Fox. — Oceanic Comparatives. 7 



means " to fence " ; the Malay parai " to go in zigzags, as a ship tacking." 

 An island in the Banks Group is called Ure-parapara, " the island of steep 

 slopes " : the sea has entered the crater, the steep sides of which give the 

 island its name. The Malay parang is " a chopper or chopping-knife," or 

 to cut with one ; and this is the Maori para, " to fell trees or cut down bush." 

 In Mota, para also means " to go off at an angle " ; sus para is "to crouch 

 aside." 



Pala means in Mota " to set stick across stick, to set across, wattle " ; 

 pala ta vava, " to strangle a man by pressing a stick across his throat " ; 

 i-pala, " tongs " ; palapala, " scissors " (a recent word). In Florida pala- 

 pala is " a ladder." In Malay palang is " a cross-bar or transverse beam." 

 In Santa Cruz pala-po is " lightning " {po meaning " downwards " and also 

 '■ red "). In Tonga palaa means " a piece of a reed fence " ; while in Samoa 

 paWau is " a wooden fence." 



In Mahaga Bugotu babala is " crosswise " ; gai babala, " across." Vala 

 means in Mota " the fence of small stones round an oven." In Madagascar 

 vala is " a wooden fence or partition." The Efate (New Hebrides) vala 

 means " a ship's yards," because set crosswise ; while falafala is " a ladder," 

 which is made by fastening cross-sticks to a tree. Vala in Florida means 

 " the shoulder " ; varat in Mota " the purlin of a house." 



Leaving now the full root, of which many more examples might be 

 given, we come to ara and ala. In Mota ara means " to keep off," while 

 ge-ara is " a fence." The Saa Malaita ala means " the shoulder." The 

 Maori arai means " a veil, screen, or curtain ; to block up " ; Mangaian 

 arai, " to ward off " ; Tahitian ami, " to interpose, obstruct " ; Hawaiian 

 alai, " to obstruct, to block up a door or passage by sitting in it, to form 

 a circle round a person for defence, to defend." The Torres pi ala is " a 

 fence round a garden." 



By dropping the final vowel we get par and pal. Par means in Mota 

 ^' to slice, cut," as in Par mal, the name given to a class of secret societies 

 the members of which were wont to par sTinal or youni cocoanut and 

 drink the milk in common, after which they were accounted brethren. Pal 

 in New Britain means " a room " (just as niu in Mota means either " par- 

 tition " or " room ") ; in Duke of York Island, " an outhouse " ; in Ralu- 

 ana (New Guinea), " a house." 



Dropping the second syllable we get pa and ha, exceedingly common 

 and important forms. A few examples must suffice. In Fiji hai means 

 " to fence round a town or garden," while ha is " a fish-fence." In Maori 

 pa means " to block up, obstruct ; a fort or stockade, a weir for catching 

 eels, a barricade ; to protect " : Samoan, pa, " a wall " : Tahitian, pa, 

 " a fence or hedge " : Hawaiian, pa, " hedge or fence in ; the wall of a 

 town " : Paumotu, pa, " a rampart or bulwark." 



The reduplication of this gives us papa and haha. In Malagasy haha 

 is " a wall or fence in fortification " ; Formosa, habas, " an earthen dam " ; 

 Tahitian, papani, " to block up " ; Mota, paparis, " wall of a house " ; 

 Maori, papa, " to close up or fasten ; the layers or strata of rocks." It 

 is from this last that the idea of a slab may perhaps be derived, and so 

 papa or haha commonly means " a slab, board, anything flat." In Wedau, 

 New Guinea, haha means " slab, side of big canoe " ; habai, " to build up 

 with slabs " ; hahana, " canoe built with timbers " ; Maori, papa, " any- 

 thing broad or flat— a slab, board, door, or shutter " ; Samoan, papa, 

 *' board, floor - mat " ; Tahitian, papa, " a board, seat, the shoulder - 

 blade " ; Mangareva, papa, " foundation " ; Motu, New Guinea, papapapa, 



