250 THE POLYNESIAN WANDERINGS. 



account of what seems a definite and positive ascription to a "native" I 

 must give it place : 



The first meaning (to swim) seems not connected with the second (to carry), to a 

 European, but a native connects them thus: a man afa natas, swims or floats on the sea, 

 the sea afa natamole bears or carries the man; so a man afa ki nakasu, swims holding a 

 floating stick, but if he gets on to the stick and lets it float him ashore the stick is said 

 to afa i carry him. The sea or the stick carries him thus, hence afa, v. t., denotes carry 

 a man on one's back, then to carry anything on the back: and as a man so carried clasps 

 with his arms the carrier round the chest, the head of an axe is said to afa its handle, 

 and as one carrying a basket on his back holds the string of it over his shoulder, so a 

 man drawing a log by a string thus over his shoulder is said to afa it, and a tug steamer 

 is said to afa or tow a ship. A dog afa a piece of meat, carrying it off firmly held by 

 its teeth, and a man afa a pipe or a twig, i. e., carries it held by his teeth. A messenger 

 afa, carries his message, a horse its rider, and a warrior afa, carries, i. e., leads his troop; 

 also a person afa narongitesan, bears a disease or infirmity or trouble. In the Arabic 

 word there is the idea of connection together (as things in a bundle). In afai, carry 

 him as a floating stick carries a man in the water, or a horse carries him on land, the 

 transitive preposition i gives the verb its transitive force, make to swim, to go, i. e., carry. 



This identification seems very doubtful at every point. In the matter 

 of signification, floating is by the islanders quite distinguished from swim- 

 ming. Through of a the Efate afa approximates ope in form, but the sense 

 difficulty remains. Efate and Samoa are the forms which lack an initial con- 

 sonant. Between Viti and Epi there is sense dissimilarity, but there is a 

 certain formal resemblance except for the initial consonant. It might be 

 argued that the fact that there is such dissimilarity shows that this con- 

 sonant is in a state of flux and therefore the more readily tends to vanish. 

 The mutation is not recognized in any of our Epi material. Regarded as 

 n-m mutation, we have but three instances of its occurrence in our data, 

 and that no nearer than Marina (312-3, 317, 324). If regarded as m-n 

 mutation, our only support will lie in the equally distant Nggao and New 

 Georgia in the single word 351. 



The Semitic requires all Dr. Macdonald's reasoning above cited, and 

 even then wholly fails of giving satisfaction. 



187. 

 aran, oran, arain, oraone, on, uen (in on and uen the radical r is changed 

 to n), sand. 

 Samoa, Fakaafo, Tonga, Futuna, Niue, Uvea, Nukuoro, Aniwa, 

 Fotuna, Maori, Tahiti, Hawaii, Rarotonga, Manahiki, Mar- 

 quesas : one, oneone, sand. Nuguria : one, sand ; oneone, beach. 

 Mangareva: one, the soil; onepatapata, sand. Rapanui: oone, 

 sand, gravel, clay, dirt, filth. Vate: ngone, sand. 

 Viti: Oneata, the name of an island. 



Mota, Santo, Malo, Keapara, Galoma, Saa: one, sand. Leon: leon, 



on the sand. Baki: iono, sand. Bierian: eniono, id. Santo 



Wulua: parono, id. Malekula: dambanaiin, id. Motu, Sinau- 



goro, Hula, Rubi: hone, id. Kiriwina: kana-kenua. Boniki: 



gonugonu. Oiun: ganas. 



Arabic: horr', horron, sand; from harm, to be hot. 



Through inability to use his critical apparatus Dr. Macdonald has solved 



his quite unnecessary difficulty by his note as to the change of radical r-n. 



A different arrangement of the Efate material will develop the true radical 



