Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1861-01-05
No. 36.

gathered and picked to pieces and then placed
about the taro roots to assist in forming q little
soil. An almost incalcuable amount Of labor is
thus spent on each root, and yet it is only raised
in sufficient quantities to be considered luxury.
| Much of it is very coarse and impalatable, but
there are most admirable varieties, and some grow
In the course Of years nearly to the size of bar
rel.
In catching fish they are, as might be expected,
| remarkably expert, much of their sustenance COM
| ing from the sea. Probably that which | have
seen on Ebon would be nothing strange Of this
people, by necessity so icthlophagous. flying
hsh was one day seen darting about over the fats
near our house, where the water was not more than
foot in depth. Two youth daued out like ar
rows and commenced throwing stones. that fell
beyond the fish, and so frightened It still nearer
the shore. After having for a time IN this way
worried and partially fatigued the fish, the chase
commenced. The fish's constant effort was TO re-
gain the deep water, which his two pursuers as
persistenty defeated for strange to say, the poor
tsh seems not to be able to use its wing-ike inns
save in the fathomless main. In less than ten
minutes the fish lay passive in the hands Of these
expert hsher-boys. / have seen school of two
or three hundred bonetas driven on shore and
speared with such consummate skill that scarce an
individual fish escaped.
| Their council and dance houses loom up in the
distance, the most prominent of all other objects
on shore. Many of them a hundred feet
long, nearly fifty feet wide and thirty to forty feet
high. They nothing more than immense roofs,
reaching to within three feet of the ground their
resting on large coral slabs. 1t is here they
congregate on every public occasion, in tumultu-
Gus rabbles of delight anger. Here every pub
lie measure is carefully discussed, and here they
dance and revel sometimes for many continuous
days and nights.
Their proas are as admirable as those Of the
Marshall islanders the only important difference
being that the keel is curved up fore-and-aft so as
to form the segment of circle. A canoe without
its outrigger when looked at from one side is
sequently the shape of gibbous moon. At GER
tain seasons they devote days to sailing miniature
canoes, the bodies Of which are only about eight
cen inches long, and the sails nearly two fathoms
in length, and whose speed is at the rate Of fifteen
or twenty miles an hour!
1t may be gathered from such facts that they
active, intelligent race, and that nothing in
their intellectual parts need deter US from attempt
ing their civilization. Their language, though of
course destitute of innumerable terms for material
objects they have never seen, is not found more
deficient a vehicle for moral truths than the
mass of uncultvated Dialects and is probably more
full IN the necessary terms than many. In coming
from the other portions of Micronesia here de-
tect greater difference lingually than between
any Of the other dialects with which we are ac-
quainted. In the first place there is far less
riety OF vowel sounds and the palatal consonants
ch, and sh, with the dental tn and so frequent
in the north and western groups, are unknown
here. It is this fact that admits of Hawaiians
quiring this dialect so much more readily than any
other of Micronesia. An article is found here
elsewhere in Micronesia unknown. Yet in the
use of suffixed or inseparable pronouns, which is
the great peculiarity of the Mieronesian dialects,
this dialect is Mcronesian.
THE ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MICRO
NESIANS
1t seems by common consent TO be admitted that
al. csl.-- l.. n h
aysa. The physical appearance Of the people,
no less than geographical relationship, points quite
directly to the Philippine Islands. L. Goben long
since remarked of the color, features, language,
customs and governments of the Caroline Islands
that they resembled in many particulars those Of
the Tagalas of the Philippines A careful COM
parison of the dialects acquired by the differ
ent members of the Micronesian Mission with the
Tagala, given by Humboldt in bis IS Kawi-
Sprache," would doubtless establish LIE Gobien's
remark beyond a doubt.
M. Lessons supposition of Monaghan origin
need not be more than mentioned, for it has been
satisfactorily met by the naturaliss connected with
the expedition under Lutke. There are doubtless
occasional individuals with a Mongolian cast of
countenance. but isolated cases can never estab-
lsh the theory.
So also both D'Urville's and Lessons SUPPOSE
ton of a NegrtO infusion from the islands to the
south does not seem to me any more called for
mere tnan IN the pureSt p0rtfODS OF ROiyneSl3.
Some may feel the difficulty of supposing a MI
grafton eastward in the teeth of the North East
Trade winds. This is stated by Latham himself.
who still traces the Micronesians 10 some part of
Malaysia, and who also, with probability, derives
the POlynesians from the great Malay area through
Micronesia. These imagined distractions are
tirely removed ascertaining that it is only dur
ing the summer months, when the is in
southern deelnation, that the North East trades
oscillate sufficiently southwark to reach the Caro-
line Islands. During the remainder Of the year,
the southern limits of the northern trades are found
to the north Of this, and along the parallels of the
Caroline Islands variables and westerly winds pre-
vail. Again, in the trade wind zone a current
usually sets with the wind, and just to the south
of ita reverse current sets to the east, assisting
the voyager to make his passage in that direction.
These facts, never before. that l aware of,
noticed, satisfactorily account for the long inyo-
untary voyages made by Micronesians both east
and west through their extensive ranges. In the
winter time they drift to the west when cast from
their native Islands; in the summer they drift to
the east.
Kotzebue reports finding natives of Wolea (Ulie,
Swede Island,) which is in the Caroline range to
the south Of Guam, on the Marshall Islands. And
so also in 1857 the Rev. Messrs. Pierson and Do
ane found on the Marshall Islands another company
Of natives from the same island, who had thus
made the involuntary voyage of 1900 miles, while
attempting the voyage from Wolea to Seypan, to
the north of Guam. Every few years the Ralik
islanders drifted westward, and come ashore all
along the Caroline range. Marshall islanders are
drifted to the Gilbert Islands. The mother Of one
of the highest of the Ralk Islapds chiefs is now
supposed to he on Maiana of the Gilbert archipel-
ago. And several times within a few years have
Gilbert islanders drifted northward TO the Marshall
Islands, and also westward to the Caroline Islands.
No further effort need be made to prove the
western origin of the Meronesians possible. 50 far
as the " land and sea conditions" of Latham are
concerned.
And it is perfectly legitimate to remark upon
the entangled series Of voluntary and involuntary
mcratious that have durinr apes been taking ulars