538 Transactiojis. — Miscellaneous. 



could be kept. Had the meanings been confined to this sense 

 they might have alluded to the very rudest methods of 

 numbering — to the mere tally-stick cut with notches, or to 

 some simple arrangement of the kind for pricking off or dot- 

 ting down numbers. There is, however, still another set of 

 meanings for tatau which implies a great deal more than this. 

 The word means, in Maori, " to imitate, to copy, to search, to 

 examine"; in Samoan, "to be alike, to equal, right, proper, 

 fit, to read " ; in Tongan, " resemblance, equal, similar, to 

 criticize, to remark upon"; in Tahitian, "to invocate, to 

 address in prayer"; in Marquesan, "to recite, to relate"; 

 inPaumotuan, " to describe"; in Hawaiian, "to give publicity 

 to a thing, to publish, to proclaim, the government of an 

 island, clear, explicit in expression, to explain, to take coun- 

 sel, to resolve in one's mind, to put down for remembrance, a 

 writing-down of the names of those who have to pay tribute, 

 to describe, to mark out, to promulgate as a law, to print or 

 paint on native cloth as in former times, to dot, to write, to 

 set down words on paper." '•■ 



It seems to me to be certain that the word in most com- 

 mon use for tattooing, even if its use for counting or trading 

 was the marking of tally-sticks, must have meant infinitely 

 more before it could be used as signifying " to publish, to pro- 

 claim, to set down for remembraiice, to describe, to print or 

 paint on cloth as in former times." Compounds also of tau 

 point in this direction, such as viatau, which everywhere means 

 " to know, to consider, to mark attentively," and show that it 

 was an intellectual effort which the tatau was calling forth. 

 Had we but this word tau alone to depend on, the inference 

 would be very strong that tattooing was once something very 

 different from the representations of hogs or fern-leaves, or 

 from the conventional curves of our Maori pattern.! 



* Maori, whaka-tati, to search, to examine, to imitate, to copy. 

 Samoan, tatau, to be alike, equal, right, proper, fit; fai-taic, to read. 

 Tongan, tatau, resemblance, similar, equal, to criticize, to remark upon. 

 Tahitian, tail,, to invocate, to address in prayer. Marquesan, tatau, to 

 recite, to relate. Paumotuan, tatau, to describe. In Hawaiian, kato {k for 

 t in this dialect), to dot, to write, to set down words on paper, to give 

 publicity to a thing, to promulgate as a law ; kaulana, to bo famous, 

 fame, report, the government of an island ; hoo-kaulana, to publish, to 

 spread abroad as a report ; kakau, a writing, to write, to make letters, to 

 print or paint ou kapa (native cloth, tapa) as in former times, to put 

 down for remembrance, a writing-down the names of those who have to 

 pay tribute, to describe, to mark out ; kaukau, clear, explicit in expres- 

 sion, to explain, to take counsel, to resolve in one's mind; kakakau, to 

 write as a law. 



t Although in most Polynesian dialects tatau is used for marking the 

 skin, in New Zealand the word used with this meaning is to. (See Raro- 

 tongan, tatatatau, to tattoo.) It is probable that the word is originally 

 Asiatic, since we have — Malay, chachah, to tattoo, and tau, to know; in 

 Javanese, chachah, to count, to enumerate. 



