DERIVATION OF THE FLORA AND FAUNA 409 



merates mahute [Brotissonetia papyrifera), makoi [Thcspcsia populnea), hauhau 

 [Triumfetta semitfiloba), toromiro [Sophora), naunau (Saiiialum), and marikuru 

 [Sapijtdus saponaria). None are of American origin; all point towards Malaysia- 

 Polynesia. 



In his description of a beautiful wooden hand presented to him by one of the 

 natives and now in the British Museum, FORSTER says that "the wood of which 

 it was made was the rare perfumed wood of Taheitee, with the chips of which 

 they communicate fragrance to their oils", undoubtedly sandalwood, with which 

 FORSTER was familiar. The natives were expert in the art of wood-carving, but 

 the hand is very unlike all other objects, which were made of Sophora wood, 

 called toromiro, while the name of the tree with the fragrant wood was naunau. 

 Cooke {34.3. 722) translated this word "bastard sandalwood". This is the name 

 given to Myoporum sandvicense Gray in Hawaii, where the native name is naio 

 (naeo, naieo); Santalmn is called iliaJii, in Marquesas puahi, on Rapa eahi, in 

 Tahiti and Tonga ahi. Whether or not the words naunau and naio have the 

 same base I cannot tell; on Raivavae, Rapa and New Zealand the name of 

 Myoporum is ngaio, whereas true sandalwood, in this case Mida, is called 

 maire, the Hawaiian name for the fragrant Alyxia oliviformis Gaud., transferred 

 to Mida in New Zealand, where no Alyxia occurs. 



Our main sources of Easter Island ethnology, Roggeveen, La Perouse, 

 Cook, Mrs. Routledge, etc. do not mention sandalwood, while Metraux pays 

 special attention to this subject, referring to FORSTER {180. 17-18). 



My informant gave "sandal" as the Spanish equivalent of the word naunau — 

 the correct Spanish word is sdndalo — and remarked that the tree had entirely disap- 

 peared since the time of Salmon (between 1880 and 1890). The last one on the island 

 grew near Vai-mata, but died recently "because there were no more kings". From the 

 distribution of the sandalwood it seems likely that the naunau was the true sandal- 

 wood and not the bastard. Sandalwood "is found on the atolls of Elizabeth and Ducie, 

 the nearest islands to Easter Island". 



Elizabeth I. is another name for Henderson, a rocky coral island; Ducie is 

 not quoted by BROWN [33. ill). To judge from the distribution, jiaunau could 

 just as well refer to Myoporum, a genus represented by endemic species in Rapa 

 — where, as we shall learn presently, 7mu means something quite different — 

 and Austral Is. but never reported from Easter Island. The wood, slightly fra- 

 grant, is said sometimes to have been used as a substitute for sandalwood in 

 Hawaii. Metraux's informant seems to have been convinced of the earlier ex- 

 istence of real Santalum on his island. If so, and if it had been brought from 

 Tahiti, it ought to have had the same name. 



The story does not end here. One of my correspondents, Mr. Paul H. Steele 

 of Sacramento, Cal., kindly called my attention to a book written by Padre 

 Sebastl\N Englert, who has lived more than 1 5 years on Easter Island [86], 

 a place in which Mr. Steele is particularly interested. As I had no opportunity 

 to consult the book, Mr. STEELE copied and sent me the following remarkable 

 passage. 



