In answering a question, the answer will always be regulated by the way in which the question is put, e. g., Kahore i pai? ae; Was he not willing? Yes; i. e., Yes, he was not willing. If the answer was intended to be affirmative, the speaker would have said "I pai ano."
[47] Some foreigners, we observe, omit the i after kihai, when it immediately follows it. That this error, however, arises from the I being blended into the ai of kihai in the pronunciation is clear from its being distinctly heard when a word intervenes to prevent elision, as in the following example:—kihai ahau i pai.
TESTIMONIALS TO THE FIRST EDITION.
The author cannot conclude without returning many acknowledgments to those kind friends who have encouraged and assisted him in the prosecution of this work. The following favorable notices from some of their communications are here submitted to the reader's inspection.
"For the purpose of advancing towards a more correct and idiomatic knowledge of the Maori, I have found, and do daily find, its assistance quite invaluable. Your exertions to supply a deficiency which was keenly felt by every student of the Maori tongue cannot fail to be highly appreciated, both here and at home."—W. Martin, Esq., Chief Justice of New Zealand.
"It is the only work that has ever been published that is calculated to give a sound and critical knowledge of Maori. I have constant reference to it in the publication of the Maori Gazette, and at all times find it an invaluable assistant."—George Clarke, Esq., Aboriginal Protector.
"To allow you to suffer loss by the publication of your valuable grammar, would be to suffer our justice to be called in question."—Rev. A. N. Brown, sen., Church Missionary of the Southern District.
"I wish you could afford to carry on your work to another part, and take in prosody, the native waiatas, proverbs, &c.; but I must not dictate. You have done well, and your work deserves the praise and encouragement of every one who feels an interest in the natives and their language."—Rev. J. Whiteley, sen. Wesleyan Missionary of the Southern District.
"I think you deserve great credit for your performance, and am sure that when the language is more known you will hear it. May I thank you to set my name down as a subscriber for twenty copies of the whole work."—Rev. O. Hadfield, Senior Church Missionary of the Port Nicholson District.