Tau, The Letter "T."

I now approach by far the most interesting and difficult part of my paper.

The Semitic tau was written ×; the Aryan tau was written τ; both being forms of crossed lines. In writing on the subject of the tau, "the headless cross," I shall carefully avoid any (intended) allusion to "the cross" as a Christian symbol. The tau form of the cross was in use for untold centuries before the Christian era, and it is to this ancient form of the tau that I refer. I do not wish to touch on such perilous ground as the religious side of the question, and am only concerned with the philological and mythological bearings of the letter.

The variations of the letter appear as follows :—The forms, which extend over a vast geographical surface, and over thousands of years of time, differ very slightly. The English capital T is the old Hellenic τ (tau) and Ethiopian tawe; Moabite × tau, Nineveh τ and ×, Hebrew ×, Thammudite × and +, Sabean ×.

Everywhere in ancient Egyptian painting and sculpture do we find this sacred symbol, "the cross of Taht." It was the emblem of the new life into which Osiris led the souls of those who in life believed on him. In the opinion of many investigators this cross represents "reproduction," and is the emblem of Phallic worship : it is unnecessary, as it would be unprofitable, for me to open up that question here. A single quotation from a work, in which the wonderful industry of the author is not the least astonishing part, will suffice. "The most sacred cross of Egypt, that was carried in the hands of the gods, the Pharaoh, and the mummied dead, was the ankh (Pl. XX., fig. 12), 'the sign of life, the living; a covenant, an oath; a pair; to couple and duplicate.'"^* How widely this sign of "the cross of the three quarters" was distributed, may be conceived when we consider by what diverse peoples it was adopted and cherished. From the Hebrew (who called his cross tau) to the Celt, in Britain of the West, all had adopted the emblem. "It is a fact, not less remarkable than well-attested, that the Druids in their groves were accustomed to select the most stately and beautiful tree as an emblem of the deity they adored, and, having cut off the side branches, they affixed two of the largest of them to the higher part of the trunk, in such a manner that these branches extended on each side like the arms of a man, and, together with the body, presented the appearance of a huge cross, and in the bark in several places inscribed the letter tau."^†

Since, then, it must be conceded that the Semitic and Aryan tau had a wide distribution, we will proceed to endeavour to

^* "The Natural Genesis," Massey, vol. i., p. 423.

^† "Indian Antiquities," Maurice, vol. vi., p. 49,

page 360 ascertain if in any case it had the signification of cross or [unclear: let] in Polynesia.

The Polynesian word "tau" has many and differing [unclear: sig] cations. I will deal with those which bear upon the subject hand, leaving the other meanings awhile : feeling [unclear: confidents] if their genesis could be traced they would lead up to one [unclear: prin] fount of original meaning.

"Tattoo" is one of two Polynesian words adopted into English : the other word is "tapu" (such and such a [unclear: subject] tabooed). Tattoo, in the sense of punctured markings [unclear: of] skin, is a Tahitian word, derived from the writings of [unclear: C] but not so written by him. He writes it as "tattow," [unclear: th] giving very nearly the sound which in Polynesia we [unclear: write] tatau. Tatau, in the sense of tattooing, is not a New Zealand Maori word; the word ta is used instead; ta= "to tap, [unclear: str] to strike the tattooing chisel with a small mallet." It [unclear: sho] not be forgotten that there is another meaning in [unclear: English] "tattoo," viz., a drum-beat (etymology unknown). But the [unclear: i] of "striking a skin (drum-head) with a stick," is [unclear: comm] to both English and Polynesian meanings of "[unclear: tattoo."] word tau, without the duplicate syllable, (in ta-tau,) [unclear: has] following meaning in New Zealand :—Tau, "to alight, [unclear: to] upon" as a bird; taupua, "to rest, to support oneself;" [unclear: tarn] "an upright stick in the walls of a native house, [unclear: support] the small battens to which the reeds are fastened;" [unclear: tauteka,] brace, a prop;" tauware, "the thwart of a canoe." [unclear: Altho] these words may have some remote connection with the [unclear: ides] a cross-piece, there is nothing to guide one in any way to [unclear: s] conclusion. But in Hawaiian dialect (where the Maori t [unclear: chas] to k^*) we get a glimpse of light. Hawaiian kau, "to [unclear: hang;"] hang up," "to suspend as an article out of the way;" "[unclear: to] cify," "to hang up as a criminal;"^† kau, "to light down upon as a bird, "to rest upon;" "to stretch over;" kaulua, "[unclear: to] two together," "to yoke together;" kaulai, "to hang [unclear: up."] this idea of resting—viz., to hang upon, to hold up, we [unclear: ret] to New Zealand Maori, and find tautinei, "to hold up or [unclear: supp] a sick person;" tautoko, "to prop up or support;" [unclear: tautou,] string or cluster;" tauhokai, "a stake in a river, to [unclear: which] is fastened." Most of the words, however, seem to [unclear: have] nection with tying. Let us return to the cross, and see [unclear: its] form. The primitive ankh (cross) was a loop of cords [unclear: with]

^* It would perhaps be nearer the truth to say that the sound which write in New Zealand as t is in Hawaiian written k.

^† As crucifixion is not known to have been a Polynesian [unclear: punish] this meaning of kau may perhaps be explained by the fact that in [unclear: H] the sacrifice, whether man, hog, or fruit, was "hung up" on the [unclear: tree] was to be used in building a heiau (temple). This sacrifice was [unclear: called] kalehua.

page 361 ends crossing each other, "the ankh tie." Wright^* has a rare English word, taw, "to twist or entangle," "to tie." (Obsolete words are invaluable to the student.) In Maori, tau means "the string of a garment," "a loop or thong on the handle of a weapon," "a loop forming the handle of a basket;"^† tatau, "to tie;" tautau, "to tie in bunches," "a string," "a cluster;" taukaea, "thread used for fastening a fish-hook to a line;" taura, "a rope or cord," etc. In this sense of tying, we find in other Polynesian dialects : Hawaiian, kaukau, "to set or fix a snare for birds;" kaula, "a rope;" kauhilo, "to fasten with a rope the sticks of a building, while in the course of erection," etc.: Tahitian, taura, "a rope, cord, lace, or thread;" tauete, "a noose or loop fastened to a mast to fix the sail to:" Samoan, tau "to be anchored;" tauama, "the name of a rope in a sailing canoe;" taufatu, "to tie on a stone as a weight to a fishhook;" taufoe, "to tie a fishing-line to a paddle," etc. These instances are a few of many hundreds of similar words. But as the Tahitian tatau (tattoo) is the Maori ta, other meanings of ta may be considered. Ta, in New Zealand Maori, means "to net," "to make the meshes of a net"—that is to say, to entwine threads by crossing, this crossing having the ankh tie. The Egyptian tat is the cross sign; crossing, tying, and knotting are synonymous. Ta, in Egyptian, means "a tie, a knot;" "to tatt."

Has all this any bearing on the alphabet in Polynesia? Yes, if this letter T was understood in its primitive sense by the Polynesians as a cross. But it meant something more. Did they ever know it as a letter? Somewhat may be inferred from the following evidence : In Maori, tatau (which is our Tahitian friend "to tattoo,") means "to count," "to repeat one by one;" but in Hawaii the corresponding word, kakau, means "to write," "to make letters," "to write upon," "to print or paint upon kapa" (native cloth, i.e., tapa), as in former times,^‡

^* "Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English."

^† Compare the German tau, "tow," "cable-rope." (Kluge, in his "Etymologisches Wörterbuch,") as being connected with our English tow, "to drag." But if so, we have the Maori verb to, "to drag," "to haul," as a canoe, in a very ancient incantation used on the landing of the Maoris in New Zealand from Hawaiki:—

"Toia Tainui ki te moana,
Na wai e to?"
"Drag Tainui (canoe) to the ocean!
Who shall drag her?"

^‡ "The tapa is often printed with colours in patterns. Tin's is performed in a mode similar to that used in Europe before the introduction of copper rollers. Instead of engraved blocks, they form tablets (about as thick as binders' boards) of pieces of large cocoanut leaves, by sewing them together. One side of this tablet is kept smooth and even, and upon this cocoanut fibres are sewn so as to form the required pattern, which is, of course, raised upon the surface of the tablet. These tablets are wet [unclear: wi] piece of cloth well soaked in the dye, after which the tapa, which [unclear: for] purpose is well bleached and beautifully white, is laid down upon [unclear: them] pressed into close contact. The dye is made from herbs, etc., of [unclear: var] colours."—Wilkes' "U.S. Exploring Expedition," p. 112.

Compare English taw-maker, the "person who, in weaving, works [unclear: flo] into his work."—Wright's "Dict. Obs. and Prov. Words."

page 362 "to put down for remembrance," "to describe," "to mark out "to designate," "a writing;" kakau-kaha, "to print, paint mark on the skin;" kau, "to put down," as words on [unclear: pap] "to fix the boundaries of a land or country," "to dot," "give publicity to a thing," "to rehearse in the hearing of another that he may learn;" (cf. Maori, tauira, "a pattern," "copy" "teacher," "pupil;") kaukau, "to take counsel," "to [unclear: rev] in one's mind." Tahitian, tatau,^* "to count," "to number ihotatau, "reckoning up of descent," "genealogy." [unclear: Sam] tau, "to count," "that which is right and proper;" tau'ese, count wrongly;" taufau, "to teach a pigeon." Marquesan, [unclear: tat] "to reckon," "count." The general idea to be gathered from them all is to mark or dot (tattoo) for counting, or for [unclear: mak] signs or emblems by which one thing could be known from another. That the word should stand for "teaching; learning fixing boundaries; giving publicity," etc., awakens [unclear: sen] thought.^†

"Nature," reporting a meeting of the British Association (last but one), says that Mr. Haliburton, when speaking [unclear: on] subject of the tau, affirmed that the natives of the [unclear: Qu] Charlotte Islands, one of the most isolated groups in the [unclear: Pa] (near the American coast), used this symbol "on large [unclear: she] of copper, to which they assigned a high value, and each which they called a tau." Here, then, we have evidence of as writing, and as a medium of exchange. But the [unclear: most] clusive evidence of the value of tau as in counting, [unclear: in] meaning "ten," and its exchange use, is in the consideration a totally different word, the explanation coming from [unclear: far-] Madagascar. The Malagasy contains many Malay and [unclear: so] Polynesian words : among them the equivalent for the [unclear: Ma] hoko, "to barter."

Hoko, in Maori, has two distinct meanings: one [unclear: is] barter," now used in modern speech as "to buy or to [unclear: sell;"] other meaning, when hoko is used as a prefix to [unclear: nume] signifying ten times the subjoined numeral. Toru=[unclear: th]

^* When the Roman officers numbered their soldiers after an engagers they wrote a tau, τ, against the names of the living.

^† Tekau, the Maori word for "ten," if equivalent to the cross sign, [unclear: sh] a form of crossing by the clasping of the ten fingers, or two arms. [unclear: T] the Roman ×, the decern ("ten"), is only the Asiatic form of tau, and it [unclear: be] found that tekau (worn down) was the "tek" of δϵκα, deg, teg, etc "ten."

page 363 hokotoru=thirty; whitu = seven, hokowhitu= seventy, etc. If we look in Malagasy for this word, we shall find that h is represented by v, as Maori hoe, "to paddle, to row"= Malagasy voy, "the act of rowing;" Maori hua, "fruit" = Malagasy voa, etc. Looking, then, for the Malagasy equivalent of Maori hoko, "to barter," we find vokovoko, "a cross, the figure of an ×." This, then, was the medium of buying and selling, the tau; and the Maori prefix hoko, "raising the number ten times," was used Because the hoko or voko currency was marked with a tau, "×," or ten. With this meaning of sale, ten, and ×, must be compared the Tongan faka-tau, "to barter, buy, or sell" (whaka or faka = causative prefix). The word tau, in its meaning of "a year," may be explained in connection with "ten" as in Tagal, Mangarevan, and other Pacific dialects, in which tau means a year divided into ten months.

Was this sign, this means of communication, merely the net-crossing, the cord-crossing, or the real tat cross? It would appear that the tau was used in Polynesia, certainly in religious ceremonial and connection. The New Zealand word tauira, given in Williams's "Dictionary" as "counterpart," (and so "teacher, pattern, pupil, copy,") means in Maori mythology much more than this. Constantly in the ancient invocations and poetry we find the tauira alluded to as some sacred being or beings. In Dr. Shortland's "Maori Religion and Mythology," he translates Tauira as "a person who is being instructed by a priest, or by the spirit of a parent or ancestor" (p. 108); but in his translation of the "Piki ake Tawhaki" poem, (p. 24) he leaves the tauira to signify one of the (untranslatable) heavenly personages to whom Tawhaki was ascending: "to your Ariki, to your Tapairu, to your Pukenga, to your Whananga, to your Tauira." Also, tau-tohito means "an adept," and taumaha "a thank-offering' (White). It is to the other Polynesian islands, where far more elaborate systems of ceremonial and worship were observed than among the simple New Zealanders, that we must look for the religious signification of tau. In Hawaiian kau (tau), "to light down upon," as a bird; "to light down upon," as the Spirit or Divine influence upon one (Lorrin Andrews). Hence, probably: kaula, "a prophet," one who predicts future events; kaukau, "a heap of stones made into a rude altar;" kauila (see Maori tauira, quoted above), "to offer sacrifice at the close of a kapu (tapu);" kaumaha (see Maori, above), "to offer in sacrifice, to kill a victim in sacrifice, to offer a victim on the altar." Samoan taula, "the priest of an aitu (deity);" taulaga, "a sacred offering;" tauto, "an oath, to take an oath." Tongan tautau, "an offering to the god of the weather." Marquesan (dialect drops r) taua (for taura), "a priest." But most important of all is Tahitian, where tauhâ (ha= four) means "the four stars called the Crosier (Southern Cross);" and taumaha, (in Maori, a page 364 "thank-offering,") not only "a portion of food offered to gods or spirits of the dead," (the Latin "manes,") [unclear: but] these "stars of the Southern Cross." In the Maori [unclear: constetions], the "Pointers" of the Southern Cross^* are [unclear: called] taura, generally supposed to mean "cable" (from taura, [unclear: ro] as the cable of the stellar figure called "the canoe of [unclear: Tam] reti;" but as taula means "an anchor" in Tongan, [unclear: and] "an anchor" in Marquesan, it is probable that the South Cross is the tau, the tau-hâ (four-cross), or taura.^† It [unclear: may] be that Massey has solved the problem of the connection between tatau "to mark," (tattoo,) and its connection with the cross the passages treating of the rite of "young-man-making." pubescent one had crossed and become established in [unclear: his] hood; hence he was tattooed with the cross, as the [unclear: sig] foundation. This is the Egyptian tat (the cross, or [unclear: phallus),] tattu is the region of establishing for ever, in the [unclear: eschatalog] phase : the place where the tat cross was erected when the [unclear: e] Horus had crossed and been united with his masculine [unclear: fore] virile soul, and the two had become one in tattu (eternal).^‡

The point may well be raised: What was the character [unclear: of] "tatau" among Polynesians formerly? Tattooing seems have been general, in greater or less degree : the [unclear: Hawaiians] New Zealanders being the two great sections of the [unclear: family] whom the face was tattooed as well as parts of the [unclear: body.] New Zealand, the curves of the modern tattooing ("the [unclear: tatto] of Mataora") are said by Mr. White (whose knowledge [unclear: of] ancient Maori is very great), to have superseded a [unclear: difle] fashion for marking called "the mokokuri"—from the [unclear: descrip] given to Mr. White by the old priests I drew the picture form the frontispiece of his new work "The Ancient History [unclear: of] Maori." It can be seen by this (see Plate XX.) that a [unclear: pec] system of marking existed: horizontal and vertical lines [unclear: arra] in sets of threes. This certainly seems to be more like [unclear: some] of writing than the decorative flowing curves of modern [unclear: "]. Let us consider the next figure, that of another Polynesian Bowditch Islander, drawn from a sketch in Wilkes' U.S. [unclear: Eing] Expedition record. Here the lines are replaced by [unclear: a] heads; and, although I do not pretend to discern any [unclear: an] between these marks and the arrow-headed (or the [unclear: cuneif] writing of the Asiatics, I may remind my readers that in [unclear: S] dinavia, in the Runic system of writing, the letter answering the Greek tau was called tyr, and written as an arrow-[unclear: h]

^* α and β Centauri.

^† The feast of the cross was solemnized by the ancient Persians [unclear: (aing] to Dupuis) a few days after the entrance (crossing) into the [unclear: Zo] sign of Aries, at which time the Southern Cross was visible at night "Nat. Gen.," vol. ii., p. 337.

^‡ See "Book of Beginnings," p. 437.

page 365 (our "broad arrow"). This may be mere coincidence : on the other hand it may be a real link connecting tau, τ, the cross-letter, with the Polynesian ta-tau, "to write, paint, puncture, dot, count, describe, and worship," especially as the Scandinavian tyr or tir was worshipped as a divinity.^* To those who would remind me that printing is modem, I would say that the first writing of Asia was the printed (stamped) arrowhead of the cuneiform script, on clay cylinders.

In Maori, the word used for "cross" is ripeka; its meanings, plying across one another," "to lay across," "to mark with a cross," "to crucify." The root is (apparently) peka, "a branch," "to branch," (a branch, whether of a tree or of a river,) "to turn aside;" pekanga, "a branch road." As the Egyptian pekh, "to divide," pekkha, "division," and peka, "a gap," seem to coincide with this, we may also consider if the Teutonic beck, "a stream," has not the same derivation as Maori peka, "a branch stream." Close to English and England is the Breton pech, "a division." Skeat (our greatest authority on English Etymology) says of this word beck: "Root unknown." Again the Hawaiian comes forward with a well-preserved ancient meaning : Pea (the Hawaiians lose k = peka,) means "to make a cross," "to set up timbers in the form of a cross," "a cross, or timbers put crosswise," thus : ×, formerly placed before the temples as a sign of kapu (taboo). Mr. Andrews ("Haw. Diet.") then gives this most valuable example of the use of the word: "e kau pea, 'to place in the form of across.'" In this sentence (e tau peka), tau, used as a verb, is placed with peka; and I think the × (the Asiatic tau), placed in front of the temples as a sign of taboo, quite conclusive as to the sign being considered a sacred one.

A gentleman whose name carries weight as an expert in the Melanesian languages, the Rev. Lorimer Fison, informed me that he considered kau was the radical part of the Maori word rakau, "a tree," "timber"—wood generally—its compounds in Fijian, etc., leading him to this conclusion. A close study of the Polynesian dialects convinces me of its possibility, the interchange of k and t being much more common than is generally supposed; not only between Hawaiian and the other dialects, this being regular and seldom departed from; nor as in Samoan, where it is a modern innovation, but even within the New Zealand Maori language itself: makuru and maturuturu, whakiwhaki and whatiwhati, etc. Thus, it is possible that tau "to float, to rest," may be connected with kau "to swim." If that be the case, and that kau may mean wood, it

^* I do not know it tir, the "arrow-head" letter of Scandinavia, is connected with the Persian tir, "an arrow;" but, if so, it is probably represented among the Maoris (who do not know the bow and arrow) by tiri, "to throw one after the other," "to throw one by one."

page 366 would explain many Maori compounds of kau, such as [unclear: ka] kaurimarima, kauahi, etc., terms for sticks used in producing by friction. The Egyptian for wood is khau. But if kan [unclear: c] sponds to tau, then this cross set up, to which such [unclear: sacred] was ascribed, is the child of the old Tree-worship, [unclear: wherein] own Teutonic ancestors, as well as the men of eastern [unclear: la] delighted. The Maori Tiki, the carved and sacred [unclear: post,] thus a deity of the Tree. A Mangaian myth [unclear: concerning] great Maui and his brothers relates: "At the earnest [unclear: solition] of Maui they consented to follow him. Accordingly went to the old post of their dwelling, and said as before—

"O pillar! open! open up!
That we may all enter and descend to the nether world."

At these words the wonderful pillar at once opened, [unclear: and] four descended. Maui showed them all the wonders of spirit-world," etc.^* The spirit-world was Avaiki, the New Zealand Hawaiki. It was through the pillar, the sacred [unclear: Tree,] Kau or Tau, that entry to that wonderful unknown laud [unclear: of] shadows could be made with safety. I do not know if [unclear: thes] any connection between the Maori tahu, "to kindle" ([unclear: pass] tahuna) and tau, but the sister word to tahuna (passive [unclear: form] tahu, "let it be kindled,") is the Hawaiian kahuna, "a [unclear: p] or person who offers sacrifices."^† To whom were the [unclear: sacri] offered? Probably in ancient times this "kindling" [unclear: of] sacred fire was in honour of the Sun, the Lord of Fire, [unclear: the] whose power was first recognised by men, and who has [unclear: b] worshipped at some time in every place.

Whatever kau may mean outside Polynesia [unclear: proper,] certain that rakau is, with slight variations, the true [unclear: Polynes] word—Samoan la'au, Hawaiian laau, Tongan akau, [unclear: Tahi] raau, etc. The compound there is kau and ra, and Ra [unclear: is,] Polynesian word for the Sun, as it is the Egyptian, [unclear: and] ancient Celtic. La means "a day" in Gaelic, Irish, [unclear: Egypt] and Maori. "La, the Druidical name of God, obsolete Gaelic but retained in the best Gaelic dictionaries."^‡ Sanscrit, ra means "fire, heat, warmth" (Monier [unclear: Willian] When men—the dwellers in caves, the savage hunters of [unclear: sa] beasts—had through the great discovery of fire-kindling [unclear: m] their first step towards civilization, learnt to cook food, to [unclear: cl] forests, to make canoes, surely their first dawn of worship wj be veneration for this spirit of the Sun-fire Ra dwelling in wood, whence it could be evoked by friction. Almost all great deities of the ancient world were but solar impersonation Osiris, Horus, Baal, Samas, Thammuz, Hercules, [unclear: Phaeth]

^* "Myths and Songs of the South Pacific," Gill, p. 70.

^† Tahu, in Tahiti the name generally employed for "sorcery."

^‡ "Gaelic Etymology," Mackay.

page 367 Mithra, Agni,—all were Sun, beat, warmth, lire. Taht was a lunar deity: by him men first began to count and reckon time (as in the Polynesian tatau, "to count, to write"), for the counting time by moons is the first natural division. Of Taht it is said : "Ra created him a beautiful light to show the name of his evil enemy. . . . Thou art my abode, the god of my abode; behold thou shalt be called Taht, the Abode of Ra."^* And every meaning of the Polynesian ra or la finds common meaning in the Aryan languages. Thus ra or la means not only "sun," but "a sail:" in Danish raa means "the yard of the sail;" and in Scottish, ra means "the sail-yard." The name of the great Maori kite in the shape of a hawk (presented by Sir George Grey to the Wellington Museum) is Ra. In Egypt the sun was represented with a hawk's head:

"Oh! thou great god in the east of heaven!^†
Thou proceedest to the bark of the sun as a divine hawk of time."^‡

This sun-god was not only worshipped, but worshipped in a peculiar manner: everywhere with sacred (i.e., new-kindled) fire. Among the Latins we come across the passage concerning the "new fire made in the secret temple."^§ So in India, Agni (fire) is called "the child of Dyu (the sky), the son of strength (i.e., produced by the strong rubbing of wood), the light of the sacrifice."^‖ "They worshipped Agni with logs of wood, with praise."^¶ In the Zend Avesta, the sacred book of the ancient Persians: "Oh Spenta Armaiti, this man do I deliver unto thee: this man deliver back to me against the day of resurrection; deliver him back as one who knows his Gathas, who knows the Yasna and the revealed law; a wise and clever man, who is the Word incarnate. Then shalt thou call his name Fire-creature, Fire-seed, Fire-offspring, Fire-land, or any name wherein there is fire."^** Men approached the tree, the bearer of the "fire-seed," with awe and devotion; the tree itself they worshipped as a god and as the gift of a god. Surely the imagination of man never conceived a more mysteriously awful and majestic figure than that of the Scandinavian Odin hanging on the Life Tree. In the words of the Rev. Sir G. Cox,^†† we read : "The Kosmos so called into existence is called the 'Bearer of God'—a phrase which finds its explanation in the World Tree

^* Records of the Past," vol. vi., p. 111.

^† Compare the Maori ra-whiti, the east.

^‡ "Book of the Dead," Birch, cxxxi.

^§ "Adde quod arcana fieri novus ignis in æde Dicitur, et vires flamma refecta capit."—Ovid, in Fasti.

^‖ "Rig Veda Sanhita," mandala i., sukta 165: Max Müller.

^¶ Idem.

^** "Vendidad," fargard xviii.: M.M.

^†† "Mythology of the Aryan Nations," p. 371.

page 368 Yggdrasil, on which Odin himself hangs, like the [unclear: Helene] drites of the Cretan legend—

"I know that I hung, on a wind-swept tree
Nine whole nights, with a spear wounded,
And to Odin offered myself to myself,
On that tree of which no one knows
From what root it springs."^*

It may be urged that I have before stated my conviction kau and taura were both cattle-words. My opinion [unclear: is] changed (nay, rather strengthened); but the consideration this subject would cause this paper to be of objectionable [unclear: len] and it must be left for the present. I will only notice [unclear: these] points briefly. Taylor, in "The Alphabet," when speaking the Hebrew letters, says: "Tau, the last of the letters, [unclear: is] 'sign' or 'cross' used for marking the ownership of [unclear: beasts] Ezekiel ix. 4). The early form of the letter is + or [unclear: ×,] would be the easiest and most natural mark for such a [unclear: purp] It has been stated that from consideration of some other [unclear: A] forms the Latin taurus, a bull, and taura, a cow, are [unclear: w], which have lost a prefixed s, the corresponding word in [unclear: Eng] (from Teutonic sources) being steer: this is made [unclear: dou] perhaps, by Greek ταΰρoς, ancient Slavonic touru, [unclear: Rus] turu, Irish tor. But if we allow that formerly ταΰ;ρoς [unclear: posse] a prefixed sigma, we get στανρóς, a cross!

The cross of life and the tree of life were transferable [unclear: ima] The Buddhist cross was a tree of life, which [unclear: brought] flowers and leaves, as did the worshipped Asherah, "tree," "grove") of the Assyrians. When they were, [unclear: whether] Europe or in Asia, approaching the shrine to offer the "a made fire," it was with the sacred fire-cross that they [unclear: drew] the offering of flame—with the holy Swastika cross. If [unclear: the] everywhere (as × and τ) represented the cross, then [unclear: rever] and deification of this form of the tree or wood would be [unclear: spee] granted by the minds of simple men; and the place [unclear: where] stood become holy, as its presence made sacred the temple the island of Hawaii.