the Polynesian languages. (See Polynesian Vocabularies in Crawford's "Indian Archipelago", vol. iii, and the words noted on Table III.)
Fresh evidence of the existence of races on the New Guinea coast who speak the Polynesian dialects has been afforded by the Rev. W. W. Gill, who made three visits to the island in 1872.[1] Thus, he tells us that the word for "eye" with two separate tribes is Mata, for "ear" Taringa and Taia, and for "hands" Ima-ima and Rima-rima. These words are all to be found in the Formosan dialects, and indeed might have been taken from them. As for the numerals in use among the aborigines of Formosa, they would afford but doubtful evidence of the Polynesian origin of the tribes were they not supported by the more direct testimony which the various dialects supply.
- ↑ Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, xviii. 45.
