DKKIVATION OF THE FLORA AND FAUNA 409 



merates malnite {Broussonetia papyrifcnx), makoi {Thcspesia popuhicii), hauhau 

 ['friiiuifetta scDiitriloba), toroniiro [Sop/iora), naunaii [SaiiUi/ui/i), and marikuru 

 {Sitpi?idns: S(ipo)iarin). 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, P'OKSTER says that "the wood of which 

 it was made was the rare perfumed wood of Taheitee, with the chi[)s of which 

 they communicate fraj^rance 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 Sop/iora wof)d, 

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

 Cooke [34-3. 722) translated this word "bastard sandalwood". This is the name 

 given to Myoporiun smidvicense Gray in Hawaii, where the native name is Jiaio 

 (naeo, naieo); Saiitaluni is called iliahi, in Marquesas pnalii, on Rapa eahi, in 

 Tahiti and Tonga ahi. Whether or not the words naiuian and iiaio have the 

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

 Myoporuni is ugaio, whereas true sandalwood, in this case Mida, is called 

 maire, the Hawaiian name for the fragrant Alj.ria oiivifonuis 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 (/(?o. 17-18). 



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

 the correct Spanish word is sandalo — 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 Uucie, 

 the nearest islands to Easter Island". 



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

 not quoted by Brown {33. III). To judge from the distribution, nminau could 

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

 — where, as we shall learn presently, 7iaH 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 Santalnm 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 

 Sebastian Englert, who has lived more than 15 years on Easter Island (<?<5), 

 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. 



