TiiEGEAB. — Polynesian Knoivledgc of Cattle. 461 



only navigation confined to crossing rivers here and there, 

 the herdsman holding the tail of the beast, or standing on its. 

 back. 



Let us now consider two Polynesian words, Jcau and vaka, 

 which I think are forms of cow and vacca : — 



Maori — kau, to swim, to wade : Jcau-Jcau, to bathe. Sa- 

 moan — 'a'au (kakau), to swim: 'a'au, to swim about: 

 'aupul, to splash. Tahitian — au (kau), to swim. Hawaiian — 

 au (kail), to swim, to float on the surface : aaii (kakau), to 

 swim dispersedly. Tongan — kaukau, a bath, a wash. Mar- 

 quesan — kaic, to swim ; oil, grease." Mangarevan — kau, to 

 swim : kaukau, to wash one's-self with fresh water. 



Maori — ivaka, a canoe ; a medium of the gods. Samoan — 

 va'a (vaka), a canoe ; the priest of a deity. Tahitian — vaa 

 (vaka), a canoe: vaahuia (vaka-huia), all the people within 

 the prescribed limits of a district. f Hawaiian — tvaa (ivaka), 

 a canoe. Tongan — vaka, a general name for all vessels that 

 sail : vakavakahina, to be carried on the shoulders of another : 

 faka-vaka, to handle ; to cover or bind as books ; the bindings. 

 of books ; to make small pens or places for storing yams. 

 Marquesan — vaka, canoe : aka, to float on surface : vakaani, 

 a litter on which to carry chiefs in triumph (see Maori 

 hau-hoa and kau-amo, quoted above). Mangarevan — vaka, 

 a canoe, raft. Earotongan — vaka, a canoe. It is a widely- 

 spread word, and may be found in Melanesia as faka, waga, 

 ak, ok, &c. ; perhaps in Tagal (Philippines), hanca, a canoe;, 

 and Malay, wangkang, a ship ; Labuan, boui, to swim. 



The remark concerning the crossing rivers holding by the 



* The Indo-European words vau?, navis, &c.,for " ship," are referred 

 to a root SNU, to float (Sanscrit sntt, to ooze, flow). Except in Samoa,, 

 the Polynesians do not use the letters, but the aspirate. If we wished 

 to find smi. in Polynesia, we must look iorhnu with a vowel between /jand 

 n, because a vowel must follow a consonant in these languages. We find 

 that in Maori the word hinu means oil, fat, grease : in Tahitian, himi,id. ; 

 himi-hinu, brightness, lustre; faa-hinu (ivhaka-hinu) , to cause lustre or 

 splendour, to make respected or honourable : Hawaiian, liinu, ointment, 

 to anoint, smooth, polished, to slip or slide easily ; hinnhimc, bright,, 

 splendid, shining as red cloth, glittering as polished stones ; ohinu, to 

 roast, as meat : IMarquesan, himi, to make sacred {tajni), to make certain 

 things unable to be eaten by certain persons : IMangarevan, hinu, grease, 

 oil. (It will be well to notice how the Asiatic idea of splendour runs with 

 that of "butter," "grease," &c., the anointing oil of sacrifice — spoken of 

 many times in the old sacrificial hymns.) The Persian |j'm«, milk, butter 

 (Gr. TTtvo), I drink?), may be compared here v»'ith Maori hinu, oil, and imt, 

 to drink ; Mangaian, imt, oil, and to drink. The first notion of swimming 

 was apparently the swimming of oil upon milk or water (hnu or snu), 

 later the swimming of the animal. 



t The vaa here (]i2ci is a collective plural) is not the Maori causative 

 prefix ivhaka (which would in Tahitian be haa or faa), but vaka, in the 

 sense of kau, a troop, herd — ^the gaii or go of Aryan, as earth, districtj 

 pasturage. 



