The Solomon Islands and Their Natives Part 20

Women.--Kaika; Bito; Siali; evenu; Bose; Omakau; Domari; Duia.

_Vegetables, Fruits,[167] &c._

[167] The native names of most of the common plants will be found in the list given on pages 294-304. _Vide_ also remarks on page 280.

Banana Toitoi.

Wild Plantain Kalula.

Breadfruit Balia.

Betel-nut Olega.

Cocoa-nut Niu.

Sago Nami; Bia.

Taro (small) Koko.

Taro (large) Karafai.

Tobacco Brubush.

_Short Sentences and Phrases._

Where have you come from? Tiga fina?

I come from Alu. Tiga Alu.

I want it. Ai peko.

I do not want it. Abu ai peko.

I give you. Fantellao.

Give me. Tellao.

Will you give me? Tellao fa?

I do not give you. Abu hanatellao.

Do I go this way? Fina fanato?

What do you want? Ahana pe-una? Ahampeo?

What do you do? Ahana wussa?

What is this? Mai-ito ahampeo?

I go. Falalau.

Go away. Fato.

He goes. Onalau.

Let me see. Fanaroro.

Take it. Na.

I take it. Nto.[168]

[168] This is an expression of acknowledgment rather than of thanks.

In a recent work on the Melanesian languages, the Rev. Dr.

Codrington[169] deals with the languages of the islands of the Solomon Group which lie east of New Georgia. Some of them, as he observes, fall naturally into two divisions: those which belong to Ulaua, Malaita, Ugi, San Cristoval, and the part of Guadalcanar adjacent; and those of Florida, the parts of Guadalcanar opposite, and the nearest extremity of Ysabel. In the first region, the language of f.a.gani on the north coast of San Cristoval, is somewhat distinct; and in the second, that of Savo is strangely different in some respects.[170]

[169] "The Melanesian Languages," by R. H. Codrington, D.D.

Clarendon Press, 1885.

[170] For instance, the Savo notation forms an exception to the decimal system of counting which prevails in the Solomon Islands.

The languages of the large islands of Choiseul, Bougainville, and Bouka and of the numerous smaller islands in their vicinity, or, in other words, the languages of the western portion of the Solomon Group have hitherto scarcely come within the cognizance of the philologist, and are therefore not referred to by Dr. Codrington in his comprehensive work.

It is probable that that of the islands of Bougainville Straits may form the centre of another group of the Solomon Island languages, as it is spoken by a dominant tribe of natives who have extended their raids to the island of Bouka. Yet, it is a singular circ.u.mstance that the natives of Takura, a village on the adjoining coast of Bougainville, cannot understand the language spoken by the inhabitants of the islands of Bougainville Straits. I met twelve of the Takura men visiting the island of Faro, who were only able to make themselves understood by the Faro people through the medium of an interpreter.

Little communication appears to take place between the natives of the Straits and those of the islands of Vella-la-vella, Ronongo, and Simbo (Narovo) to the eastward; and judging from a vocabulary obtained by Captain Cheyne[171] in 1844 from the inhabitants of Simbo, or Eddystone Island as it is also called, a native of this island would be scarcely able to make himself understood by the people of Treasury Island nearly eighty miles away. As shown in the foot-note[172] where the numerals up to ten are compared, all the Simbo numbers with the exception of those signifying _five_, _seven_, and _eight_ are apparently distinct. Many of the common terms are equally different; so that it would appear that the inhabitants of this island speak a language referable to a distinct group of the Solomon Island languages, probably to be cla.s.sed with those spoken by the natives of Ronongo, Vella-la-vella, Kulambangra, and perhaps New Georgia.

[171] "A Description of Islands in the Western Pacific Ocean."

London 1852.

[172] _Simbo_ _Treasury_

_One_ Kamee { Ilia { Kala _Two_ Karu Elua _Three_ Kuay Episa _Four_ Mantee Efate _Five_ Leema Lima _Six_ Wouama Onomo _Seven_ Weetu Fito _Eight_ Kalu Alu _Nine_ Seang Ulia _Ten._ Manosa. Lafulu.

_Sun_ Gawaso { Feo { Isang _Moon_ Popu Ilella _Fire_ Eku Feli _Sleep_ Puta Sueli _Spear_ Opuree Portulu _Bad_ Ekarenah Paitena _Star._ Keenda. Bito-bito.

I forbear from making many remarks on the general affinities of the language of the islands of Bougainville Straits, and prefer to leave such a comparison to those qualified to p.r.o.nounce on the subject. There are, however, certain points to which I will briefly refer.

Professor Keane, to whom I sent a portion of this vocabulary, informs me that whilst the structure of the language and most of the words are distinctly Papuan, the numerals and several terms are Polynesian.

However, whilst I was engaged in collecting plants and making general botanical notes in this locality, it occurred to me that by comparing the names of the common littoral trees with those of the same trees in other Pacific groups and in the Indian or Malay Archipelago, I might obtain some important additional clues as to the sources of the language. In so doing I have obtained some interesting results, to which I have briefly alluded on a previous page, and which go to show that the peoples who originally migrated from the Indian Archipelago to the various Pacific groups carried with them the names of several of their common littoral trees, some of which may still be found in the intermediate groups of islands, such as the Solomon Islands, which have served as stepping-stones or halting places along the line of migration.

On page 101 I have taken "Barringtonia speciosa" as an ill.u.s.tration. I will now refer to some other instances.

After examining the pages of Crawfurd's Malay Dictionary, together with the extensive list of the native names of plants obtained by G. J.

Filet, I have ascertained that the following names of panda.n.u.s-trees belonging to languages of the Indian Archipelago may be traced across the South Pacific to the Austral Islands, viz., _Hara.s.sas_, _Haragh-hagh_, _Pudak_, _Putih_.[173][174] In the islands of Bougainville Straits the four common panda.n.u.s-trees are known as _Darashi_, _Sararang_, _Pota_, and _Samala_. In the Sikyana or Stewart Islands off the eastern end of the Solomon Group, the panda.n.u.s is named _Dawa_.[175] The Fijians name the "Panda.n.u.s odoratissimus"

_Balawa_.[176] In the Hervey Group and in the surrounding islands, as we learn from Mr. Wyatt Gill,[177] the "Panda.n.u.s odoratissimus" is the _Ara_ of the natives, whilst the "Panda.n.u.s utilis" is the _Rauara_; the first being the Thatch-tree, and the last the Mat-tree. In the Austral Islands further to the eastward, the names of the panda.n.u.s-trees were ascertained by Dr. G. Bennett to be _Hoshoa_, _Sahang_, and _Pauhuf_ ("Panda.n.u.s odoratissimus.")[178]

[173] _Pudak_ (Panda.n.u.s inermis), _Pandan-pudak_ (P. moschatus), _Pandan-putih_ (P. leucacanthus). _Vide_ Crawfurd's Malay Dictionary.

[174] _Haragh-hagh_ (Panda.n.u.s moschatus) Sundaneesch, _Hara.s.sas leutiek_ (P. humilis) Sundaneesch, _Harra.s.sas gedeh_ (P. caricosus) Sundaneesch. _Vide_ "De Inlandsche Plantennamen," by G. J. Filet, published in "Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie."

Deel xix. vierde serie, deel v. Batavia, 1859. Another list by J. C.

M. Radermacher occurs in "Bataviaasch Genootschap," deel i. p. 87.

[175] Scherzer's "Voyage of the Novara," vol. ii. p. 617. London, 1861-63.

[176] Seemann's "Mission to Viti." London, 1862.

[177] "Jottings from the Pacific," pp. 183, 188. London, 1885.

[178] "Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia," p. 389. London, 1859.

Indian Archipelago Haragh-hagh Harra.s.sas Pudak, Putih.

Bougainville Straits Sararang Darashi Pota.

Sikyana Islands Dawa.

Fiji Group Balawa.

Hervey Group, and vicinity Rauara, Ara.

Austral Islands Sahang Hoshoa Pauhuf.

By arranging these names as in the above list, the important bearings of such a comparison are at once seen; and I may here remark that I have attached no weight to the non-retention of the same native name for the same species of "Panda.n.u.s" in different localities, since as in the instance of "P. odoratissimus," there is no evidence that would lead us to expect such a close agreement. Most of the common panda.n.u.s-trees have a very similar appearance, and there is often a general name given to them in addition to their distinctive names. Thus the natives of the Bougainville Straits often designate all the species by the term _Sararang_. In the Indian Archipelago, the general names are _Pandan_, _Haragh-hagh_, _Hara.s.sas_, _Pudak_, _Rampai_, &c. These are the names which would be applied to any new kind of panda.n.u.s-tree during the migration eastward of the races of this archipelago; and it is manifest that as the separate Pacific groups of islands came to be occupied by different offshoots of the main migration, the same tree might have received a different general name. Therefore, in investigating the nomenclature of the panda.n.u.s-trees throughout the Pacific, we should concern ourselves not with a comparison of the names of identical species in different groups, but with the general names for the whole genus of "Panda.n.u.s." We desire, in fact, to find the equivalent of such terms as the _Ara_ of the Hervey Group, and the _Sararang_ of Bougainville Straits.

That the names of trees possessing such conspicuous characters as those of the genus "Panda.n.u.s," can be traced from the Indian Archipelago eastward through the Solomon Islands, and across the Central Pacific to the Austral Islands, is a circ.u.mstance of considerable interest to the philologist and anthropologist. We have already seen (page 101) that in the instance of "Barringtonia speciosa," the name may be similarly traced from the Indian Archipelago across the Pacific to the Society Islands. Another example is to be found in the case of "Morinda citrifolia," the Indian mulberry, a common littoral tree in the Indian and Pacific regions; it supplies a yellow dye extensively used by the inhabitants. It is the _Bangkudu_ or _Mangkudu_ of the Indian Archipelago and the _Wongkudu_ or _Kudu_ of Java in particular.[179] In Bougainville Straits it is known as the _Urati_; in Fiji as the _Kura_;[180] and in Tahiti as the _Aari_;[181] names which are evidently different forms of the same word, probably the _Kudu_ of the Indian Archipelago. Another tree, "f.a.graea Berteriana," the sacred tree of the South Central Pacific groups, is the _Bubulata_ of Bougainville Straits, the _Bua_ of Fiji,[182] and the _Pua_ or _Bua_ of the Hervey and Society Groups.[183] I have not yet found the original of this name in the Indian Archipelago, the only suggestive word being _Bua_ or _Buwah_, the Malay word for fruit.

[179] Crawfurd's Malay Dictionary. Raffles' "History of Java."