196 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



by traders from Bouro. These places might easily have become con- 

 founded in the mind of the captive, who was not himself a native of 

 Taumaco, but a slave brought thither from another island. On this 

 supposition, the statement that the natives of Pouro (or rather of the 

 place visited by the Taumaco pilot) were of a dark color, would apply 

 to the Solomon Islands. However this may be, the arrows must have 

 been obtained in some way from the East Indies, and they were 

 ascribed by the natives to an island bearing a name very similar to 

 one which exists there. 



As to the meaning of the terminal syllable tu, in the Polynesian 

 Purotu (if, adopting this hypothesis, we consider it an affix,) we are, 

 of course, left to conjecture. Judging from analogy, as in the cases 

 of Tonga-tabu, Nina-tabu, it may have the force of " sacred" or 

 "divine;" for it must be recollected that the natives of Samoa and 

 Tonga look upon this island not only as the country of their progeni- 

 tors, but also as the residence of their gods. The syllable tu is per- 

 haps that which is found in the Samoan aitu, spirit, and the otua, 

 atua, etua, which, in the different Polynesian dialects, signify divinity. 

 Tuan is the word for "lord" in Malay, and hautu for "spirit" in 

 Malay, Javanese, and Bugis. 



