Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2- Appendix): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

» APPENDIX. 193 The language of these islanders differs from that of the Ota- heitans so much that they do not easily understand each other yet I believe that both are radically the same. Taata is man, at Otaheite ; in Paamuto, Tanaka ; which is almost the same as Ka- naka, the word for man in the Sandwich Islands ; and not very dif- ferent from Tangata in New Zealand. Some of the Low islanders say their ancestors came from the south-eastern islands ; others say from the Marquesas; again there are some who assert that their forefathers arrived from islands to the westward : so that no reli- ance can be placed upon the little yet known of their origin. There is, however, reason for supposing that the earlier inhabitants were not of one famUy, or tribe ; but that they were emigrants from more than one quarter. In most of the entrances to harbours in the lagoon islands, there is a strong current of tide, which sets in and out alternately, about six hours each way. The tide rises nearly two, or at most three, feet. It is high water at about one, on the days of fuU and new moon, among the western groups of islands, and from half an hour to an 'hour later among those which lie towards the south-east. The cur- rents which do not appear to be caused by tide are irregular ; and, as yet, too little is knovra of their usual direction to enable any one to say more than that during settled weather, and a steady trade wind (south-easterly), the surface waters in general move westward from five to twenty miles a day ; and that in the rainy season, from October to March, when westerly vpinds, squalls, and rain are fre- quent, the currents vary most, and occasionally set eastward, at the rate of from half a mile to two miles an hour. Numerous instances are upon record of canoes being drifted out of their course — even several hundred miles — by currents and westerly winds : few narratives of voyages in the Pacific are without a notice of them : and they materially assist in explaining how remote, and perhaps very small, islands, may have been first peopled from the west : against the direction of the generally prevalent wind. No. 35. The British Resident at New Zealand, to His Britannic Ma- jesty's Subjects, who are Residing or Trading in New Zealand. The British Resident announces to his countrymen that he has received from a person who styles himself "Charles, Baron de