60 
PRESTON. 
between the ages of Mary and Martha, because it is impos¬ 
sible to speak of .two sisters in the Hawaiian language with¬ 
out indicating which is the older. I do not know that any¬ 
thing is said in the Scriptures fixing definitely the relative 
ages of these two persons. The translators were obliged to 
decide from the context, in the absence of explicit and posi¬ 
tive information on the subject. 
The childlike and primitive character of the language is 
shown in the absence of abstract words and general terms, 
as also in the continual repetition of syllables. The first 
words pronounced by our own children are a repetition of 
two of the easiest sounds, pa-pa, ma-ma. The Hawaiians 
carry this to excess. Take the word humu humu nuku 
nuku apuaa . This consists largely of repetitions, and is the 
name of a small fish considerably shorter than its name as 
ordinarily written. Here is another fish — muku muku 
wahanui. However, in this case it suits Hawaiian ideas 
equally well whether you say muku muku or kumu kumu. 
The mere fact of a transposition of syllables is nothing in a 
language where there are 20 conjugations and where the 
verb has nearly 3,500 forms. 
Cadence. —Cadence is one of the prime features in all the 
South sea dialects. So essential is this considered that the 
tonic accent must be carried forward when an enclitic is em¬ 
ployed. The stress is usually on the penultimate in the word 
Lani (heaven), but with the addition of la it falls on ni, 
and we say ma ka lani'la. Ua moku la, already given, is 
another example. 
How much more rhythm is regarded in tropical than in 
northern languages may be seen by comparing the examples 
just cited with the Spanish, where they say deme for give me 
and demelo for give me it. No matter how many enclitics 
are employed, the accent is still retained in its original place. 
Mathematical Ideas. —Examine their system of counting. 
The unit is four. This arose from taking cocoanuts and fish— 
two in each hand. After laying aside ten units of four, or 
forty, they turned back and counted another forty. This 
