POLYNESIAN GRAMMAR. 257 



takoe, tokoc, thy ; tana, tona, his ; ta maua, to maua, our, &c. Also, naku, noku, 

 nakoe, nokoe, nana, nona, &c., with the same meanings. Besides these, maku is 

 given as implying both for me, (as maku tetai mea, something for me,) and from me 

 (de man part). Ma is also a mark of the genitive, and expresses more particularly 

 possession. 



In Paumotu, we heard for my, taku and akit, for thy, takoe, nakoe, tail and tou, 

 rttt and ou; and for his, tona. It seemed that an and ou were used as in New Zealand, 

 ton maktii was your father ; mi mdkui, your parents, father and mother. 



The Tahitian has three classes, similar to those of the Rarotongan : 



ta'u, tou na'u, nou a'u, o'u, my 



ta'oe, to'oe na'oe, no'oe doe, o'oe, thy 



tana, tona nana, nona ana, ona, his 

 ta maua, to maua, &c. 



It has also the abbreviated forms ta'u, my, to, thy, and tana, his, called by the 

 missionaries neutral, as they apply to all nouns indiscriminately. 



The Tahitians (according to the Grammar) sometimes substitute the first person singu- 

 lar for the second, saying tau, tou, nau, nou, &c., for taoe, tooe, naoe, nooe. It appears 

 to be a complimentary form, like the English your for thy. [May it not rather be the 

 Rarotongan taau, toou, or the tau, tou, of New Zealand, Paumotu, and Hawaii, which 

 may have been the usual form in the Tahitian, though it has now become nearly obsolete? 

 The reason for substituting the present form, taoe, tooe, was probably the great similarity 

 between ta'u, to'u, my, and tau, tou, thy ; this would be more likely to create confusion 

 in the Tahitian than in the Hawaiian, as the guttural break (marked by the inverted 

 comma) is much less perceptible in the former than in the latter.] 



The Hawaiian has the three classes of possessives : 



ta'u, to'u na'u, no'u a'u, o'u 



tau, tou nau, nou au, ou 



tana, tona nana, nona ana, ona 

 ta maua, to maua, &c. 



The third class (those commencing with o and a) are not used precisely as in Raro- 

 tongan and Tahitian ; they have more properly the meaning of the genitive, of me, of 

 thee, &c. ; as, ia mau oklo a'u, these words of me, or of mine ; tetahi hale a'u, one 

 house of thine, or one of thy houses. They are used after prepositions which require to 

 be followed by o, as imua ona, before him ; maluna ona, above him ; so, ma o'u nei, 

 by or through me, by my means or agency ; ma ona la, by or through him, his agency, 

 influence, or means ; ntai o tatou la, from us. It should be observed that when these 

 pronouns are preceded by ma or mai, they are usually followed by the particles la 

 (there), or nei (here). Ma, when prefixed to a noun, has a different meaning from that 

 which it bears when joined with these pronouns ; it signifies then, rest in, or motion 

 towards a place ; as, ma ta hale, at the house ; na holo oia ma Hilo, he sailed to Hilo 

 but 'i Hilo, is the more common form. (Andrews.) 



The pronouns of the third form are also used after the negative ole, as, aole ona ino, 

 he has no sin ; aole ou atua e, thou shalt have no other gods. 



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