COOK AND cook: THE MAHO OR MAHAGUA 165 



must have had previous acquaintance with the maho. In Fiji, 

 according to Seemann, the maho is called vaudina, meaning the 

 genuine van, to distinguish it from several other plants called vau. 



THE NAME OF THE PAPER-MULBERRY 



One of the Polynesian namesakes of the maho is the paper- 

 mulberry tree, called in many islands maute or aute, in Hawaii 

 ivaoke, ivauke, or kaivaiike, in ]\Iangareva eute or ute. A practical 

 reason for considering the paper-mulberry a kind of au (the 

 suffix te meaning another kind) is that it yields bark cloth, and 

 of a finer quality than the maho. In many of the early accounts 

 of the islands the paper-mulberry appears more prominent 

 than the maho, though now it is seldom cultivated and on the 

 heavily forested islands is becoming extinct, as noted by Cheese- 

 man in Rarotonga. It is not a strictly tropical tree, being 

 hardy in the United States, and often escaping from cultiva- 

 tion. It is supposed to be a native of Japan or China rather 

 than of the Malay region. ' There is a sHght resemblance to the 

 maho in habits of growth and general appearance, adult trees 

 having simple oval or cordate leaves, but on young plants and 

 root-sprouts the leaves are deeply notched and divided. 



Other names that may belong to the paper-mulberry are roga 

 in Paumotu and roa in Tahiti, which suggest toga, the Samoan 

 name for collections of bark cloth and fine mats. These were 

 valued as property and used as a medium of exchange. The 

 paper-mulberry was also called tiituga in Samoa, and a second 

 growth of paper-mulberry tuapipi. Seemann gives ai masi and 

 malo as the native names of the paper-mulberry in Fiji, but 

 Ficus scabra is also called ai' masi, with the explanation that 

 masi is derived from a verb masia, meaning to scour. 



THE NAME OF THE ROSE OF CHINA 



The Polynesians also applied the name aute to the ''rose of 

 China," Hibiscus rosa sinensis. In Rarotonga, according to 

 Cheeseman, the maho is au, the paper-mulberry aute, and Chi- 

 nese rose kaute. Though not at all similar to the paper-mul- 

 berry and not used for bark cloth, the rose of China is a close 



