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RECKONING COUNTING. [PART I, 



past events their reckoning is very imperfect; the 

 most correct mode seems to consist in counting a 

 succession of the great chiefs or warriors of one 

 tribe : sixteen to eighteen were the utmost preserved 

 in their recollection, of whom most, but not all, 

 were father and son ; so that this might be regarded 

 as reckoning according to generations. Their sys- 

 tem of counting is purely decimal, and might be 

 carried on ad mfinitum with native words, if re- 

 quired 10 is kau, 100 rau, 1000 mano: it is per- 

 formed by joining the cardinal numbers to the con- 

 junctive particle ma. (For further information on 

 this point the reader is referred to the Grammar.) 

 Plants or birds, which appear at certain seasons, 

 give the natives sure signs when the time ap- 

 proaches to begin agricultural labours. Two migra- 



