Fox. — The Comparison of the Oceanic Languages. 471 



The Mota word for " dirt " is /epa ; in Florida the word 

 used is meio. Meto, however, is found in Mota as the name for 

 a small black mole on the skin ; in the form maeto, black basalt ; 

 and in the New Hebrides meto is " black," the " deep sea " 

 being tahi meto ; perhaps the Maori meto, putrid, may be the 

 same word. The Mota lepa, on the other hand, is found in the 

 Solomon Islands in the Bugotu word dkepa, meaning " ground," 

 and in Polynesia as the Tahitian repo, earth, mould, dust, and 

 Hawaiian lepo, ground, soil, dust, or dirt. 



Panei is the Mota word for " hand," Maori ringa ; but 

 ringa in the form lima finds a place in Mota as part of tavelima, 

 five, and in the phrase van vivsag lima, walk with hands clasped ; 

 and as a substitute for panei if the speaker has a relation by 

 marriage in whose name the word panei occurs. 



In Wedau vigo means " to whistle " ; in Mota this is was ; 

 but the Mota word for native panpipes is vigo. 



The Merelava (Banks Islands) word for " sit " is sag, the 

 Mota word pute, though Mota is only forty miles from Merelava. 

 However, sag occurs in Mota as sage, to sink (used of a stone 

 sinking to the bottom of a pool). 



The Wedau word bara, bent {barabara, a bend -or angle) 

 shows no resemblance to the Mota sigerai, an angle. But it 

 occurs in Mota as parapara, an axe (the blade set sideways, 

 unlike the adze) ; sus para, to crouch aside ; mule parapara, 

 to go slanting off ; and Ureparapara, the name of an island in 

 the Banks Group with steep slopes — "the place of slopes." 

 A Malay word parai means " to go zigzag " (as a ship tack- 

 ing) ; and a Maori word parahi, a steep slope or acclivity, which 

 Mr. Tregear derives from pa, to block or obstruct, and rahi, 

 great, is much more likely to be connected with the New 

 Guinea bara and Mota para. Thus, though the New Guinea 

 barabara, angle, shows no agreement with the Mota sigerai, 

 the Malay juru, or the Maori hau, it nevertheless occurs in Mota. 

 Malay, and Maori, hut at a different level of language. 



The Maori tiro and the Mota ilo, to see, may possibly be 

 forms of the same word, but tiro itself occurs in Mota in the 

 phrase tiro o taniate, become initiated into the secret society 

 called the tamate, see clearly into its mysteries (any one not 

 vet initiated being said to be matawomvono, blind) ; and pro- 

 bably in tironin* the pool of clear water into which a man gazed 

 to see his own image (the New Hebrides titiro means " to gaze 

 into the sea looking for fish " or " to gaze at one's image in 

 water ") ; and in tiro, clear or transparent. 



Mr. Tregear gives a number of interesting meanings which 



* 'I'lic word iMiw u.secl for glass. 



