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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 5

Authors and Books

page 25

Authors and Books.

A work of considerable interest and importance has just been completed in Wellington—Tregear's Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary, published by Messrs Lyon and Blair. It is noteworthy as the largest work yet produced in New Zealand by private enterprise. It represents the labor of fourteen years on the part of the author, and has been more than a year in the press. For the first time students and scholars have at one view the various dialects of the widely-extended Polynesian language. To compare and collate the numerous dictionaries, large and small, is a task so great that few would have attempted it. Some of these exist only in manuscript; some are so rare as to be almost unobtainable. Mr Tregear has compiled a concordance of about forty of these works, including valuable manuscripts entrusted to him by French missionaries in the South Seas, and much new matter furnished by friends in New Zealand. In addition to this he has gone through most of the works published on the subject of the Polynesian races for information regarding their myths, customs, &c. The leading words are all Maori, with these are compared other Maori words allied, or apparently allied; and afterwards the corresponding or similar forms in the Polynesian and extra-Polynesian tongue. Under the names of heroes, &c., brief abstracts are given of the principal legends. Of seven hundred pages royal octavo, the dictionary proper consists of six hundred and twenty-eight; there are elaborate introductory tables, showing letter-changes, and appendices, containing genealogies, &c. Including repetitions, some sixty thousand words are collected and compared—a work of great labor. As illustrating the light it throws on word-relationship, we quote the article rima (five), showing its close connexion with ringa (hand). As the interchange of m with ng is rare, the affinity would scarcely be suspected without comparison with other dialects of the same great language:—

Rima, five: Ki te mea ranei kei tai mai o te rima ona tau—Rew., xxvii. 6. Cf. ringa, the hand; kaurimarima, a stick used in procuring fire by friction. [See Hawaiian.]

Samoan—lima, five: Ma faatautau ia te i latou i laau e lima; He hanged them on five trees. (b.) The hand; limalima, to do quickly; fa'a-lima, five times; (b.) five parts. Cf. limasaga, five spans; limatama, the little finger; limamatua, the thumb; limagafulu, fifty. Tahitian—rima, five; (b.) the hand: E tapo'i na vau i tau vaha i tau rima; I will lay my hand on my mouth, (c.) The arm. Cf. rimaio, an open liberal hand; rimarii, the fingers; rimaaui, the left hand; rimarua, the long or middle finger; rimaatau, the right hand; arima, five. Hawaiian—lima, five, fifth: E pa lima ae oe ia lakou; Divide out five apiece to them. (b.) The hand or arm: I lawea kai i ka lima; Taken up is the sea in the hand. Limalima, to handle, to employ the hands; (b.) the appellation of a prayer when the priest made many gestures with his hands; (c.) one hired to work; hoo-limalima, a hired person; (b.) to employ the hands; (c.) to make a bargain; to hire; to buy or sell. Cf. aulima, the stick held in the hand when rubbing to produce fire; alima, five; elima, five; papalima, by fives; limanui, the thumb; limaikaika, a strong hand or arm; (fig.) force, power, strength; limaakau, the right arm or hand; limaiki, to assassinate; to kill in a secret place; to fall upon, as a robber; limahema, the left hand. Tongannima, five, fifth: Ka nae hola ae kau tu'i e toko nima ni o nau fufu akinautolu i he ana; The five kings fled and hid themselves in a cave. (b.) The hand; the arm: Ke baji ho nima bea malakaki ho vae; Strike with your hand and stamp with your foot. Nimenima, to work quickly, to handle quickly; ninima, to work with both hands; to work quickly. Cf. nimafua, thick or swollen arms; nimageau, five-hundred; nimagofulu, fifty; nimakovi, light-fingered; nimameaa, clever, ingenious; faka-nimaboto, to work cleverly. Rarotongan—rima, five: Naringa koe i tataki rima, e kia taki ono i te tainga; You ought to have struck five or six times, (b.) The hand or arm: E ruru au i toku rima ki runga ia ratou; I will shake my hand over them. Moriori—rima, five; ririma, the hand or arm. Aniwan—rima, five; (b.) the hand: Akoi kafakatonusia tshou norima; You shall stretch forth your hands (no = prefixed article). Fotuna—lima, five; (b.) the hand. Mangarevan—rima, five: E mau toura ke, me ka rima, me ka ono; With other ropes, with five and with six. Aka-rimarima, to sculpture, to carve. Cf. aka-rimamerie, to give alms, to give a present. Paumotan—cf. rima, the hand; the arm; kapurima, the palm of the hand. Marquesan—ima, five; (b.) one hand; iima, the hand: He hoe i te iima; A paddle in the hand. Ext. Poly.: Sika-yana-cf. lima, five; the arm. New Ireland—cf. lim, five; bralima, the hand Bouton—cf. limanu, five; olima, the hand. Menado—cf. rima, five; rilma, the hand. Bolang—cf. rima, five; the hand. Cajeli—cf. lima, five; limamo, the hand. Macassar—cf. lima, the hand; to handle. Liang—cf. rima, five; rimak, the hand. Kayan—cf. nymi, to keep. Morella—cf. lima, five; limaka, the hand. Batumerah — cf. lima, five; limawah, the hand. Teor—cf. lima, five; limin, the hand. Duke of York Island — cf. lima, five; the hand. Magindano—cf. lima, five; alima, the hand. Champa— cf. lima, five; the hand. Kisa—cf. liman, five; the hand. Motu—cf. ima, five; the arm or hand. Fiji—cf. lima, five; liga, the hand. Sulu—cf. lima, five; the hand. The following words mean "five":—Timur, lema; Sambawa, lima; Sirang, lim; Bisaya, lima; Tagal, lima; Saru, limoh; Pampong, lima; Nikunau, nimaua; Nguna, lima; Malagasy, dimy; Kayan, lima; Ansus of Jobi, rim; Eddystone, lima; Ponape, elima; Peleu, im; Lampong, limah; Mame, lima; Basa-Krama, lemo; Dyak, ma; Solomon Islands, lima. The following words mean "hand":—New Britain, lima; Aurora, lima; Api, lima; Meralava, lima; Santa Maria, lima; Florida, lima; New Georgia, lima; Ilocan, ima; Formosa, rima; San Cristoval (Waso), rimarima; Ulawa, nimanima; Lepers Island, limegi; Macassar, lima (also, to handle); Lord Howe's Island, makalima.

This extract will give an excellent idea of the plan of the work, as well as of the research and industry displayed in its compilation. Mr Tregear is well known as the chief advocate of the view that the Polynesian is an early form of the Aryan tongue; but he has made no attempt to support this theory in the present book. He has drawn impartially from all sources, and the work will, we think, greatly simplify the future study of the Polynesian dialect, and give a great impetus to the pursuit of that interesting branch of philology.

The Monthly Review this time is a little late. Major Gudgeon brings to a close his series of articles on the Maori people. He explains the nice distinctions in Maori ethics between different kinds of what to the less discriminating pakeha would be known as murders. He also continues the subject of a supposed prehistoric ante-Maori race, gives some particulars of the Moriori of the Chatham Islands, and concludes with a formidable genealogy of 118 names, extending far into the region of myth. « Olea » writes a somewhat inconsequential article on incendiary fires; and Colonel McDonnell concludes his account of the East Coast troubles. The colonel had the advantage or disadvantage of being actively engaged in most of the events he narrates; but the future historian, should he ever appear, will probably think it judicious to discount his narrative considerably. The writer is a man with a grievance, and after the lapse of thirty years he is as bitter as ever. He gives a picturesque account of an interview with Katene, « a splendid fellow, brave as a lion, » but we cannot share his admiration for the man who, on account of a private grudge, turned traitor to his own people; nor can we wonder that the civil officials regarded the colonel's protegé with some suspicion. « An Inquiry into the origin of the Pentateuch » is anonymous. It is a review of a loosely-written series of lectures, embodying the latest rationalistic theories on the subject. « Studies in European History, » by R. H. Gibson, is the title of an appreciative review of the late Dr. Döllinger's academic lectures. « The Archives of New Zealand » is an appeal, by Mr E. Tregear, for some systematic means of permanently preserving our public records. Mr H. L. Twisleton writes on the dangers attending the deification of physical and material science, and quotes Goethe: « Everything is pernicious that emancipates our intellect without at the same time strengthening our self-control. » Under the title of « The Great Polynesian Language, » the editor of Typo writes of the philologic and ethnologic interest attaching to the widespread language of Polynesia, and introduces Mr Tregear's new dictionary to the readers of the Review. We note that the issue of the Magazine closes with the present number, which includes the title and index to the second volume.

Epigram-writing is not quite a lost art. The following, entitled « Modesty, » is by John Kendrick Bangs, in the Century:

'What hundred books are best?' I said,
Addressing one devoted to the pen.
He thought a moment, then he raised his head:
'I hardly know—I've written only ten.'

One of Count Tolstoi's notorious books is prohibited from passing through the United States mail as a obscene publication.

The B. & C. Printer and Stationer says:— A new claimant for the honor of « Junius » has arisen. Mr Charles Higham, of Farringdon-street, has in his possession a pirated edition, probably printed in France, with a MS. note ascribing the authorship to Richard Burke, assisted by his nephew, the celebrated Edmund Burke. Whether the question is soluble is another point; but while Edmund Burke has often been suspected, Richard does not seem to have been thought of. The question of collaboration is again raised. That there may have been several Juniuses, one of whom was the medium of communication with Woodfall, is a tenable and far from improbable theory.

Lovers of the rare art of essay-writing will rejoice in the recent series by the genial « Autocrat » in the Atlantic Monthly. In some of his gossips « Over the Teacups » he is at his best. One of his quaintest passages refers to the electric tram-car, which is driven by a current communicated to the car by a small broom which brushes the copper conductor overhead. He says: « There are crowds of people whirled through our streets on these new-fashioned cars, with their witch broomsticks overhead—if they don't come from Salem, they ought to—and not more than one in a dozen of these fish-eyed bipeds thinks or cares a nickel's worth about the miracle which is wrought for their convenience. They know that without hands or feet, without horses, without steam, so far as they can see, they are transported from place to place, and there is nothing to account for it except the witch-broomstick and the iron or copper cobweb which they see stretched above them. What do they know or care about this last revelation of the omnipresent spirit of the material universe? We ought to go down on our knees when one of these mighty caravans, car after car, spins by us, under the mystic impulse which seems to know not whether its train is loaded or empty. We are used to force in the muscles of horses, in the expansive potency of steam, page 26but here we have force stripped stark naked —nothing but a filament to cover its nudity —and yet showing its might in efforts that would task the working-beam of a ponderous steam-engine. I am thankful that in an age of cynicism I have not lost my reverence. Before this new manifestation of that form of cosmic vitality which we call electricity, I feel like taking the posture of the peasants listening to the Angelus. How near the mystic effluence of mechanical energy brings us to the Divine source of all power and motion! In the old mythology, the right hand of Jove held and sent forth the lightning. So in the record of the Hebrew prophets, did the right hand of Jehovah cast forth and direct it. ؟Was Nahum thinking of our far-off time when he wrote: 'The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad way; they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings'? » And reverting to the whim with which he started, Dr Holmes follows with some spirited lines: « The Broomstick Train, or the Return of the Witches »:

Look out! Look out, boys! Clear the track!
The witches are here! They've all come back!
They hanged them high, but they wouldn't lie still,
For cats and witches are hard to kill;
They buried them deep, but they wouldn't die—
Books say they did, but they lie! they lie!

Now when the boss of the beldames found
That without his leave they were ramping round
He called—they could hear him twenty miles,
From Chelsea beach to the Misery Isles;
The deafest old granny knew his tone
Without the trick of the telephone.
« Come here, you witches! Come here! » says he,—
« At your games of old without asking me!
I'll give you a little job to do
That will keep you stirring, you godless crew! »

They came, of course, at their master's call,
The witches, the broomsticks, the cats, and all;
He led the hags to a railway train
The horses were trying to drag in vain.
« Now, then, » says he, « you've had your fun,
And here are the cars you've got to run.
The driver may just unhitch his team,
We don't want horses, we don't want steam;
You may keep your old black cats to hug,
But the loaded train you have got to lug. »

Since then on many a car you'll see
A broomstick plain as plain can be;
On every stick there's a witch astride,—
The string you see to her leg is tied.
She will do a mischief if she can,
But the string is held by a careful man;
And whenever the evil-minded witch
Would cut some caper, he gives a twitch.
As for the hag, you can't see her,
But hark! you can hear her black cat's purr,
And now and then, as a train goes by,
You may catch a gleam from her wicked eye.

Often you've looked on a rushing train,
But just what moved it was not so plain.
It couldn't be those wires above,
For they could neither pull nor shove;
Where was the motor that made it go—
You couldn't guess, but now you know.

Remember my rhymes when you ride again
On the rattling rail by the broomstick train!

Some people will be surprised to know that a publisher is still living who was present when Lord Byron was first introduced to Sir Walter Scott, and who was an eye-witness of the memorable scene which took place when the Byron memoirs were burned. This is Mr John Murray, of Albemarle-street, now in his 82nd year. It was his father, the second Murray, who introduced the two great writers. The present Mr Murray was a boy when the cremation of the papers took place, but is able to point to the room and the very fireplace in the present house of business where the ceremony was performed. He also well remembers seeing the two lame poets « stumping down the stairs together. »