Williams. — Language of the Chatham Islands. 421 



It now remains to noticf a few of the grammatical peculiarities of this 

 language. With the limited material in our hands it is not possible to 

 formulate a complete scheme of the grammar ; but we are much helped 

 by the fact that Mr. Shand has given a careful, and often literal, trans- 

 lation of what he piiblished. Where he w'as unable to translate he had to 

 content himself with the sense of the passage as obtained from the narrators. 

 There is a tendency to clip sentences by the omission of — 



(i.) The definite article, as — No / taenga ki / tuatoru k"akina i tao 

 o Whakatau, When it came to the third time Whalmtaif s spear 

 ivas thrust foncard (80); Ka oti/tarei. The adzing toas 

 finished (3.5) ; Pena mai i titike o / tupapaku, ti te hope to 

 hohonu o / toto tangat, Such was the heap of the corpses that 

 the depth of human blood reached to the loins (98) ; Ko roto i 

 ri pu hamama o /totara, In the gaping trunk of a totara (97). 

 (ii.) A verbal particle, as — / Ru manga a Kura, / torn manga a 

 Kura, Kara took two moidhfuls, Kura took three mouthfuls (41) ; 

 E kore / te, He will not get there; Ko maru/horo, Maru 

 sivallowed it (63). 

 (iii.) A preposition, as — Ka ra waihe i / wahine mana, She became 



a wife for him (65). 

 (iv.) The nominal ])article, a, as — Ka whai mai / Nunuku, Nunuku 

 replied (132). 

 The distinction between the active and passive of verbs is not always 

 clearly preserved, and the preposition e, which in Maori indicates the agent 

 after a passive verb, is in Moriori used with either an active or a passive : 

 Potehi etu e Maui, It was discovered by Maui (29) ; Te potehiti mai ko e o 

 hunau, Lest you be discovered by your relatives (35). 



Similarly, what may be called the transitive prcjiosition i is inserted 

 also after intransitive or passive verbs : Ka tak i te ran, The feather fell (63) ; 

 Ka hapa i te hei. There was one necklet over (77) ; Ka pan i te hunu o tana 

 kei i a Rohe, Part of his food was consumed by Rohe (29) ; Ti reira pea 

 i te kiato o ta imi, Perhaps the bulk of the people were there (132) : A te 

 huna e ratau i te rangat o ratau, They were hiding one of their number (77). 

 This usage may perhaps explain away the supposed euphonic use of i 

 mentioned by Shand. 



The use of the particle e after personal jironouns and some adverbs is 

 more frequent than that of its Maori equivalent nge, and may reduce 

 slightly the number of cases of the euphonic use of the letter. 



In the narratives as edited \\\o definitive particle, ko, is iLsed with the 

 subject to a verb more freely than in Maori : Ka puta ko Kura i f ata, 

 Kura went out in the morning (42). But in many apparent cases of this 

 use it is preferable to regard the ko as another form of the definite article, 

 though it is not so recorded by Shand : Ka ki mai ko tu))una ki a i, His 

 grandfather said to him (129). 



The pronoun ena, those (near the person addressed), is used adjectivelv 

 with the signification other : Ki te hunga ena ko Tamahine matua. With 

 other people {she was known as) the senior daughter (76) ; K' huihui mai ko 

 Te Wheteina me na ka imi. There assembled the Wheteina and the other 

 tribes (94). An additional indefinite pronoun, a, is used to obviate the repe- 

 tition of a noun, somewhat as nga mea would be used in Maori : Kimi 

 mei ki ka rakau, i a tika. Fetch some poles, let them be straight ones (40). 



The expression " hunaunga no ko," a relative of thine, which occurs 

 more than once, is peculiar ; but we are unfortunately not in a position 



