308 LANGUAGE OF NEW ZEALAND. [PART II. 



According to the tradition, one of the canoes in 

 which the first settlers arrived in New Zealand 

 was called " Arawa." In that boat, whilst the hus- 

 band was at the head, a man in the middle of the 

 boat seduced his wife, upon which the boat, highly 

 indignant, immediately stopped, and refused to 

 move on until the guilty person had been punished. 

 It is clear thence that " to be of the family of the 

 Arawa" means to be a person that breaks a trust, 

 and the proverb is accordingly used in speaking of 

 a cheat and a liar. 



2. Tou kai waewae he tuku mai ki ahau kia 

 Thy life feet a bringing hither to me that 



kuwaru atu e drotau ana mai. 

 think I shall a love being hither. 



The sense is : What is real (life) are only his feet : 

 he brings them to me : may I delude myself that 

 this is continued love? evidently an antithesis, 

 the first part : the reality, the lover's presence, arrival 

 (feet), and opposed to that a mere thought, imagi- 

 nation, untruth ; his continued love. 



3. He takapau pokai nga uri o paheke. 

 A mat rolled the son of hardness. 



" Son of hardness " is here, as in Hebrew, used 

 adjectively ; hard, like a rolled-up mat. It is 

 applied to unfeeling avarice. 



4. Na huhu na wera to kai e mangere na. 

 Of grub of fire thy food a lazy (affix). 



This is applied to a lazy fellow that eats much. 

 The sense is less clear. The first words, " of the 



