1921 .] 
Best— Huru, or Ngahuru. 
251 
The range of this term is of remarkable extent when we consider that 
it pertains to the languages of uncultured folk. By noting the above forms 
of the root word, and keeping a wary eye on prefixes, we can trace this 
term from Easter Island, on the 110th parallel of west longitude, right 
across the Pacific to Indonesia, and to Madagascar, off the east coast 
of Africa. From the Hawaiian Isles, 22 degrees north of the Line, to 
47 degrees south in New Zealand, from Easter Island westward to the 
New Hebrides, and in scattered isles far west of that group, the Polynesian 
numerals are in use. But, far extended as are the names of the nine 
digits, that of ten outranges them. Our ngahuru is a far-travelled word— 
it has traversed two of the greatest oceans. 
In order to grasp the continuity of our theme it is necessary to bear 
in mind certain letter-changes that occur in the Pacific area. Thus h 
and / and v are interchangeable, as also are h and s, and r and l. The 
huru of New Zealand becomes fulu at Samoa and elsewhere, and the 
sangavulu of the New Hebrides is one with sangafulu of Lord Howe Island 
and hang ahum of Easter Island. 
Another peculiarity to be remembered is that of dropped letters. Thus 
our Maori ngahuru of New Zealand becomes ngauru at Rarotonga and 
ahum at Tahiti, while hum loses the r and appears as hu’u in the Marquesas 
Group. The pronounced nasal ng is replaced by the simple n sound in 
Hawaiian anahulu, and p replaces h or / in the pulu of Indonesia and 
other areas. A more striking change is that wherein t replaces h or s, as 
in the tangafulu of Aniwa. The vowel-changes are almost confined to the 
prefixes, but fulu appears as folo in Malagasi, and pulu as pulo in some 
far-western isles. The common prefix nga appears as ngo at Niue, and 
hang a as hongo , though in the ongafulu of Indonesia the a to o change 
is confined to one syllable, the first. The rongo prefix of Mangareva is 
remarkable on account of its initial letter, almost a lone example of this 
usage. These prefixes present a singular diversity of form, and their value 
is by no means clear. 
We will now locate some of the many forms of the term under dis¬ 
cussion, commencing with huru simply because that seems to be the root 
of the New Zealand ngahuru. We have no means of ascertaining the 
original form of the disyllabic root, though it seems probable that it was 
one of the following : Puru, huru , furu, vulu. 
Huru .—We find this simple root form, carrying no prefix, in use as the 
common word for ten among a Maori folk dwelling in a far land, the isle 
of Nukuoro, or Monteverde, in the distant Caroline Group. This isle, 
which lies on the 155th parallel of east longitude, and is about 4 degrees 
north of the Equator, is peopled by a Polynesian folk who speak a remark¬ 
ably pure dialect of the racial tongue, closely akin to that of the Maori of 
New Zealand. 
Fulu .—This form appears in Indonesia and the Philippine Group (see 
Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 2, p. 92). It changes to folo in 
Malagasi. A curious and lone form appears in Samoa, where lua fulu 
(two fulu) denotes twenty, and therefore one would naturally expect to 
find the prefixless form employed to denote ten. But this is not so, for 
ten is expressed by sefulu and ngafulu, and lua sefulu is another term for 
twenty. In all other multiples of ten up to ninety ngafulu is used instead 
of fulu or sefulu , as in lima ngafulu (five tens). The use of the prefixless 
form fulu in one multiple only bears a peculiar and unorthodox appearance. 
