8 THE POLYNESIAN WANDERINGS. 



In the latter class of criticism we note that many of the defini- 

 tions are so clumsy as to suggest that the author had very slight 

 knowledge of what the English name is of objects which he is describ- 

 ing. This is notably illustrated in the definition 



sumili, a thing like india rubber in a clam shell which, when touched, causes the 

 shell to close. 



This fairly parallels the entry in Shirley Baker's Tonga dictionary 

 of "balolo, a reptile much like the earthworm found in the sea." 



In further showing of Dr. Macdonald's ineptitude in definition 

 we note the following, somewhat at random: 



alo-fi, wave (with a circular and rolling motion) to him, to beckon to. 



atu saki, plop up (of a turtle, also of the sound of the breath in the throat of a 



man recovering from a faint or dying), 

 beingo, a kind of flute (coconut shell). 

 bisa, to utter inarticulate sounds (as those made by a coconut on the gravel 



which a rat is turning about trying to get at its kernel). 

 nakasu nabwo na, the cartilaginous substance on the front of the throat, lit. the 



stick, or tree, of the bwo (pectus). 

 klta roa sa, to hate turning after him (someone), as a boy sent a message meeting 



another boy and (hating to do the message) turns after him to play. 

 libu, lebu, the middle of the lower part of the body at the upper part of the back 



of the pelvis. 



These are sins of ignorance, and ignorance, though stupid, is at 

 least innocent. In general, in my work upon these dictionaries 

 coming first hand from missionaries who lay no claim to skill in the 

 arts of lexicography, I have welcomed the naivete and have employed 

 the definition wherever its terms have not been too ridiculous. They 

 are original documents ; their simplicity is their warrant of honesty. 

 In some former paper, I believe, I have mentioned the care with 

 which I have refrained from recasting these definitions and the 

 reasons therefor. Such sins as have been here presented we are 

 glad to forgive. Our glee at their discovery carries no malice. 



But when the definition begins to squint at something ulterior, 

 when a word is added with the sly insinuation of a purpose to link 

 the fact and the theory more tightly, when definition becomes 

 polemic, such exhibitions I do not hesitate to stamp as scientific 

 dishonesty; they prove an absence of conscience, without which 

 speculation is mere trickery held in check only by consideration of 

 the risk of discovery. 



A very few instances here (the volume abounds with such and 

 they will receive detailed attention in the critical notes) will suffice 

 to show at this point that my characterization is not lacking in 

 support. 



tere, the mast (of a canoe or ship), calf (column) of the leg; Arabic, sariyat, sari, 

 the mast of a ship, a column. 



If Dr. Macdonald's compelling Semitic theory had not already pro- 

 duced a moral strabismus of the insight, is it to be imagined that he 



