THEimpedimentoftongueswasonethatIparticularlyover-
estimated。ThelanguagesofPolynesiaareeasytosmatter，thoughhardtospeakwithelegance。Andtheyareextremelysimilar，sothatapersonwhohasatinctureofoneortwomayrisk，notwithouthope，anattemptupontheothers。
Andagain，notonlyisPolynesianeasytosmatter，butinterpretersabound。Missionaries，traders，andbrokenwhitefolklivingonthebountyofthenatives，aretobefoundinalmosteveryisleandhamlet；andevenwheretheseareunserviceable，thenativesthemselveshaveoftenscrapedupalittleEnglish，andintheFrenchzonethoughfarlesscommonlyalittleFrench-English，oranefficientpidgin，whatiscalledtothewestward’Beach-la-Mar，’
comeseasytothePolynesian；itisnowtaught，besides，intheschoolsofHawaii；andfromthemultiplicityofBritishships，andthenearnessoftheStatesontheonehandandthecoloniesontheother，itmaybecalled，andwillalmostcertainlybecome，thetongueofthePacific。Iwillinstanceafewexamples。ImetinMajuroaMarshallIslandboywhospokeexcellentEnglish；thishehadlearnedintheGermanfirminJaluit，yetdidnotspeakonewordofGerman。IheardfromagendarmewhohadtaughtschoolinRapa-itithatwhilethechildrenhadtheutmostdifficultyorreluctancetolearnFrench，theypickedupEnglishonthewayside，andasifbyaccident。Ononeofthemostout-of-the-wayatollsintheCarolines，myfriendMr。BenjaminHirdwasamazedtofindtheladsplayingcricketonthebeachandtalkingEnglish；anditwasinEnglishthatthecrewoftheJANETNICOLL，asetofblackboysfromdifferentMelanesianislands，communicatedwithothernativesthroughoutthecruise，transmittedorders，andsometimesjestedtogetheronthefore-hatch。ButwhatstruckmeperhapsmostofallwasawordIheardontheverandahoftheTribunalatNoumea。A
casehadjustbeenheard-atrialforinfanticideagainstanape-