[179] Crawfurd’s Malay Dictionary. Raffles’ “History of Java.”
[180] Seemann’s “Mission to Viti.”
[181] Bennett’s “Gatherings of a Naturalist,” p. 399.
[182] Seemann. (Ibid.)
[183] Wyatt Gill’s “Life in the Southern Isles” (p. 275), and “Jottings from the Pacific.”
Before proceeding further I should observe that an inquiry into the names of the common littoral trees, such as “Barringtonia speciosa,” “Morinda citrifolia,” and the species of “Pandanus,” which are yet preserved in the languages of the islands of the Indian Ocean, might be productive of important results. Being unable to follow up this branch of the subject, I would recommend it to some of my readers. As an encouragement, I would point out that there appears to be a resemblance between the names for the pandanus-tree in northern Madagascar, and in the Pacific Islands. Thus the Hoshoa of the Austral Islands, the Darashi of Bougainville Straits, the Harrassas of the Indian Archipelago, and the Vua-tchirié[184] of North Madagascar, may be the same compound word in different forms. Vua, it should be remarked, is a prefix attached to many trees and plants in this part of Madagascar. With this digression, I will now proceed.
[184] Rochon’s “Voyage a Madagascar et aux Indes Orientales.” Paris, 1791, p. 319.
Amongst the native names of trees in the Indian or Malay Archipelago which are to be found in an altered form in the islands of Bougainville Straits, I may refer to Kanari, which is the common appellation of “Canarium commune,” in the former region.[185] The kernels of the fruits of this tree furnish a frequent source of food to the Malay races and also to the inhabitants of the Maclay coast of New Guinea, where the tree is known by the similar name of Kengar.[186] In the islands of Bougainville Straits, where the same or an allied species of “Canarium” is found, the fruits of which form a staple article of food, the Malay name of Kanari and the New Guinea name of Kengar have been contracted to Ka-i. . . . The sago-palm (“Sagus,” sp.) affords another instance. It is, according to Crawfurd, the Râmbiya of the Indian Archipelago.[187] Earl informs us that in Kisa, one of the islands of the Sarawati group in the Banda Sea, it is known as the Pihir.[188] On the Maclay coast of New Guinea it is the Buam.[189] In Bougainville Straits it receives two names, Bia and Nami, the former (I think) being applied to the tree and the latter to the sago. . . . Then again, the two similar names, the Katari of Bougainville Straits and the Gutur of the Maclay coast,[190] are applied in both regions to resin-yielding trees which belong, however, to different genera, the Katari being a species of “Calophyllum,” and the Gutur a species of “Canarium.” In both localities the name is also given to the resin itself, which is employed by the natives for various purposes. But the important point is that these two words are merely slightly altered forms of Gâtah, which is the general name for gums and resins in the Indian Archipelago;[191] and I need scarcely add that gutta-percha is but the gâtah of the Pârcha tree, the familiar “Isonandra gutta” of this region.[192] . . . . Some of the names of trees in Bougainville Straits I have been unable to trace further westward than New Guinea. Thus, the breadfruit-tree (“Artocarpus incisa”) is the Balia of Bougainville Straits and the Boli of the Maclay coast of New Guinea.[193]
[185] In the numerous works referring to the Indian Archipelago, this word is sometimes written kanary or kanarie.
[186] Miklouho-Maclay in Proc. Lin. Soc, N.S.W. Vol. X., p. 349.