542 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



recognized by the tattooing (whaka-ieo) on his arm (page 94, 

 Maori part) . In Polynesia, whaka-iko is not used in any way 

 to denote carving; it has a far higher vahie. Samoan, 

 FA'A-iiiO, to shmc, to make hwicn. Hawaiian, hoo-iloilo, to 

 predict, to guess. Tongan, iLO, knoiclcdge, understanding : 

 ILOGA, a sign, a mark : fa ka -iloilo, to distinguish, to call to 

 mind : ilohele, cunning, as a bird that knows the snare : 

 TAiKO,"'-' to mark, to point out, to select : taieoiko, a soothsayer; 

 to foretell. Mangaian, taieo, to mark, to take notice. Manga- 

 revan, aka-iroga, a sign, a mark ; to mark, to make a sign. 

 Aniwan, lEO, to knoic. Paumotan, taiko, to mark, to stamp. 

 It is evident that these references to knoidedge, marking, dis- 

 tinguishing, foretelling, ^cc, do not refer to ornamentation by 

 carving, but have a far more subtle bearing on the real mean- 

 ing of WHAKA-DRO. It may be that our word whaieo (tcha- 

 iro), imperfectly understood, dimly seen, may have been coined 

 (or shortened) from w^hakaieo, at a time when the true signi- 

 fication of the word was becoming obscured and dying down, 

 until the writing assumed the appearance of mere unmeaning 

 ornament and fanciful design. 



EOMI, to squeeze ; to plunder ; infanticide. We have — 

 Samoan, LOiii, to squeeze ; to knead gently : Tahitian, eomi, 

 to press and rub the limbs when weary or in pain : Hawaiian, 

 LOiii, to rub ; to squeeze with the hand any one that is in pain 

 or fatigued : Maugarevan, komiromi, to rub : Mangaian, komi- 

 EOiii, to press. In all these forms the leading idea is to 

 shampoo, to rub icith the hand, to relieve weariness or pain by 

 massage. This meaning of pressure or squeezing is extended 

 in two dnections : one in that of gentleness, as in the Nguna 

 EOEOMi, to love ; the other in that of cruelty, as in Tongan 

 LOMi, to push and keep under ; lomilomi, to punish captives 

 taken after war, io quell, to keep doivn ; in the Paumotan 

 EOEOMI, to oppress ; and in the Maori komi, infanticide. 



MUA, the front. This word is well preserved in all the 

 dialects, and preserves nearly the same meaning everywhere. 

 There is, however, a possible connection between mua, the 

 front, the forepart, and mata, the face. In Hawaiian, maka 

 is the face ; in Malay, muk-A is the face ; and in INIadura (near 

 Java), iiUA is the face. It is possible that mua has worn down 

 from mata, as aiak.a, muka, mua. 



MAXGEPiE, lazy. No similar form appears in any other 

 dialect, but in Hawaiian the corresponding word maxele 

 means a species of palanquin ; to carry on the shoulders of four 

 men, as a palanquin or sedan-chau*. Formerly the palanquin 

 was used as a means of conveyance by great chiefs, until one 

 very corpulent and imtable personage was thrown down a 



* A combination of ieo with ta, to tattoo. 



