382 



THE POLYNESIAN WANDERINGS. 



There is a wide range of significations in this stem. It will serve to 

 express an opening as small as the mesh of a net or as large as the door of a 

 house; it will serve to designate globular objects as large as the eye or as 

 small as the bud on a twig or the drop of rain, and designating a pointed 

 object it answers with equal facility for the sharpened tip of a lance or the 

 acres of a headland ; it describes as well the edge of a paddle or the source 

 from which a thing originates. As the islanders find no need to distinguish 

 these and yet other senses no obligation rests upon us to seek to establish 

 an artificial classification. We shall, therefore, in these notes consider only 

 the varieties of form. 



In Polynesia the only variants are Hawaii maka, a modern kappation, 

 and Rotuma maja under the influence of a local idiosyncrasy. 



It will be found making for greater simplicity to list the Melanesian forms 

 and the Indonesian irregularities. 



mata. Vaturanga, Nggela, New 



Georgia, Bierian, Se- 



sake, Malekula, Maewo, 



Malo, Arag, Buka, 



Lambell, King, L,a- 



massa, Laur, Moanus, 



New Ireland (Carteret 



Harbor, Port Praslin), 



New Britain, Baravon, 



Duke of York, Solomon 



Islands, New Guinea 



(Port Moresby, Redscar 



Bay), Lo, Mota, Mot- 

 lav, Merlav. 

 matah. Norbarbar. 

 matas. Merlav. 

 mataso. Maewo. 

 rnatak. New Ireland (Carteret 



Harbor). 

 matata. Nggao; Silong. 

 matada. Brumer Islands ; Matabello. 



This is a startling picture of degradation, yet at no point may we halt 

 for any non plus ultra check to the dilapidation, for each step represents a 

 sufficient transition phase between that which has gone before and that 

 which is to come. Deni maku might suggest kappation, but even then the 

 final u remains out of accord. Iai emakang and nimakan are clearly kappa- 

 tion forms. In Tanna nanime and Eromanga nipmi it is possible that mi 

 or me represents a yet more degraded phase than appears in Fagani, San 

 Cristoval, and Malanta ma. Baki mira and New Ireland mala are to be 

 grouped in development plane, but we have no evidence to establish their 

 connection with mata. 



In Indonesia mata has equal predominance, but there are many variants. 

 Of these, four are to be found in Melanesia: matada, matata, matara and mat. 

 Many of these Indonesian variants are composites. The principal stem 



