72 SISSANO. 
wholly different value. We now see no possibility of any interasso- 
ciation between puaka and pakasi. 
Regarded as an independent vocable pakasi presents here an inter- 
esting linguistic history. Items 3, 4, 5 show the word at its best 
and fullest, the variety of the first vowel and the mutation from s to h 
in 5 are all among the commonplaces of the philology of the Western 
Pacific. ‘The same is true of the abrasion of the final vowel in items 
6-9, a very common procedure in such of the languages of Melanesia 
as prefer the closed type. We have already commented on the initial 
modified consonant in the Efaté forms, the lack of labial precision 
whereby before the pronunciation of the mute is completed the organs 
slip back into the more easy semivowel position and a slur is produced. 
We have the opposite treatment of the labial mute in 8 mpokas of 
Eromanga. Before the mute can be pronounced the organs have 
first to assume the more familiar and habitual nasal position and the 
sounding of the lip consonant carries the trace of that prefatory posi- 
tion, a process of frequent occurrence and one which I have desig- 
nated as mutes with the preface of the nasal of the same series. 
In item 9 pigath of Aneityum the modification of the final sibilant 
will be recognized as the defective speech familiar to us as the lisp, 
the result of a neglect to assume the precise position of the tongue 
necessary for the issuance of the sibilant. A similar diversion of the 
tongue, though in a different direction, gives the common s—h mutation 
which we have noted in 5 bukahi. The Tanna form 10 puka‘ appears 
as a secondary derivative from one of the closed forms with a slight 
geographical argument in favor of Eromanga as the source; but we 
have such scant information on the vocabulary of Tanna that we 
can not pass definitely upon this form; it may be that a whole final 
syllable has been abraded. The Adaua 11 puka comes from the other 
end of Melanesia and may not be associable herewith. 
Items 12, 13, and 17 fall together for consideration. It is easy 
to derive 12 and 13 from pakasi by abrasion of the final syllable and 
by mutation of the difficult initial mute to semivowel and vowel 
respectively of the same buccal area, and from uango to 17 uak is but 
a second step in abrasion to a closed syllable. It will be observed, 
however, that in Sesake 13 wango exists side by side with 4 bokasi, and 
in Efaté 12 uango with 6 bwokas. It is not impossible for a primitive 
and a derivative therefrom to exist simultaneously in any speech; 
in fact, we have in Efaté a secondary derivative 17 uak. This objec- 
tion, therefore, need not be held vital. 
Geographically at a great distance, on that account all the more 
interesting, we examine the forms 14-16. ‘There is no linguistic 
reason why they should not be taken as coordinate with 12-13 in 
their relation to the pakasi stem; indeed, their possession of the final o 
links them closely with the Efaté and Sesake forms. ‘These are from 
