120 Proceedings of the Royal Iruh Academy. 



accurate. It -will, however, form a basis for future investigation and 

 may thus lead in the future, to more accurate knowledge. Macgillivray 

 felt the want of accuracy in his materials, and in the introduction to 

 his Yocabulary writes thus : — 



"For the materials composing the Kowrarega Yocabulary, I am 

 almost entirely indebted to Mrs. Thomson. Unfortunately, however, her 

 total want of education prevented her from acquiring any idea of the 

 construction of the language ; nor could she always be made to under- 

 stand the meaning of a question — however simple in its form — framed 

 to elicit information on this point. Even by carefully sifting at 

 leisure hours the mass of crude materials obtained from her and 

 written down at each interview, day by day, I did not make sufficient 

 progress in the grammar of the language to enable me to pursue the 

 subject further, until her value as an authority had so far declined 

 that it was prudent to reject it altogether. JSTearly all the words 

 originally procured from Mrs. Thomson were subsequently verified 

 either by herself or by our Kowrarega visitors " [ ' ' Voy. ' Rattlesnake,' " 

 II. p. 277]. 



The Saibai translation was printed in Sydney, and was apparently 

 never revised by the translator or by anyone conversant with the 

 language. It contains numerous typographical errors; words are 

 wrongly divided, and probably often mis-spelled. Many phrases defy 

 all attempts at analysis even when the English and Lifu equivalents 

 are well known. The translation had therefore to be very cautiously 

 used. It has been necessary to consult throughout the version in the 

 translator's native tongue, and many references to the latter will be 

 found in the pages of the Grammar. 



The Saibai version was no doubt made from the Lifu New Testa- 

 ment of 1873. Of this we find evidence as follows : — 



1. Mark, i. 19. The Saibai has /«X-o5om Ze5e<frt?'o, James o/Zebedee, 

 following the Lifu idiom in lakoho i Zehedaio. {Lehedaio is a printer's 

 error for Zehedaio.^ 



2. Mark, vi. 35. "The time is far passed," is translated paiipa 

 kutrapa, literally the Lifu heji he, it is evening. 



3. Mark, vi. 48. In senabi waci Tcuhil tonar foa, the fourth watch 

 of the nigbt, waci is the English word watch (Lifu c = ch) and occurs 

 in the Lifu version in the same place ; nffone la waci nejinte hna elcen. 



4. Mark, x. 4. "Put her away" is tvansiatedi 2}al(imidpa gudo 



