearer than his
examples. The same may be said of the


'st OF some sixty words given in Marin
Frs "Fonga Islands," and of like speci.