By thy birth, and early years;
By thy griefs, and sighs, and tears;
Jesus look with pitying eye.
Hear, and spare us when we cry,
we should feel very reluctant to use either ki or mo. For, in that case, our Lord's hearing would be represented as a thing to be accomplished, or purchased by himself with his birth and early years—a version quite foreign from the original.
We should therefore prefer something to this effect:—"Whakarongo mai, tohungia hoki matou, &c., wakamaharatia tou whanautanga, &c.," or, "kia mahara hoki ki tou whanautanga ki tou taitamarikitanga, &c., &c."
Some, perhaps, would prefer—"I whanua nei hoki koe i taitamariki, &c.;" neither should we object to such a form. All we contend for is, that ki and mo will not answer, and that they would often, in such kind of sentences, convey very erroneous doctrines. Approximation to such a meaning is all we can hope for; and that is the best which differs least in sense from the original.
[16] Many of the following remarks belong properly to the Syntax. The student however will, we trust, find it advantageous to have the whole subject placed thus, in one connected view before him.
[17] By neuter verbs, here, are intended also participial adjectives. (Vid. verbs, note, under head "Neuter.")
CHAPTER IX.
OF THE ADVERBS.
The adverbs of Maori may be considered under two heads, primitive and derivative.
The primitive are but few in number.