CHAP. III.] NAMES. 27 



warm blanket of the father or mother. It is lulled 

 to sleep by songs which are called nga-ori-ori- 

 tamaiti, and which happily express those feelings 

 and sentiments that so delight us in our own 

 nursery rhymes. In this early age there is, it 

 appears, little mortality or sickness amongst the 

 New Zealanders, except in those parts of the island 

 in which the diseases I, have alluded to are preva- 

 lent, or have become hereditary. 



The father or mother, or the relations, give a 

 name to the child, taken from some quality or 

 from some accident which happened before, or at 

 the time of, his birth ; new names are thus con- 

 tinually formed. It is rarely that the son bears 

 the same appellation as his father ; the name is 

 simple, but one man is often known by different 

 names, and an accident may change the original 

 one. All the names have meanings, and the num- 

 ber of pure vowels which occur in the language, 

 and the termination of every word with a vowel, 

 render the names harmonious. 1 The European, or 



1 As specimens of native names the following may be given : 



Names of Men. Names of Women. 



Te Kaniata Te Kanawa 



Teatua Amohia 



Tengoungou Rangi toware 



Tangimoana Rangitea 



Titore Rangiawitia 



Hiko Parehuia 



Heu-Heu Rangikataua 



Narongo Pareaute 



Rangiaiata Kari 



