Tbegeak. — Oyi Old Maori Civilisation. 539 



We will now take up another word. Many of us have 

 admired the beautiful carvings which adorn the canoes, 

 houses, food-stores, &c., of the Maoris. They have been 

 executed with rude tools, and appear grotesque in their 

 primitive conception, but they are nevertheless possessed of a 

 beauty of their own, not to be judged by the rules of Greek 

 art, but to be regarded with admii-ation for their symmetry 

 and bold intricacy of execution. 



This carved work is called by the Maoris lohaka-iro, a 

 word which appears on the surface to have its radical meaning 

 in iro, " a worm, or maggot " ; ivliaka-iro would thus seem to 

 mean "causing to appear worm-eaten." "Whether this is the 

 original meaning we will inquire. 



Although ivJiaka-iro is now applied to carved work, we find 

 that in old times it had a different meaning. In an ancient 

 legend, to be found in Grey's "Polynesian Mythology" 

 (edition 1885, p. 112), we are told that when Ngatoro-i-rangi 

 by his incantations raised the great tempest causing the 

 mountainous sea in which Manaia and his army were drowned, 

 the body of Manaia was washed ashore and was recognised 

 by the tattoo-marks on one of his arms. The word for 

 " tattoo ". here used is ivhaka-iror- Let us trace it com- 

 paratively. We have in Maori (besides whaha-iro) loliaha-iro- 

 iro, " striped, variegated"; wheiro, " to be seen, to be under- 

 stood"; whairo, "dimly seen, imperfectly understood." The 

 corresponding words in Polynesian mean — in Samoan, "to 

 show, to make known, a mark or sign, to mark, to dis- 

 tinguish "; in Hawaiian, "to predict, to guess, to tell before- 

 hand"; in Tongan, " to show, to find, to discern, knowledge, 

 understanding, a sign, a mark, to discover, to reveal, to 

 promise, to call to mind, to signify "; in Mangarevan the 

 words mean "a sign, to mark"; in Mangaian, "to mark, to 

 take notice "; in Paumotuan, "to mark, to stamp, to signal, 

 a signal "; in Aniwan, " to know, to teach "; in Nine, " to 

 know, to recognise, to find, to discourse, to make known, to 

 explore." In Futuna (Home's Island), we also find that the 

 god Ailoilo was the deity who stood at the gate of heaven to 

 note all who passed in.f 



* The word is also tlius used in the legend of Tu-heitia. (See White's 

 "Ancient History of the Maori," vol. iv., p. 59, English, and p. 49, Maori 

 part.) 



t Samoan, fa'a-ilo,' to make known, to show ; fa'a-iloga, a mark or 

 sign, to mark or distinguish. Hawaian, hoo-iloilo and ho-iloilo, to pre- 

 dict, to guess, to tell beforehand. Tongan, ilo, to know, to find, to 

 discern, knowledge, understanding ; iloilo, prudent ; iloga, a sign, a mark ; 

 faka-ilo, to discover, to reveal, to promise ; faka-iloilo, to distinguish, to 

 know, to call to mind ; faka-iloga, a sign, a mark, a proof, to signify. 

 Tahitian, tairo, to mark, to point out; tairoiro, a soothsayer, to predict. 

 Mangarevan, aha-iroga, a sign, to mark. Mangaian, tairo, to mark, to 



