156 Transactions. 



arts — e.g., in cultivation. If so, this would explain some 

 singular discrepancies and confusion noted when examining 

 the methods of numeration employed by the Maori. 



Before giving longer tables of the Maori systems of 

 numeration, we offer a few remarks on some of the terms 

 already quoted. 



Rhna = five. This term is said by many writers to be a 

 survival of the primitive method of counting on the fingers. 

 Einga is the Maori word for hand, but linga and lima bear 

 the same meaning in various Polynesian dialects : in Tahi- 

 tian, rima = five, and also the hand ; Hawaiian, lima = 

 five, also the hand ; Earotongan, rima = five, also the 

 hand; &c.''' The Maori still counts on his fingers in cer- 

 tain cases, as when repeating a genealogy, in order to count 

 the number of generations from a certain ancestor. 



Ngahuru. — This is the old Maori word for ten, now re- 

 placed by the term tekau. This word, recognisable under 

 various letter -changes, is in use over a wide area in the 

 Pacific: Earotongan, rtga^ini = ten ; Hawaiian, avaulu = ten 

 days ; Samoan, gafulu = ten. (See Tregear's Dictionary for 

 many other comparatives.) Ngahuru is misspelt in Thom- 

 son's paper in the fifth volume of the " Transactions of the 

 New Zealand Institute," as also are many other Maori 

 words. Ngahurti pu ( = twenty) in Maori is literally ten 

 pairs. Only once have I encountered this word in a 

 different form among the Maori of New Zealand, and 

 that was when an old man of the Tuhoe Tribe gave me 

 the term tekau mahangahuru (or tekau maha ngaJmrii) as 

 the ancient expression for thirty, in single counting. This 

 is somewhat puzzling, and needs confirmation from other 

 authorities.! Tekau was twenty, and presumably the most 

 likely term for thirty would be tekau ma ngahuru (twenty 

 and ten), as there existed no special terms for thirty, fifty, 

 seventy, and ninety in the Tuhoean system, according to 

 my informants. But I have noted in various works that 

 angahuru is supposed to have been an ancient term for ten 

 in Polynesia (c/. Hawaiian auaiilu above ; though Tregear's 

 example has anaJmlu). Hence I have thought that the 

 expression above quoted should perhaps be written tekau 

 via hangahuru, which appears more natural when bearing 

 in mind various Polynesian resemblances. Mr. J. T. Large 

 states that the ancient term for ten at Aitutaki was ngau- 

 ngauru. Hogavulu is used for ten in the New Hebrides. 



An old-time Maori proverb is this: "Ngahuru kei runga, 

 ngahuru kei raro" ; which the late Sir George Grey translated 



* Compare our use of the term " digit." 



t Confirmation obtained from two tribes, 23rd December, 1905. 



