June 8, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



897 



missionaries introduced tlie modern way 

 of going to ten {wni) then joining this with 

 names previously used, as — 



lunikumamalcaki, ten ■nith one, for 11, 

 umikumamalua, ten with two, for 12 ; 



and so on to twenty, which was iwaJcalua. 



Then the same method was continued, as : 



iwaJcaluakumamaJcahi, twenty with one, etc. 



There is no word in any of the Polynesian 

 languages to express the idea of a definite 

 fraction. Many words exist to indicate a 

 part ; but an aliquot part — something that 

 is contained an entire number of times in 

 the whole — was entirely beyond their 

 mathematical powei-s. 



Abundance of Words. — The peculiar char- 

 acter of the Hawaiian language is shown 

 by the great number of words employed as 

 compared with the Arj'an tongues. Some- 

 times the ratio is three to one. We say, 

 ' ' Forgive our debts as we forgive our deb- 

 tors." Eight words express the idea in 

 English. Twenty-four must be employed 

 in Hawaiian, since it is necessary to say : 



E kala mai hoi ia makou i ka makou lawehala ana 

 me makou e kala net i kapoe i lawehala i ka makou. 



A few examples will show how cumber- 

 bersome in a Polynesian tongue are some 

 of the commonest and simplest terms in 

 English. Take the word across. In Ha- 

 waiian this is mai kekahi aoao a i kehahi aoao 

 ae, making eight words, and no shorter way 

 of rendering the idea exists. 



Daily would be expressed by kela la keia 

 la, meaning that day, this day ; being some- 

 thing akin to the Spanish locution for every 

 other day, un dia s'l y oiro no. 



Oratory, Religion, and Poetry. — Besides the 

 ordinary language of life, there is a style 

 appropriate to oratory and one to religion 

 and poetry. Any one who has heard the 

 Kahuna chant his incantations can never 

 forget the doleful, plaintive tone which in- 

 variably accompanies such service. 



The Hawaiians are passionately fond of 



poetry. They have no rhyme or meter in 

 the modern sense, and no conception of 

 the change of the length of feet, nor the 

 shifting of the accent, which lends such a 

 charm to English versification ; but they 

 have a style, highly figurative, appropriate 

 to different classes of poetry. 



There are, first, religious chants. Then 

 the Inoas or name songs ; these were com- 

 posed at the birth of kings. Then came 

 the dirges, and finally the Ipos or love 

 songs. Here is an example of a dirge 

 composed at the death of Keeaumoku and 

 cited by Alexander in his history of the 

 Hawaiian people. The translation is by 

 Ellis : 



Alas, alas, dead is my chief ; 



Dead is my lord and my friend ; 



My friend in the season of famine ; 



My friend in the time of drought ; 



My friend in my poverty ; 



My friend in the rain and the wind ; 



My friend in the heat and the sun ; 



My friend in the cold from the mountain ; 



My friend in the storm ; 



My friend in the calm ; 



My friend in the eight seas ; 



Alas, alas, gone is my friend ; 



And no more will return. 



Imagery. — Kotwithstanding the exceed- 

 ingly primitive nature of the Hawaiian 

 language, it has been successfully em- 

 ployed to express the abstractions of mathe- 

 matics, and is found flexible enough to deal 

 with law and theology. Of the three classes 

 of words found in all languages, namely, 

 those expressing sensations, images, and 

 abstract ideas, the Polynesian dialects are 

 most copious in the second. The several 

 dozen words already cited, indicating dif- 

 ferent positions of the body during activity 

 or repose, give abundant evidence of their 

 love of imagery. 



Their vocabulary is exceedingly rich in 

 terms relating to the sea, the sky, and the 

 surf ; their cloud terms mighty well rival in 

 exhaustiveness the scientific nomenclature 

 of the modern student of meteorology. 



