Tregear. — Ancient Alphabets in Polynesia. 361 



ends crossing each other, " the ankh tie." Wright* has a rare 

 English word, taw, " to twist or entangle," " to tie." (Obsolete 

 words are invaluable to the student.) In Maori, tan means 

 " the string of a garment," "a loop or thong on the handle of 

 a weapon," " a loop forming the handle of a basket ;"f tatau, 

 " to tie ;" tautau, " to tie in bunches," "a string," " a cluster ;" 

 taukaea, " thread used for fastening a fish-hook to a line;" taura, 

 " a rope or cord," etc. In this sense of tying, we find in other 

 Polynesian dialects: Hawaiian, kaukau, "to set or fix a snare 

 for birds ;" kaula, " a rope ;" kauhilo, " to fasten with a rope 

 the sticks of a building, while in the course of erection," etc. : 

 Tahitian, taura, "a rope, cord, lace, or thread;" tauete, "a 

 noose or loop fastened to a mast to fix the sail to :" Samoan, 

 taa, " to be anchored ;" tauama, " the name of a rope in a sail- 

 ing canoe;" taufatu, "to tie on a stone as a weight to a fish- 

 hook;" taufoe, " to tie a fishing-line to a paddle," etc. These 

 instances are a few of many hundreds of similar words. But as 

 the Tahitian tatau (tattoo) is the Maori ta, other meanings of ta 

 may be considered. Ta, in New Zealand Maori, means " to 

 net," " to make the meshes of a net" — that is to say, to entwine 

 threads by crossing, tbis crossing having the ankh tie. The 

 Egyptian tat is the cross sign ; crossing, tying, and knotting are 

 synonymous. Ta, in Egyptian, means "a tie, a knot;" "to 

 tatt." 



Has all this any bearing on the alphabet in Polynesia ? Yes, 

 if this letter T was understood in its primitive sense by the 

 Polynesians as a cross. But it meant something more. Did 

 they ever know it as a letter ? Somewhat may be inferred from 

 the following evidence : In Maori, tatau (which is our Tahitian 

 friend " to tattoo,") means " to count," " to repeat one by 

 one ;" but in Hawaii the corresponding word, kakau, means " to 

 write," "to make letters," "to write upon," "to print or 

 paint upon kapa " (native cloth, i.e., tapa), as in former times, J 



* " Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English." 



f Compare the German tau, "tow," " cable - rope," (Kluge, in his 

 " Etymologisches Worterbuch,") as being connected with our English toiv, 

 " to drag." But if so, we have the Maori verb to, " to drag," " to haul," as 

 a canoe, in a very ancient incantation used on the landing of the Maoris in 

 New Zealand from Hawaiki : — 



" Tola Tainui ki te moana, 



Na wai etoV 

 " Drag Tainui (canoe) to the ocean! 

 Who shall drag her ? " 



| " The tapa is often printed with colours in patterns. This is per- 

 formed in a mode similar to that used in Europe before the introduction of 

 copper rollers. Instead of engraved blocks, they form tablets (about as thick 

 as binders' boards) of pieces of large cocoanut leaves, by sewing them 

 together. One side of this tablet is kept smooth and even, and upon this 

 cocoanut fibres are sewn so as to form the required pattern, which is, of 



