DEGREES OE CONSANGUINITY. 
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ship, as well as the most enlightened sections of the human 
family ; and many of the degraded races have actually 
more names to define those relations than we ourselves ; nay, 
further, he has a classification of animals, birds, and plants, 
which mark the exercise of mind as well as observation. 
The following is a list of some of the Maori names of rela- 
tionship and degrees of consanguinity : — 
Degrees of Consanguinity. 
The name given to a husband is tahu , which nearly ap- 
proaches in signification to that of husband or house-bond, 
tahu signifying the ridge-pole of a house, it is also a fire- 
lighter, so likewise Tahu ahi, which has a similar meaning, is 
applied to the wife as well as the cook ; the unmarried 
woman is a hine, but when married and a mother she is a 
wahine , a woman who carries her child or bears a burthen ; 
she is also called he hoa, a friend, this applies to both her and 
the husband who likewise is a tane } which, though literally 
only a man, has generally the other signification attached to it. 
The first or head wife is the wahine matua , or mother wife, 
the others te muri manu , the birds that follow in the order 
and rank they are taken as the pune rua , second wife, jpune 
torn, third wife, and so on. 
The first-born is the matamua, a muringa is a younger 
one, and the youngest the potiki. The elder child, whether 
male or female, is a tuakana to all who are younger of the 
same family, and they are teinas to him or her ; thus all 
younger brothers are so called by the elder, and all younger 
sisters by their elder one ; the same with the younger bro- 
thers or sisters, the eldest is their tuakana ; in a similar 
way the members of the head family are tuakanas to those of 
lower branches of the same, whilst they are teinas to the other. 
Properly speaking there is no word for brothers or sisters ; 
amongst the brothers all are either elders or youngers. So 
amongst sisters. But if a sister speaks of her brother he is her 
tungane , and if a brother speaks of his sister she is his tuahine . 
The father in a family is a matua tane , the mother a matua 
icahine , she is also called wae } ivaea , waene , waerere , and 
