162 COOK AND cook: the maho or mahagua 



of smiting, chopping, attacking, or conquering. Wao and yJhu 

 are to scratch or to scrape. Of words more similar to maho or 

 mahagua, Hawaii affords maoha, to rub or chafe; mahaha, soft 

 and tough, also applied to a kind of fish and to a variety of 

 taro; maholehole, bruised, crushed together; and maua, lame, sore, 

 stiff, close or stingy. The Samoan word maoa means "to make a 

 chopping or hammering sound," vau, vavau, and valu, to bruise, 

 pound, scrape, grate, or rub down, as taro or arrowroot. In 

 New Zealand, mahoe is a small mallet, said to be used for strik- 

 ing the tattooing chisel, but bark cloth was also beaten with 

 mallets. In Paumotu mihara is to regret, rue, or repent; maha, 

 to sooth; mahaki or maehaki, to slacken, abate, hinder, or soften; 

 and pahurehure, a bruise or contusion. The Mangarevan tahoa, 

 ''to make papyrus by beating," is evidently connected with the 

 Easter Islanders' hahoa, to cut, wound, or hurt. 



The third class of bark-cloth words relates to the finished 

 product and its uses. In Easter Island mahututii is ''bast cloth 

 in the last stages of composition." In Hawaii aha, aha, and ahu 

 have numerous applications in connection with fibers, cords, and 

 mats. Ahu in particular is a fine mat, moena a coarse mat, 

 and kapahau "a fine species of kapa^' made from the bark of 

 hau. In Samoa auafa are "the fine mats constituting the wealth 

 of a family;" fauepa is "to prepare the fine mats on which a dead 

 chief is laid in state." In Paumotu vauvau means mat, rug, 

 carpet, seat; kaho or kao is cloth or clothing; and malo a strip of 

 bark cloth girded about the loins. Pahorehore in Paumotu is 

 defined as to smooth out linen, but is similar to several words 

 already mentioned in relation to the preparation of bark cloth. 



POLYNESIAN COGNATES RELATING TO FIRE 



The importance of the maho in relation to fire is reflected in 

 the fact that the name for the tree in some of the archipelagoes, 

 including Easter Island, is purau, that is, fire-aw, while tamau 

 is the word for tinder in Easter Island and Paumotu. A redu- 

 plicated form purao-purau is recorded from Paumotu; pura 

 means phosphorescent; purero, to emit, issue, or appear; pwrara, 



