632 



Transactions. 



Tribe, once only have I heard toho prefixed to tahi.'" Premising that a 

 typical instance of the use of toko-tahi is to be found in Grey's '" Poly- 

 nesian Mythology " (page 51), it is a rule in good Maori speech that an 

 answer to a question conforms verbally to the question itself. A few 

 examples will illustrate this rule : — 



Ko whea koe ? 



Ko Hokiauga Au. 



Ko— Ko.) 

 Kei hea teua whemia ? Kei raro. (Kei — Kei.) 



3. E haere ana koe ko te aha ? E haere ana Au ko te toro i aku whanaimga. 



(E haere ana ko — E haere ana ko.) 



4. A hea koe hoki mai ai ? A te Marama ki tua nei. (A — A.) 



5. Toko-hia o hoa haere ? Toko-tahi tonu. (Toko — Toko.) 



And SO on. 



That rule holds good in numeration. Thus, when the question is — 



Ka hia ? Answer, Ks tahi. 

 E hia ? „ E rua. 



Kia hia ? ,, Kia wha. 



Ko te hia ? ,, Ko te rima. 

 Toko-hia ? ,, Toko-tahi. 



In the answer the number is, of course, regulated by its fact. All of 

 which should be too obvious to require lengthy explanation. Toko-tahi is 

 therefore proper to the toko table. Tekau, however, is not proper to the 

 table, because (a) we are treating of numeral prefixes, and [h) without a 

 prefix tekau conveys no particular sense. Mr. Best was confi'onted with 

 the peculiarity that toko-tekau is not used ; it is at that point that Jioko, a 

 multiple of ten, carries forward this method of nrmieration. Therefore, 

 hoko-tahi = one ten, or ten times one (persons). The following is the regular 

 form of the toko (and its allied term, hoko) table : — 



Toko-tahi 



Toko-rua 



Toko-toru 



Toko -wha 



Toko-rima 



Toko-ono 



Toko-whitu 



Toko-waru 



Toko-iwa 



Here the method ends, for, as toko finishes ^vith the ninth unit, so hoko 

 finishes at the ninth ten. But hoko proceeds to higher numbers with 

 the aid of a suffix — the sufiix topu, the literal meaning of which is "to 

 double." In setting out this table of higher numeration, it serves the 

 purposes of clarity by proceeding from the simple to the complex, thus 

 (prefix as sense requires) : — 



Tahi-pu . . 



Rua-pu . . 



Toru-pu . . 



Wha-pu . . 



Rima-pu 



Ono-pu 



Whitu-pu 



Waru-pu 



Iwa-pu 



Tekau topu 



Rua tekau topu 



Toru tekau t02JU . . 



