422 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHED. 
Night, or the light quite gone--Po. 
When the sea begins to flow towards the land—Parianu te tai. 
About eleven at night—Tia rua te rui. 
In order to facilitate their commercial transactions, 
and their intercourse with civilized nations, the English 
names for the months, and the days of the week, have 
been introduced. They have also been instructed in our 
methods of calculating the leap-years, &c. 
The English method of mensuration has been intro¬ 
duced, and, with regard to short distances, they begin 
to understand it. The word hebedoma, assimilating 
easily with the peculiar vowel terminations of their 
words, and being distinct from any word in use among 
them, has been introduced to signify a week. It is not, 
however, so frequently employed by the people, as the 
word Sabbath. If a native wished to say he had been 
absent on a voyage or journey six weeks, he would gene¬ 
rally say six Sabbaths, or one moon and two Sabbaths. 
Considering their uncivilized state, and want of letters, 
their method of computing time is matter of astonish¬ 
ment, and shews that they must have existed as a nation 
for many generations, to have rendered it so perfect. 
It is also an additional proof that they are not deficient 
in mental capacity. 
Their acquaintance with, and extensive use of num¬ 
bers, under these circumstances, is still more surprising. 
They did not reckon by forties, after the manner of the 
Sandwich Islanders, but had a decimal method of calcula¬ 
tion. These numerals were. 
Atahi, one. 
Arua, two. 
Atom, three. 
Amaha, four. 
Arima, five. 
Aono, six. 
Ahitu, seven. 
Avaru, eight. 
Aiva, nine. 
Ahuru, ten. 
