Eay & Haddon — The Languages of Torres Straits — II. 121 



waean, put them two away, and follows the Lifu mate sei nyidoti pi. 

 PalmiuJpa and nyidoti are dual pronouns. In Lifu a married woman 

 is supposed to have a child, and is usually addressed by courtesy as 

 '^ you twoy 



5. Mark, x. 34. "The thii'd day" is translated ^o?^» tJirin, from 

 the Lifu la drai hna thrin. In both versions thrin is the English 

 numeral three with the Lifu causative suffix n. Cf. a similar instance 

 in Miriam, Pt. i., p. 525. 



6. Mark, xvi. 10. The words "she went" are rendered ^a/^te 

 uzarman from the Lifu linei nyidoti hna tro, they two went (lit. by 

 them two gone). Mary Magdalene, being regarded as a married 

 woman, is spoken of as though having a child. 



7. The word a is frequently used as a verbal particle in the Saibai 

 translation, and especially when it is so used in the corresponding Lifu 

 phrase. Cf. in Mark, xiv. 37. Saibai : Noi mangizo a iman tana a 

 utui. Lifu : Il7iei anganyideti hna hlepeti a ohnyi ungate a mehol. 



8. The characters o, e, tr for ^ dr for d, show the Lifu basis of 

 the orthography. 



9. English, Greek, and Samoan words introduced have the same 

 form in Lifu and Saibai ; e. g. ivan (one) ; gavana (governor) ; waina, 

 (wine) ; hiona, (x'^'') '■> setaiiro, {a-ravpov) ; kumete, (Sam. 'umete). 



There are some interesting instances of adaptation by the translator. 

 These give us glimpses of the life of the Torres Straits' natives. The 

 exact rendering of the Lifu has, in some cases, been modified in order 

 to obviate the necessity of explanation or to suit the comprehension 

 of the native mind. Thus the statement in Mark, ii. 3, "When they 

 could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof 

 where he was, and when they had broken it up they let down the 

 bed whereon the sick of the palsy lay," is plainly inapplicable to 

 the Torres Straits house. The native dwelling is usually a frail 

 structure of bamboo, often with a sloped roof and thatched with 

 leaves. The idea of four men carrying another upon the roof would 

 be absurd. Though the Lifu version states that the bearers went to 

 la hune uma, the top of the house, a phrase which is just as inapplicable 

 to the sugar-loaf shaped houses of Lifu, it must be remembered that 

 the Lifu version was made by a European, and that it was no doubt 

 made clear in teaching that the house referred to was strong and flat- 

 roofed. The translator of the Saibai Gospel avoided both explanation. 



