Tregeae. — Ancient Alphabets in Polynesia. 363 



hokotoru . = thirty ; whitu = seven, hokowhitu = seventy, etc. If we 

 look in Malagasy for this word, we shall find that h is repre- 

 sented by v, as Maori hoe, " to paddle, to row"= Malagasy voy, 

 "the act of rowing;" Maori hurt, " fruit" = Malagasy voa, etc. 

 Looking, then, for the Malagasy equivalent of Maori hoko, " to 

 barter," we find rokoroko, " a cross, the figure of an X." This, 

 then, was the medium of buying and selling, the tau: and the 

 Maori prefix hoko, " raising the number ten times," was used 

 because the hoko or voko currency was marked with a tau, " X," 

 or ten. With this meaning of sale, ten, and X , must be com- 

 pared the Tongan faka-tau, " to barter, buy, or sell " (whaka or 

 faka = causative prefix). The Vvord tau, in its meaning of " a 

 year," may be explained in connection with " ten" as in Tagal, 

 Mangarevan, and other Pacific dialects, in which tau means a 

 year divided into ten months. 



Was this sign, this means of communication, merely the 

 net-crossing, the cord-crossing, or the real tat cross ? It would 

 appear that the tau was used in Polynesia, certainly in religious 

 ceremonial and connection. The New Zealand word tauira, 

 given in Williams's "Dictionary" as "counterpart," (and so 

 " teacher, pattern, pupil, copy,") means in Maori mythology 

 much more than this. Constantly in the ancient invocations 

 and poetry we find the tauira alluded to as some sacred being 

 or beings. In Dr. Shortland's " Maori Eeligion and Mythology," 

 he translates Tauira as "a person who is being instructed by a 

 priest, or by the spirit of a parent or ancestor" (p. 108); but 

 in his translation of the " Piki ake Tawhaki' poem, (p. 24) he 

 leaves the tauira to signify one of the (untranslatable) heavenly 

 personages to whom Tawhaki was ascending: "to your Ariki, 

 to your Tapairu, to your Pukenga, to your Whananga, to your 

 Tauira." Also, tau-tohito means "an adept," and taumaha "a 

 thank-offering" (White). It is to the other Polynesian islands, 

 where far more elaborate systems of ceremonial and worship 

 were observed than among the simple New Zealanders, that we 

 must look for the religious signification of tau. In Hawaiian kau 

 (tau), "to light down upon," as a bird; "to light down upon," as 

 the Spirit or Divine influence upon one (Lorrin Andrews). Hence, 

 probably: kaula, "a prophet," one who predicts future events; 

 haukau, " a heap of stones made into a rude altar ;" kauila (see 

 Maori tauira, quoted above), "to offer sacrifice at the close of a 

 kapu (tapu) ;" kaumaha (see Maori, above), " to offer in sacrifice, 

 to kill a victim in sacrifice, to offer a victim on the altar." 

 Samoan taula, " the priest of an aitu (deity) ;" taularja, " a sacred 

 offering ;" tauto, " an oath, to take an oath." Tongan tautau, 

 " an offering to the god of the weather." Marquesan (dialect 

 drops r) taua (for taura), " a priest." But most important of 

 all is Tahitian, where tauhd (ha = four) means " the four stars 

 called the Crosier (Southern Cross) ;" and taumaha, (in Maori, a 



