28 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Spea.king generally, a native always speaks of his cousins 

 — i.e., the children of his father's and mother's brothers and 

 sisters — as his " brothers " and " sisters." The terms tuakana 

 and taina, given in the table, do not always imply that such 

 persons are older than the speaker in years, but that they 

 belong to an elder [tuakana) or younger (taina) branch of 

 the family. Also, in speaking generally of the children 

 of his brother or sister a native always calls them his 

 " children. "'■'■ 



It will be noted in the above table that the term papa,. 

 meaning "father," is applied not only to the speaker's real 

 father, but also to all brothers of his parents and to sons of 

 his parent's uncles. The term papara, which denotes the 

 speaker's real father, is not often heard, the generic term papa 

 being much more common. The same remarks apply to the 

 term loJiaea (mother), which is applied not only to the 

 speaker's real mother, but also to sisters of his parents, and 

 others. Also, the term tuahine has a wide application, it 

 being applied by a male speaker to his cousins, and to- 

 daughters of his parents' cousins, &c. Thus, when you hear 

 that a Maori has married his " sister" you must not take it 

 literally, for she is probably a cousin several times removed. 

 It behoves one to be careful, for it is very easy to make errors- 

 in Maori consanguinity. 



These remarks on Maori nomenclature might be continued 

 indefinitely, but must be kept for a separate paper. It will be 

 seen, however, that, although some of the more generic terms, 

 as those above quoted, have a wide meaning, yet terms of kin- 

 ship among the Maori are much more copious and definite 

 than such a system as the Hawaiian, as given by Letourneau 

 in his chapter on " The Family in Polynesia." His informa- 

 tion, however, niay have been meagre. 



There is no sign of polyandry among the Maori so far as 

 my researches have extended. Close questioning of the old 

 men leads one to the conclusion that monandry has been the 

 custom of the people for many generations, probably centuries, 

 or some trace or influence of the custom would probably be 

 noted. The old-time historical traditions help to prove the 

 monandrous conditions which obtained here and in other 

 isles in times long passed away. Certainly there are a few, 

 very few, isolated cases on record among the Tuhoe Tribe 

 where, a married woman having committed adultery, it was 

 agreed to by her people that she should have the two 

 husbands. The evidence, even in these cases, is against a 

 former polyandrous system. 



* Taku tamaiti = my child ; aku taiiiariki = my children. 



