472 Transactions. 



the Maori hoho takes — i.e., different levels at which it appears 

 in different languages. In Maori, he says, it means " a spoon," 

 " a'^shovel," " a shrimp-net," or the act of taking up with these, 

 or baling out a canoe ; in the Solomon Islands " a basket." In 

 Java gogoh means " to catch fish in shallow water by inserting 

 the hand under them." This word koko in Mota means " to 

 lift up water in the hands " ; kokos, to enclose, as fish in a net, 

 or people in a church ; kokota, narrow. In the New Hebrides 

 kokoti is a net for catching fish. It is safe to say that hundreds 

 of such instances of words occurring at different levels might 

 be given. 



Mr. Tregear, speaking of Malay and Maori, writes : " Many 

 important Malay words, such as those for sky, fire, root, 

 hill, eye, &c., resemble Polynesian, and are almost certainly 

 related, but other vital words, such as sun, moon, mother, 

 son, true, smoke, &c., have no apparent likeness." Although 

 they have no apparent likeness, most of those mentioned cer- 

 tainly strengthen*our belief in the common origin of Malay and 

 Maori. 



vThe Maori for " sun " is ra ; the Malay mato ari, eye of 

 day, mato^meaning " disk," in some languages " eye," in others 

 " face," with which meaning it appears in Maori. The Maori 

 for " moon " is marama ; Malay, bulan. It is quite possible, 

 since vida in both Mota and Fijian means either " moon " or 

 " white," that the Malay word, if not occurring in Maori, yet 

 does occur in allied Polynesian tongues— in Paumotu as pura, 

 phosphorescent (Florida, pura, white) ; Tahiti, pura, flashing ; 

 Samoan, pula, to shine. 



The Maori rakau, tree, is seen in the Fijian kau and the 

 Malay kayu, wood, timber, tree. The Maori au. smoke (in 

 Tongan, ahu ; Mota, asu), is the Malay asap, probably a com- 

 pound of asu, smoke, and api, fire.* The Maori for "child" 

 is tamaiti, and the Malay anak ; but the Malay word (at a different 

 level) may perhaps be found in the Maori possessive noun na 

 (as in naku, mine), the Mota anai, which means primarily " an 

 appendage or belonging."* 



Thus vocabularies which at first sight appear to differ are 

 found to show real agreement. The discovery of a fair number 

 of common words might be explained by trade intercourse, but 

 it is difficult to see how the same word occurring at different 

 levels of language in different islands f^an mean anything but 

 origin from a common stock. 



To give an example of the apparent diversity of vocabulary, 

 only bringing out into brighter light a deep though hidden 



* Dr. Codrington, " Melanesian Languages." 



