For the Sandwich Islands abundant material exists, more particularly in the work of the native writer, Malo. I give the list commonly found in other authors also[805], together with the explanations which Malo has obtained from old Hawaiians well versed in the calendar, in the first place those of O. K. Kapule of Kaluaha, Molokai, and secondly, in the case of some months, those of Kaunamoa, of whose dwelling-place we are told nothing more than that he was a Hawaiian. 1, _ikuwa_ (January), so named from the frequent occurrence of thunder-storms, _wa-wa_, ‘to reverberate, to stun the ear’: the noisy month, clamor of ocean, thunder, storm; 2, _hina-ia-eleele_, from the frequent over-casting and darkening (_eleele_) of the heavens; 3, _welo_, because the rays of the sun then begin to shoot forth (_welo_) more vigorously: the leaves are torn to shreds by the _enuhe_, a kind of worm; 4, _makalii_ (the Pleiades); 5, _ka-elo_, so named because the sweet potatoes burst out of the hill, or overflowed the basket; 6, _kau-lua_, from the coupling together of two canoes (_kau-lua_): the two stars called _kau-lua_ then rose in the east; 7, _nana_, from the fact that a canoe then floated (_nana_, _lana_) quietly on the calm sea: the young birds then stir and rustle about (_nana-na_) in their nests and coverts; 8, _ikiiki_, the hot month (_ikiki_ or _ikiiki_, ‘hot and stuffy’): ‘hot and sticky’, from being shut up indoors, by weather; 9, _kaa-ona_, because then the sand-banks begin to shift in the ocean, _ona_ is said to be another word for _one_, ‘sand’: (dry) sugar-canes, flower-stalks, etc., which have been put away in the top of the house, have now become very dry; 10, _hili-na-ehu_, from the mists that floated up from the sea; 11, _hili-na-ma_, because it was necessary to keep the canoes well lashed (_hili_); 12, _welehu_, so named from the abundance of ashes (_lehu_) that were to be found in the fire-places at this time. Malo gives six other lists, two for Hawaii, one each for Molakai, Oahu, Kauai, and Maui. The differences in the order of the months already mentioned are sometimes great, and some new names occur. The former circumstance is doubtless to be explained by the fact that under European influence the native months early passed out of use and were forgotten, and the right order has not been certainly retained in the memory. Some of these explanations are obvious improvisations, in some cases one of the two explanations manifestly shews itself to be the correct one. This proves that the names of the months are so old that the original meaning has been lost. The forgetting of the native months is also responsible for the insufficiency of the information for other islands. Malayan philology might perhaps be able to go farther, if it took up the matter. But where the meaning is clear, it everywhere has reference to the seasons, their occupations and climatic conditions, and to the stars; the Polynesian names of months