IE PITO TE HEM A, OF EASTER ISLAND. 



547 



peculiarity of having a dual number of tbe personal pronouns in addi- 

 tion to tbe singular and plural. For example, be or sbe is, "Ko-ia," in 

 the Maori it is, " ia ;" they two, on tbis island is " rana-a," in tbe Maori 

 it is " rana ;*' they, in this dialect is " pouro," in tbe Maori, it is "ratou." 

 Words are frequently reduplicated to denote tbe plural of collectives 

 in nouns, the comparative, or superlative degree in adjectives, and re- 

 peated action in verbs. "Iti" signifies little, " iti-iti," expresses very 

 little, and tbe word for small child is " poki iti-iti." Food, or to eat, is 

 " Kai," to eat much or heartily is expressed by u kai-kai." Tbe names 

 of several of tbe colors are usually duplicated, as red, "inea-niea;" 

 black, " uri-uri;" wbite "tea-tea;" veruiillion "ura-ura." 



An interesting feature of the language is tbe native name for pig, 

 " Oru," wbicb differs from tbe corresponding term in all of tbe other 

 Polynesian dialects. It is probably derived from tbe grunting sound 

 made by tbe animal. In nearly all of tbe kindred dialects the name for 

 pig is "puaka," a word wbicb is also applied by some of tbem to all 

 quadrupeds except tbe rat. The Easter Islanders have given tbis name 

 to cattle, calling a cow "puaka tamabine" (female puaka), and a bull 

 " puaka tamaroa" (male puaka). Tbis tends to show that although 

 pigs bad probably been introduced on tbe islands from wbicb tbe ances- 

 tors of tbe present inhabitants came, tbey took none with tbem in their 

 migration, and only preserved tbe word puaka in a vague sense, as sig- 

 nifying a large animal with four legs. When cattle were introduced, 

 tbey consequently applied tbe term to tbem, and coined tbe new one 

 afterwards. 



Fingers are called " mauga-manga" and toes, " inangamanga vae," 

 or literally the lingers of tbe foot. " Kiri " means covering, and to ex- 

 press the wood shoe they say %i Kiri vae," or covering, for the foot. "Ivi" 

 is the name applied to both needle and bone, which probably indicates 

 that the original needles were made of bone. 



In the pronunciation of words of two syllables, the accent is on the 

 first; in words of three syllables it is generally on the second, and in 

 polysyllabic words it is on the penultimate. Modern articles recently 

 introduced on the island are called by their English names, or some- 

 thing that has a similar sound. 



It is worthy of note that the word "Atua" is used to signify both 

 god and devil. 



VOCABULARY. 



