Atkinson. — Tlie Aryo- Semitic Maori. 575 



but by appreciable steps. He adds : " It must be observed tbat 

 iu manywords this [root Jcaii] is compounded with some other, 

 as Maori rakau, Santa Maria rcgai, the Mota tawjae, the Duke of 

 York cliwai, San Cristoval hasie, Nengone sere-ie, Ambrym and 

 Ceram Uyr, and lyeii. In the case of some of these, the natives 

 who use them are well aware they are compound words. Thus, 

 in Mota, viol is a native orange, and properly describes the thorn ; 

 tan-mol is the trunk and body of the tree ; tan ngae is the tree 

 regarded iu the same way, n(jc(e being the tree and tan the bulk 

 of it. The Santa Maria people explain regai in the same way — 

 re is the bulk, ngai the tree. Thus, the Maori rahau is ex- 

 plained. "" 



If you look at the amount of labour implied in Dr. Cod- 

 rington's treatment of this one word, you will agree that the 

 one defect of the method of investigation lies in its not being 

 "delightfully easy." 



In conclusion, I should like to make a practical suggestion, 

 with little, if anything, that is new in it, and yet one that ought 

 to be constantly repeated. It is clear that — whether Mr. 

 Tregear's method is held to be scientifically sound, and there- 

 fore deserving of far wider application, or to need radicafc 

 remodelhug before it should be applied at all — it can, in regard 

 to the Maori language, be as successfully applied by those who 

 are not in New Zealand as by those who are, and in a hundred 

 years as now : we might be deferring the good day, yet it would 

 be only deferred. But there is one thing which, if not done 

 now — within a very few years — and by us in New Zealand, will 

 never be done at all — I mean the getting upon record all that is 

 as yet unrecorded of the Maoris, their history,! life and language. 

 The race, I trust, will survive as long as ours, or at least until 

 it becomes merged in ours, but the peculiar knowledge of the 

 race is perishing every day ; the old men die, and there are 

 hardly any, perhaps none, instructed as they were to take their 

 place. This is no doubt inevitable, from the contact of the great 

 majority of them with us and our ways. Think only of the 

 difference in their habits of life and of thought, even of language, 

 implied in their ability to buy such things as steel tools, clothing, 

 and lucifer matches, instead of having to supply their place by 

 their own peculiar skill and industry. Again, the spread of 

 Christianity, of course, discredited and then practically abolished 



* I ■would ask : Is the likeness between the San Cristoval hasie, and 

 Maori and Hawaiian icahie, "firewood," only accidental? If not, and Dr. 

 Codrington's series in ie is continuous with the other, there are apparently 

 in Maori two forms of the same word as wide apart as wahie and rakau. 



t The forthcoming work of Mr. John White — his inagnum opus, Heel 

 sure I may say— should leave Httle to be desired on this branch of the 

 subject. 



