ARTS which feem to be conneded with the new Caroline Iflands to the
A N D .
sc ien c e s South jn about . 205 degrees Weft longitude from Greenwich,
near the line : the names o f thefe ifles are given in Mr. Dalrymple’s
Colleftion .of Voyages, vol. i. p. 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39; but
as they were not mentioned by the natives, I have forborn to fpeak
o f them as proofs of the Geographical knowledge of the natives of
thefe parts.'
T h e foregoing account of the many iflands mentioned by Tupaya
is ftifticient to prove that the inhabitants o f the 1 (lands in the
South Sea have made very confiderable navigations in their flight
and weak canoes; navigations which many Europeans would think
impoflible to be performed, upon a . careful view o f the veffels
themfelves, their rigging, fails,- &c. &c. alfo the provifions of
the climate.
The arts of dancing, mufic, and poetry, are generally
underftood by almoft every individual from the higheft to the
loweft rank, but the fciences of phyfic and its various branches,
thofe o f geography, navigation, and aftronomy, are known only
to few. This ignorance extends fo far that the greater part of
the nation cannot count beyond ten: but thofe who have been
inftruded by their teachers can reckon as far as 200. I could not
learn whether they can count beyond that number, but am rather
inclined to believe they cannot. Their way o f reckoning is by
enumerating
enumerating firft the digits, 1 a-tahai, 2 a-roba, 3 a-tbroo,
4 a-Kea, 5 a-riema, 6 a-hbno, 7 a-hiddoo, 8 a-wdrroo,
a a-heeva, 10 a-hooroo; then they add a fecond ten as far as
twenty, in the following manner; 11 ma-tahai, 12 ma-rooa,
13 ma-tbroo, 14 ma-h'ea, 15 ma-reema, 16 ma-hbno,
17 ma^hiddoo, 18 ma-warroo, 19 ma-heeva, 20 a-tahdi-tdoo.
From thence they count by fcores to zoo-, viz. they fay for 21
fi-tahdi-ta<k>-mara-tahai, literally one twenty with one; 30 is
called tahai-t'aoo-m'ara-hobrev, 40 a-roba-taooy 50 a~rhoa-taoomara
hobroo, &c. &c. The teachers are men, who have either
from their fathers or other teaehers acquired a knowledge, which,
they, again impart to ".others.. Thefe people are callled Takata-
errero, are very much refpedted, and commonly belong to the
tribe o f chiefs -; wh'ieh circumftance induces me to-believe, that
from their eafy-and independent eireumftances, they are not under
the neceftity-df-Communicating their knowledgeto their pupils for
;any retribution; as there-is little probability - that‘a-chief thoiild
accept of a reward, or even honorary compenfation,! having himfelf
-a competency, viz. land, a houfe, fruits, and trees that bear
them ; hogs, ddgs, and fowls, andlaftly toutoils to ferve him.
The bulk o f their fcience isJ the w ork of-memory only, and by
.no means the refult o f meditation, refleftion, or reafoning. For
I met with fome o f their chiefs who had attempted to learn the
Y y y names
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