DATA AND NOTES. 187 



composite vessels which set out fromMotu laden with pots and sail westward 

 to the Papuan communities across the Gulf of Papua, there to barter their 

 wares at Elema and other ports for the sago of that country. This voyage, 

 an adventure of annual argosies, is performed with great ceremony and much 

 ritual, not the least of which formality is the employment of this language. 



14. 

 bure, fure, to wash, to rub. 



Viti : mbore-a, to scrape or wash the dirt off a thing, to brighten ; a 



dialectic word. 

 Hebrew : marak, to rub, to polish, to cleanse by washing. 



15. 

 fanau, bunu, to teach, to instruct, to preach. 



Viti: vunau, to admonish, to harangue, to preach, a speech, reproof. 

 Hebrew: 'anah, to harangue, to proclaim, to preach, to admonish. 



ka, k\ tense sign, past. 

 Viti: ka, id. 

 Syriac: ka, ga, id. 



16. 



17- 



kilakila, knowing, sagacious. 



Viti: kila, to know, to understand, to acknowledge. 

 Arabic: 'akala, 'akil', to be intelligent, prudent, sagacious. 



18. 



lele, lili, to wind, to go around, to turn, to curve; malele, to be bent or 

 curved, as a branch of a tree heavy with fruit. 



Viti: lele, the end of a branch farthest from the body of a tree; 

 leletha, to bend a branch in order to gather the fruit on it. 



Arabic: lawa, to wind, to bend, to turn. 



19. 

 lume a, to wash (immerse), to dip. 



Viti : lomotha, to dip, to dye, to daub the hair with ashes, to dip the 



head into urine to clean or stiffen the hair. 

 Hebrew: saba 1 . Arabic: sab"a, to dip into, to immerse, to dye. 



20. 

 saf i, bisab, bisif, to excel. 



Viti: sivia, to outstrip, to exceed, to pass another, to get past or 



before, to surpass; uasivi, to exceed. 

 Hebrew: yasaf, to add, to increase, to surpass, to excel. 



21. 

 sere, masere, to tear. 



Viti: sereka, to untie, to unloose; kasere, broken, undone. 

 Arabic: nasara, to tear, to rend. 



22. 

 seri, bakaseri, to loose a tabu. 

 Viti: sereka, to untie. 

 Hebrew : sarah, to loose. 



