June 8, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



895 



pie, the causes of its unique construction 

 become apparent. la illustration of this 

 idea we shall add a few remarkable char- 

 acteristics of Oceanic speech : 



Three Numbers — They have three num- 

 bers : the singular, dual and plural. This 

 appeared also in the parent speech of West- 

 ern tongues, and was preserved in the 

 Aryan, old Bulgarian, and in (Homeric 

 and Attic) Greek ; and however strange in 

 English, is but one of the many traces of 

 an early contact in the primitive tongues. 



Throughout all Polynesia, and even as far 

 east as the Indian archipelago, we find that 

 peculiar, but very rational, idea which re- 

 quires the use of a distinguishing word when 

 the person addressed is included or ex- 

 cluded in the statement made. The rule 

 applies both to the dual and plural num- 

 bers. 



Hde maua means we two went, excluding the per- 

 son spoken to. 



Hele kaua means we two went, including the per- 

 son addressed. 



Of course, the first expression requires 

 the presence of at least three persons ; the 

 second admits the presence of only two. 



Sele makou means that we (myself and party) 



went, but not you. 

 Hele kaJcou, we (myself and party) went, and 



you as well. 



Changed Meanings of Words. — It is a fact 

 frequently observed that one nation often 

 takes a word from a foreign language and 

 gives it a debased meaning in its own, much 

 in the same spirit that one religion supplants 

 another and makes the gods of the old one 

 the devils of the new. Apporter (to carry) 

 in French is transformed into apportleren in 

 German and applied to dogs as a hunting 

 term. 



Take the word manger. With us it is for 

 horses ; in French it means to eat, and ap- 

 plies also to men and women. The word 

 saloon here means a low drinking place ; in 

 France it is the parlor. These linguistic 



compliments are mutual between two of the 

 Latin countries of Europe. The French 

 word to speak (parler) is used in Spanish 

 to designate one who talks too much and 

 saj's little of importance (parlero). Eecip- 

 rocally, the Spanish word to talk (Jiahlar) 

 serves a similar purpose across the Pyrenees, 

 and a Hahleur is one with many words 

 and few thoughts, who goes about telling 

 lies. Each nation, by implication, casts a 

 slur on the other. We all know what it is 

 to take French leave. So do the French — 

 only they call the same thing going oiF, after 

 the English fashion, s'eji aller a Vanglaise. 

 We speak of the leprosy being a disease of 

 the Hawaiian islands. The Hawaiians call 

 it mai pake (Chinese disease). The same 

 principle was exemplified in Europe in the 

 sixteenth century. The Italians called it 

 French. These, in turn, threw it on the 

 Spanish ; and so it went. ISTo country was 

 willing to father it. 



These facts are cited by way of contrast 

 with what took place in Hawaii. The ten- 

 dency here was to give words and ideas 

 absorbed through external intercourse an 

 elevated meaning. Their conception of for- 

 eigners was one of superiority. Captain 

 Cook was the personification of their God, 

 and he is still spoken of as Lono, one of the 

 four deities of Hawaiian mythology. Ko 

 human being was ever feared or worshipped 

 as he, and notwithstanding the tragic cir- 

 cumstances of his death, the natives could 

 not entirely relinquish the supernatural 

 idea, nor bring themselves to give up the 

 illusion of a reappearance of their Savior, 

 to which many still cling after long asso- 

 ciation with the whites. 



It so happened that words that came to 

 the natives through the medium of beings 

 believed to be associated with the Gods 

 were taken to represent better things than 

 they originally designated. 



Special Descriptive Terms. — The Hawaiian 

 is a child of nature. Kothing can exceed 



