THE LANGUAGE OF HAWAII. 
61 
process was continued for ten forties, which took the name 
of lau. Ten of these made 4,000, or memo; and so they 
went on until 400,000 was reached, beyond which they had 
no conception. This was the old system. The missionaries 
introduced the modem way of going to ten ( umi), then join¬ 
ing this with names previously used, as— 
umikumamakalii, ten with one, for 11 ; 
umikumamalua, ten with two, for 12, 
and so on to twenty, which was iwakalua. Then the same 
method was continued, as-— 
iwakaluakumamakahi, twenty, with one, etc. 
There is no word in any of the Polynesian languages to 
express the idea of a definite fraction. Many words exist to 
indicate a part; but an aliquot part—something that is con¬ 
tained an entire number of times in the whole—was entirely 
beyond their mathematical powers. 
Abundance of Words. —The peculiar character of the Ha¬ 
waiian language is shown by the great number of words 
employed as compared with the Aryan tongues. Sometimes 
the ratio is three to one. We say, “ Forgive our debts as we 
forgive our debtors.” Eight words express the idea in En¬ 
glish. Twenty-four must be employed in Hawaiian, since it 
is necessary to say : 
E kola mai hoi ia makou i ka makou laivehala ana me 
makou e kala nei ikapoe i lawehala i ka makou. 
A few examples will show how cumbersome in a Polyne¬ 
sian tongue are some of the commonest and simplest terms 
in English. Take the word across. In Hawaiian this is mai 
kekahi aoao a i kekahi aoao ae, making eight words, and no 
shorter way of rendering the idea exists. 
Daily would be expressed by kela la keia la, meaning this 
day, that day; being something akin to the Spanish locution 
for every other day, un dia si y otro no. 
Oratory , Religion , and Poetry. —Besides the ordinary lan¬ 
guage of life, there is a style appropriate to oratory and one 
9—Bull. Phil. Soc., Wash., Vol. 14. 
