470 Transactions. 



of the examples are taken from Dr. Codriiigton's " Melanesia!! 

 Languages." The Motu (New Gui!!ea) word for " water " is 

 rano ; '\\\ Fiji " water " is wai, quite a differe!!t word ; but rano 

 occurs in Fiji ii! the for!!! drano, which lueans " a swa!np, or pool 

 of water." Maso !!!ea!is " the su!i " i!i Espiritu Sa!!to ; else- 

 where in the New Hebrides it i!!eai!s " a star " ; i!! Mota oi!ly 

 " the !i!or!!i!ig star," maso 7naran. l!i Madagascar maso occurs 

 with the !i!ea!!i!!g " eye," ai!d is also fou!!d i!!ea!iii!g " the s!in " — 

 maso andro. Thus a coi!!pariso!! of the Mota and Espiritu Sa!!to 

 words for " sun " would show i!o agree!!!ei!fc ; yet the Espiritu 

 Sa!ito word is prese!it i!! Mota, only at a difEerei!t level. 



If the Maori and Mota words for " blood " be compared they 

 are fou!!d to be very different — Maoii, toto ; Mota, nara. In 

 both these languages the word for " sap " differs fro!!! that for 

 " blood," but i!! the New Hebrides the sa!!!e word is used for 

 both — daga, blood ; dacjavi, sap : a!!d also i!i Fiji, where dra 

 i!!eai!S " blood " or " sap." This is the Mota nara. But toto 

 also occurs in Mota at a differe!!t level in the word toto, a poiso!!ed 

 arrow, froi!i the totoai, sap, with which the arrowhead was 

 smeared. l!! Sai! Cristoval, southern Solo!!ion Islai!ds, toto 

 iTieans " congealed blood " ; a!!d i!! Florida, where the ordinary 

 word for," blood" is gahu, mimi toto is the !!a!!!e of a blood- 

 disease. A !i!ere co!Tiparison of the Maori, Mota, and Florida 

 words for " blood " would show no agree!nent. 



The Maori word for " sky " is rangi. Coi!!pare this with the 

 Mota tuka aiid !!0 agree!!!ent is see!!. But rangi occurs in Mota 

 in the forii! langi, which i!!eans " wind " ; i!i Sa!! Cristoval this 

 n!ea!!S " rain," while ii! Florida langi gabu is " the rai!!bow." 



The Maori words for "shore" and " ii!la!!d couiitry " are 

 tatahi and uta ; the Mota words are lau a!!d uta : the secoiid in 

 both cases is the sa!!!e word, the first differs. But tatahi is only 

 another forn! of the Poly!!esiai! tahi, the sea or salt water, and 

 tahi (which occurs i!! Melanesia either as tahi or tasi) is found in 

 Mota in Tasmate, the name of a village oi! the lee side where the 

 the sea is 7nate, dead ; in tasig, to seasoi! by pouring salt water 

 over a Native oven ; a!!d !!iost likely i!! tas, a retirii!g-place, 

 which was probably ii! the sea. The Mota lau is the Malay laut, 

 a seco!id Ocea!iic word for " sea." But a!iy 0!ie co!!!pari!!g the 

 Mota and Maori words for " sea " or " shore " or " salt water " 

 would find no agreen!ei!t. 



So, there are two Oceanic words for "bird," manu and kiu 

 (u!iless the seco!id is a relic of a !!0!!-Ocea!iic la!!guage, as it 

 perhaps !nay be) ; Maori has manu ; Sa!!ta Cruz, kio ; while 

 Wedau, in British New Giiinea, has both — kiu the generic name, 

 a!!d manu the specific, only used ii! coi!!pou!ids : manubada, the 

 fish-hawk ; manuqari, the owl ; manutoa, the seagull. 



