Atkinson. — The Aryo- Semitic Maori. 561 



quadruped ;* " grunting while so doing, if satisfied," or " utter- 

 ing a discordant shriek, if irritated ;" big naturally, but looking 

 far bigger in the uncertain light ; in all ways most impressive 

 to the primitive imagination. Then our voyagers are seen, re- 

 turning to the family home in Asia ; and when they relate there 

 all they have seen, and how, among other strange and wonderful 

 things, there was a kaka-po, "a cock just like a bull," what 

 wonder if those who had stayed at home, includiug our Teutonic 

 ancestors, received the narrative with incredulity and ridicule, 

 and so took with them to the West the dim remembrance of 

 this first story about " a Cock and a Bull," as the very type of a 

 traveller's tale. 



Again, whence does our well-known venomous spider get its 

 na.uie, katipo .■ This might be taken to mean " biting in the 

 night," perhaps "biting secretly," the latter, curiously enough, 

 an exact translation of its generic name.* But as a yraft-ivord 

 it might not only mean " bite the bull," a thing many little 

 animals might do, but " stop the bull," the very acme of power 

 to an Aryan mind. 



Mr. Tregear has pointed out with striking effect that the 

 syllable ju/a in several Maori words, [mjarara, kapenga, etc.,) 

 really stands for naga, "the great serpent" or "crocodile" of the 

 first inhabitants of India ; from which, indeed, the latter took 

 their name. The naga seems to have played a very important 

 part in the early history of the Aryans, and hardly" less so in the 

 development of Mr. Tregear's theory. But though, as I have 

 said, he has shown us in several cases how nga should be naga, 

 he has omitted some important applications of his own rule. 

 Take, for instance, Maori w/aru, a wave : read it as naga-ru, and 

 its meaning is obvious. Ru is " to shake;" naga-ru, theveiore, 

 is the great (sea) serpent shaking himself, and so ruffling the 

 water. But even in the ocean there is one greater than this 

 marine naga. You will remember that the Maori Neptune is 

 called Tangaroa. Why '? A mere Maori scholar, I think, would 

 not be able to say : but if you take nga as being naga, it becomes 

 transparent. Ta is "to dash down," nga is " naga,'' roa, " long, 

 great:" Tanagaroa, then, is " he who dashed down (overcame) 

 the great sea serpent." Could you wish for a sea-god a more 

 appropriate name ? 



Again, Mr. Tregear cites the proverb, " He koanga tangata 

 talii, he ngahuru puta noa," which he translates literally, " At 

 planting, single-handed : at harvest, all around." Now, as com- 

 monly understood, ko is a Maori implement, the analogue of the 



* See Buller's "Birds of New Zealand," p. 31, etc. It is not meant that 

 it would not eat fruit if it could get it, but that it takes its commonest food 

 by "grazing"— the term actually used in loc. cit. 



* Lathrodectus. See Thorell, " On European Spiders," p. 95. 



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