instances of which we shall give by and by. Its use may be exemplified thus: he tangáta, a man; he fafi'ne, a woman; he to'gi, an axe. When the conjunction mo (and) precedes it, the aspirate is generally dropt, thus, he to'gi, mơ'ë coo'la, mo'ë pa'pala'ngi, mo'ë jia'wta; axes, and beads, and cloth, and looking-glasses. The occasions where it should be entirely left out will be best explained when illustrating the use of the particle co; and some farther observations will be made upon this subject when treating of nouns.

The particle co is very frequently used before nouns, pronouns, and proper names: the instance where it appears most essentially to occur is in answer to the question who or what? and will then generally bear to be translated by the verb, it is or it was, &c.: thus, who is there? a inan, co he tangata: what is that? an axe, co he to'gi: who was with you ? a woman, co he fafine: it is a man, it is an axe, it was a woman, &c.

Before proper names it is used in like manner, the article being left out, as in answer to these questions: who did you see there? co Finow: who else did you see there? co Toobo Neuha: but if the names of a number of persons are mentioned, the particle co is only put before the first, as, who came in afterwards? co Havi'li, mo Mooa'la, mo Ta'lo, mo La'too, &c. (mo being a repetition of the conjunction). In like manner it is used before the proper names of brutes, or of inanimate things, as dogs, hogs, canoes, clubs, axes, &c.; for axes formerly had proper names, on account of their extreme scarcity and consequent value; and clubs also, which have become valuable on account of having been used in killing great chiefs, or from having done much execution.

Before the names of different varieties of the same species this particle is also used, but the article he is omitted: as, co tooa, co coumele, co ca'ho-ca'ho, co gnoo, all which are

different kinds of yam: but when speaking of the yam in general, they would put the article he after co: as co he oof", the yam: that is, in answer to a question, as before.

Sometimes (not particularly in answer to a question) the name of the species and variety are both mentioned, as the chief Ooloo Valoo, the man Boboto; and in such cases the particle co is always used (the article he being omitted) before the proper name of the person spoken of, and often before the word expressing chief, man, &c.; but in this latter case (i. e. without the article) it shews that the party spoken of is known to the person addressed: as, co egi co Ooloo Valoo, the chief Ooloo Valoo; co tanga'ta co Boboto, the man Boboto: if, on the contrary, the chief Ooloo Valoo, or the man Boboto, is unknown to the party addressed, then the article he as well as the particle co would be used before egi, or tangata: as, co he e'gi co Ooloo Valoo, i. e. a certain chief called Ooloo Valoo; co he tanga'ta co Boboto, a certain man named Boboto.

We have intimated just now that the particle co is not always used before the words e'gi and tanga'ta, as in the above examples, and we shall now point out when it is not to be used. If the above phrase, the chief Ooloo Valoo, or the man Boboto, were to occur in the latter part of a sentence, the particle co would be left out before egi or tangata, but the article he would remain: as, nai how giate au he tanga'ta co Palvo, there came to me the man Paloo: but if the arrangement of the sentence be altered, thus, the man Paloo came to me, then both the article and particle may be prefixed to tanga'ta, as before: as, co he tangata co Paloo nai how giate au. These two examples, however, intimate that the man Paloo is unknown to the party addressed; but if the contrary were the case, the last form of the sentence only could be used, and the article he must be left out: as, co tanga'ta co Paloo nai how giate au, the man Paloo came to

me; but nai how giate au co tanga'ta co Paloo would not be grammatically expressed for any sense.

In consequence of the frequent use of co before he, the two, in the rapidity of speech, are coalesced into one, the aspirate being omitted; thus, coë instead of co he, as colë tanga'la co Boboto. We have hitherto expressed them separately for the sake of clearness, but shall henceforth write cole, according to the strictest pronunciation; for co he tangalta would not sound very well in the ears of a Tonga chief who took pains to pronounce his language correctly.

THE NOUN.

The noun has, properly speaking, neither gender nor number: i. e. the gender is distinguished neither by any peculiarity in the word, nor by any sign; and the number is only distinguished sometimes by a sign, or by some other word of singular or plural signification: but the use of this prefixed sign or word will depend upon whether the noun. be significant of an animate or inanimate nature: if of an animate nature, it will depend upon whether it be a rational or irrational nature.

The singular number of inanimate beings is usually expressed by the simple noun, with the article he before it: as, he togi, an axe; he fu'lle, a house. When it is intended to lay a particular stress upon the circumstance of there being only one, the numeral is used with the word be (only), and the article is left out: as, togi be taha, axe only one; fa'lle be taha, house only one. When a certain and fixed number à of inanimate objects are meant to be expressed, the numeral is used according to the following form; to'gi e oo'a, axes two fulle e toloo, houses three; va'ca e fa, canoes four: wherein it is seen that the particle e comes between the noun and the numeral, and which in all probability is the article, with the aspirate omitted, and placed in this situa

tion for the sake of euphony. When speaking of an indefinite number of inanimate things, the word lathi (many or several), is used before the noun, the article intervening, with its aspirate dropped, as, la'hi e to'gi, many the axes; la'hi e vaca, many the canoes.

This sign of the plural, however, is not always used; as, for instance, whose axes are these? coë togi aha'i co-e'ni, i.e. the axes whose these? Here there is nothing of a plural signification, for coe'ni means this as well as these, and only the general sense or the visible objects can determine it: or it would be better perhaps to express the rule thus: the singular number is often used for the plural, when it is sufficiently evident that the plural must be meant though not expressed, as in the foregoing example.

In respect to animate beings, the singular is formed in the same way as exemplified in regard to inanimate: as, he bovaca, a hog; he goơʻli, a dog; he tanga'ta, a man; and if a particular stress is laid upon there being only one, the same form as with inanimate natures is used, provided it be an irrational living being, as, booa'ca be ta'ha, hog only one; goo'li be ta'ha, dog only one; and such might be the answer to the question, how many hogs, (dogs, &c.) are there? but if the word booa'ca, (goo'li, &c.) is not repeated in the answer, then talha must come before be, as, taha be, one only. But if the living object spoken of be a rational being, as, only one god, one man, one chief, &c. then the word to'cca (for which no particular meaning can well be given, unless we translate it person or rational individual), must be used before ta'ha, as, tanga'ta be to'cca taha, man only, person one; and if in answer to such a question, as, how many men were there? the word tanga'ta be not repeated in the answer, it must be constructed thus: tocca ta'ha be, person one only, tocca coming first, and be last.

In respect to this word to'cca, another observation must be made, viz. that it is never used unless with a numeral,

or some word expressive of number; as, la'hi, many; chi, few.

The plural number of animate irrational beings is sometimes formed exactly in the same way as exemplified when speaking of inanimate beings; as in the following instances: if a certain, definite number is to be expressed, thus, booalca e ova, hogs two; goo'li e to'loo, dogs three: if an indefinite number is to be expressed, thus, la'hi e booa'ca, many hogs; lahi e goo'li, many dogs: but if, in similar instances, rational beings were to be spoken of, then to'cca must be used, and the article e left out, according to this form, tanga'ta to'cca oo'a, two men; fafine to'cca tollvo, three women: but if the number of rational beings be indefinite, the mode of expression will be the same as with the irrational beings, with this only difference, that to'cca will come before lahi, as to'cca la'hi e tanga'ta, many men; to'cca la'hi e hotooa, many gods.

There are two other modes of expressing the plural number of nouns of animate natures, and these are by the words cow and too'nga, which appear to be collective nouns, and to have the signification of company, body, society, or multitude: they may be used indifferently, either with rational or irrational natures; always observing, that in the former case, where a numeral is used, or the word la'hi or chi (many or few), to'cca must also be used, but not otherwise as, cow tanga'ta, or too'nga tangata, men, or a body of men, cow bova'ca, or too'nga bood'ca, a quantity of hogs: and if besides such a collective noun a numeral is also added, then the word tocca must be used before the numeral, as in this phrase; a body of men to the amount of a hundred, cow tanga'ta to'cca tea'oo; i. e. a body of men, a hundred; or too'nga tanga'ta to'cca tea'oo.

* The particle cow is sometimes used to inanimate substances, as, cow mya, cordage; cow oofi, yams: but these are particular phrases.