NOTES ON TttE TANNESE. 669 



earlier than the people here. Nahua is their name for it. 

 Noican is a general term for fruit of a tree ; aua is to bear 

 fruit ; Kwamer dialect nul.ican and ukiia are the correspond- 

 ing- words. Doubtless there is but one root in the name of 

 this moon and in the words just given. Hence we translate 

 it as " the fruiting moon." It is to be observed that there is 

 not space for a moon in the list between December 25th and 

 January 5th. The explanation is that I began to keep a 

 record of the moons beginning with Januai'y 1886 and after- 

 wards arranged the list to suit the Tannese yeai". Hence 

 JVaungwa would begin January 24th, 1887. To remove this 

 difficulty, let the reader begin with Naungwa. 



(8.) Neru. — Same name in both dialects. The only clue 

 that 1 have as yet to the meaning is in the adjectives hikis 

 "immatured," and mnti'i "dry ripe." That is, during this 

 moon the fruits may Ije immature or they may be dead ripe. 

 In 1889, it was a hiMs moon. 



(9.) Yati. — The first yams are rijje and the name seems to 

 have reference to the tubers going down into the soil on end. 

 I have set down Kwamera Tamtamanen as its equivalent 

 though I have no reason for connecting the names except 

 that the K^vamera people speak of watering (kamufi) the 

 yam. This probably is a phi'ase to describe some ceremony 

 performed to cause the yam tubers to swell out. This or the 

 month earlier would be the time when this would be done. 

 So here, kilver/ nimr, " soak the breadfruit," which is such a 

 ceremony as the above. 



(10). Neust. — Same name in both dialects, and same occupa- 

 tion — dancing. 1 derive the name from us tdka, name for 

 "dancing" with a certahi kind of club, the taka. These 

 dances are practised for several weeks and end in a feast. 

 These dances were in full swing in the end of April and 

 beginning of May this year (1891). 



(11.) KtnfakelabaheL — The Kwamera name would indicate, 

 I think, a reference to sandiness. Two kinds of yam are 

 ripe, namu, and kanyehv. The people at Kwamera made this 

 month begin in 1889, on July 28th. But the people a little 

 west of Kwamera held that Kuramai began that date. But 

 both agreed as to what was done during Pakerpaker. No 

 cultivation goes on. 



(12.) Kaiyahnidiil. — 1 put down here the Kwamera 

 Kamneru simply because I have no other place for it. It is said 

 there is one name wanting in the Kwamera list. But this is 

 doubtful. The difficulty of 12 moons instead of thirteen is not 



