154 Transactions. 



Maori system, but it resolves itself into a custom of counting 

 by pairs, or braces; and it was not used in all cases — counting 

 singly was also common. Persons were not counted in pairs, 

 or braces, as was game, &c. These Natives would never have 

 used ka tvha pu to denote eight persons. But in one way 

 a semi-binary system was used in counting persons ; and this 

 brings us to another prefix — viz., the word hoko. Roko, as a 

 prefix to numerals, is said by Williams to signify ten times 

 the subjoined numeral ; but when applied to persons the 

 Tuhoe Tribe give it the value of twenty times the subjomed 

 numeral, or ten times in pairs, whichever way you please to 

 take it. Thus hokorua applied to persons signified forty ; 

 hokotoru = sixty ; and so on. This system is similar to 

 that of Aitutaki, described by Mr. J. T. Large at page 260, 

 vol. xi, of the "Journal of the Polynesian Society." He says, 

 in the first place, that okotai takau (the aspirate is not used 

 in the Cook Islands) stood for twenty, &c., and then states, 

 ■" A correlative system of enumeration was also used indif- 

 ferently with the above. This was distinguished by the prefix 

 oko : for instance, okorua was twenty doubled, or forty ; oko- 

 toru was sixty; and so forth, up to okoiva, which was 180; 

 but it seems to have been confined to those limits." This is 

 exactly the Tuhoe case. From hokorua = forty, up to Jwkoma 

 = 180, this system of counting obtained ; but I have never 

 heard liokotalii used to denote twenty, although it would seem 

 that it was probably so used. Mr. Tregear looks upon hoko 

 •as a causative prefix, as hokowhitu = to make seventy.''' 



It is probable that the prefix hoko was here used in both 

 ways — viz., as signifying ten times the subjoined numeral, and 

 also ten times doubled. Thus hokorua might mean either 

 twenty or forty. In these cases the Maori could make his 

 meaning clear by adding a word of explanation — either iaki- 

 tahi (singly) or tojnt (double — i.e., pairs). Thus hokorua taki- 

 tahi would mean ten times two singly = twenty, and hokorua 

 topu would be ten times two in pairs, or doubled = forty. f 

 This point is not, however, yet quite clear. We have seen 

 the value of the prefix hoko as given by Williams's Maori 

 Dictionary — a most reliable work— but, still, my informants 

 of the Tuhoe Tribe will not admit that hokorua signified 

 twenty, and hokotoru thirty, and so on, but always double 

 those figures, which would give the prefix hoko the power of 

 multiplying the subjoined numeral twenty times, not ten times. 

 A confirmation of this comes from the east coast. The Kev. 

 H. W. Williams, of Gisborne, informs me that he was told by 



* " Journal of the Polynesian Society," vol. i, p. 56. 

 t Most of the old Natives state that hoko multiplied by twenty the 

 subjoined numeral in former times. 



