Tahitian Bible History (3)

**List: Tahitian Ministry the Bible ( te Bibilia ) Tahitian... TAHITIAN. "THE extensive assemblage of islands in which the Tahitian dialect is spoken includes the Society or Leeward, and the Georgian or Windward, Isles, with the Low Islands, and the "Paumotu" or Dangerous Archipelago.   These groups lie between lat. l4° and 25° S., and long. 135° and 152° W., and their collective population may amount to about 20,000.   The largest of the islands is Otaheite, or more properly, Tahiti, which is 108 miles in circumference, and contains 7000 inhabitants. The other principal islands are Eimeo, Huahine, Raiatea, and Borabora.   Tahitian is also spoken in the Austral Islands, a group lying south of those above mentioned, and containing about 1000 inhabitants.    Tahitian is distinguished, even above its cognate dialects, by its tendency to soften and vowelise the various sounds which enter into the composition of words; this it effects partly by the omission of mute and the substitution of liquid consonants, and partly by the total disuse of those nasal articulations which are of such frequent occurrence in Malayan, Tagala, and other dialects of the western division of Polynesia.   The Tahitians confound b and p, d and t, and can seldom, if ever, distinguish between these consonants.   The alphabet adopted by the mies. of the London My. Society, who first reduced the language to writing, is the Roman.    The Tahitian language is generally considered the most perfect type of all the Polynesian dialects. It is allied nearest to the dialect of the Marquesan Islands and of Hawaii; but it is still softer than they.   It would appear as if Tahiti had been peopled before any other island of Polynesia properly so called: that from thence as from a centre, emigrants went to settle on the islands of the surrounding archipelago, as far as New Zealand; and that while the Polynesian language became more or less modified by the mode of life called for by the nature of the soil or of the climate, it remained in its primitive simplicity at Tahiti.    Out of 434 words in Madagasse, compared with as many in Tahitian, 17 were found identical, 126 nearly so, and the rest bearing some resemblance; showing evidently the connection that exists between the language of Madagascar, and the type of the Polynesian tongue properly so called, as it is spoken at Tahiti.    The Scriptures have been translated into the Tahitian at the expense of the London My. Society, and by their mies.   The principal translator was the Rev. Henry Nott, but Mr. Williams, and other mies. stationed in the islands, aided in the work.   Much assistance was also derived from native converts, particularly from King Pomare, who copied out several portions with his own hand; and, by his intimate acquaintance with the language, usages, and ancient institutions of the people, was able to suggest many important corrections.   This monarch made a confession of faith in Jesus, in the year 1812, and ever afterwards manifested unwavering attachment to the profession of Christianity in the midst of persecution.   Circumstances into which he was led towards the close of his life by association with designing persons, threw a stain upon his character, and cast a gloom over his mind, from which he never recovered; yet, though thus suffered to depart under a cloud, he enjoyed the consolations of the Gospel in his dying moments, and "Jesus Christ alone" were the last words he was heard to utter.    The Tahitian version was made from the English Bible, with constant reference to the sacred originals.   The Gospel of St. Luke was the first portion committed to the press; it appeared in 1818, and various other portions were successively printed till 1838, when the entire Bible was published in London, under the superintendence of the Rev. Henry Nott.   Other editions followed, of which the most important, consisting of a revised edition of the entire Scriptures, was completed in London in 1848.   The revision was conducted by the Rev. Messrs. Howe and Joseph, and afterwards by the Rev. Mr. Moore, who, by long residence among the Tahitians, had become familiarised with their language and idioms; and it is satisfactory to know, that although these mies. had enjoyed greater facilities in obtaining a critical knowledge of the Tahitian dialect than their predecessors, yet they found little that was necessary to alter in the pure idiomatic style of Mr. Nott's version.   This revised edition, consisting of 5000 copies, was published solely at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, by whom other editions have been subsequently issued.   The entire number of copies of the Scriptures printed by the Society, up to the close of 1859, included the following:-- Bibles   .   . . . . . .   8,046 Testaments . . . . . 13,114 Pentateuch   .   .   .   . . .   3,030 Gospels and Acts . . . . . . 3,020    These copies have been received with great gladness, and many affecting instances are on record of the blessing of God having followed their perusal.   One great benefit arising from their circulation has been, that the minds of the people have been thereby fortified against the errors of popery, of late years so zealously preached in these islands by Romish emissaries, particularly since the unhappy seizure of the islands by the French; and, notwithstanding the interdiction of fresh missionaries from England, and the prohibition of public preaching by the Protestant mies., and the efforts of the French priests to obtain converts, it is stated, in the last accounts that have reached us, that not one native Tahitian, as yet, has attempted to make a public confession of belief in the Roman Catholic system. Even at those stations which have been deprived of their mies., the work of instruction has been carried on by means of native agency.   The interest of the people in the Scriptures (writes Mr. Howe, in 1857) is as vigorous as ever.   Mr. Howe has been for some time past diligently engaged in the task of revising the Tahitian Scriptures, with a view to a new edition (the previous one being totally exhausted), and completed this important work in 1858, after two years of close application.   Arrange- ments for printing the work have since been made by the London My. Society."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] TAHITIAN.--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown.]

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