536 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



only SDiall particles of earth as dust and small particles of 

 water as viist being expressed by variants of the same word, 

 but the notion of dusk and darkness being conveyed at the 

 same time. The most singular application of the word is the 

 exactly opposite meaning to "darkness" conveyed by one 

 series of forms : thus, as kehu, fair, bright. I have not yet 

 found KEHU in Maori standing alone, but it may be traced in 

 its compounds — viz., makekehu, tight-haired, and uhukehu, 

 light-haired. The Polynesian shows this to be a strong 

 secondary meaning. Samoan, ''E.w,reddish-hroivn: Tahitian, 

 EHU, red or sandy -coloured, of the hair ; roueuehu, reddish or 

 sandy hair : Hawaiian, ehu, red or sandy hair, ruddy, florid ; 

 ehuahiahi, the red of the evening, or old age ; ehukakahiaka, 

 the red of the morning, or youth : Tongan, kefu, yellowish, 

 applied to the hair : Marquesan, keru, /atV, &/o;if7e ; hokehu, 

 o'ed hair; oioikehukehu, daybreak: Mangarevan, keukeu- 

 KUUA, blonde, fair : Paumotan, kehu, blonde, fair-haired. A 

 single Tongan word probably supplies the missing link between 

 dusky, dusty, and fair-haired : we have efu, dust, but epui, 

 to ivash the hair during the j^rocess of dyeing it. In Polynesia, 

 Malaysia, and Melanesia the custom of bleaching the hair 

 with a preparation of lime or wood-ashes is in common use, 

 and, if the idea of ashes is connected with that of fair-haired, 

 it is easy to see how the tertiary meaning of bright, fair as 

 daiun, &€., arose. 



ENGAEI, it is better thus, it is more advantageous. This 

 word has a transposed form, erangi, less commonly used. It 

 is evident by noting the comparatives that erangi is the most 

 correct form, for, considering it as a compound of the word 

 rangi, a chief, v/e find in Hawaiian that, while the equivalent 

 lani means a chief, an expression equal to "your Highness," 

 and is applied to anything noble, anything exalted or lofty, 

 either in actual height or in dignity of chPoracter, a much less 

 known form — viz., nalinali, to be or act the chief ; bright; 

 strong ; royal — furnishes exactly the same transposition as in 

 Maori. Thus we may well feel assured that erangi meant 

 originally — not it is better, but — it is noble, chief-like, to do so 

 and so. 



KUPU, a icord. Two of the Polynesian dialects support 

 the Maori reading. Samoan, 'upu, a word ; speech; language 

 ('upuTU'u, a tradition : mau'upu, to have a command of 

 language : 'vfv'atagia, facetious). So also the Tongan kubu, 

 a speech, a saying. On the other hand we have Tahitian upu, 

 a jJrayer ; a set of prayers addressed to the gods by priests, or 

 to the demons by sorcerers : hvavtv , fragments of old Tahitian 

 prayers : and uputara, a pirayer or imprecation of a sorcerer to 

 procure evil. Hawa^iian, upu, to sivear or vow, as when a man 

 vows not to eat the food of his land till he catches a certain 



