144 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Example : Tana hapuaTcasi ginga, they do not believe, or ttey are 

 unbelieving ; mui usimoiginga, tbe fires are not quenched, or they do 

 not quench the fires ; ngita getotridaiginga, you have not read ; ngita 

 ■a/raiginga, you do not flee. 



In some cases a negative is formed by means of the adverb launga. 



(c) Interrogative. — The words nga and me and their cases, ngadii, mipa, 

 jwwyw, introduce aninterrogative sentence. (See Pronounsand Adverbs.) 



In many cases mido, what, is found instead of mi. Mido ngi mangiz ? 

 hast thou come ? Ilido mata ngadogidd nidi%i hapu pawa ina salath ? 

 is it right to do good deeds on the sabbath ? 



Sometimes the interrogative sentence does not differ in form from 

 the affirmative. Ngita getotritraiginga ? Have you not read? 



{d) Quotations. — These are introduced by ^e(?a (Miriam, kega). 



Example : Mura iamuliz Iceda, noi umanga, all said, he is dead ; noi 

 walmizin keda, lesuae Davitan Kazi, ngona siluwanan, he cried out, 

 Jesu, David's son, pity me ; noi iapupoihiz nuhepa keda, ngi wa/ra iman f 

 he asked him, do you see anything ? 



((?) Substantive verb. — There is no substantive verb, though in 

 Sharon's vocabulary in'o, ina, noi, ita, and nu are all given as 

 equivalents for " is." These words have already been shown as 

 demonstratives, § ii. A few examples of sentences without verbs 

 may be given here. 



Example : — Nginu nelenga ? thy name (is) who ? kain ngurupai 

 mingadahiga ina ? new teaching like- what (is) this ? ngau nellegeona, 

 ita ngoi koima, my name (is) Legion, these we (are) many ; ngai ino 

 Keriso, I here (am) Christ. 



The meaning of the English " to be," in compounds, is often ex- 

 pressed by a circumlocution. 



Example : koigorsa/r. mahaeg kulai taiz, a lako wagel taiz, many men 

 that are (lit. occupy) first place, again (or next time) are last ; ngau 

 zageto launga poiban, it is not mine (not my work) to give. 



3. Moods and Tenses. 



In the various vocabularies of the Saibai (with the single excep- 

 tion of Macgillivray's valuable Muralug (Kowrarega) list, there is a 

 great want of exactness in the meanings given to the verbs. For 

 example, the verbs 'give,' 'drink,' and 'eat' appear in the five 

 principal lists as follows : — 



