work.

In the translations made into Lau, some use has been made of the
gerundive, following the use in Sa'a; but until we have further
evidence of the validity of this usage it must be regarded as not
belonging to the genius of the Lau language, and it is therefore
omitted here.

It will be seen that Lau is a typical Melanesian language and has
few marked peculiarities. In Sa'a there is a distinctive use of the
shortened forms of the pronouns of the first and second persons,
_au_ and _'o_, suffixed to verbs and prepositions as object; in Lau
the same shortening is not effected and the longer forms _nau_,
_oe_, are used.

It has not been thought proper to represent any break in
pronunciation such as occurs in Sa'a in such words, e. g., as _ia_
fish, Sa'a _i'e_. Lau shows generally the dropping of such
consonants as are dropped in Sa'a, but it is doubtful if the same
break occurs in pronunciation.

The books already printed in Lau are:

1. A translation of the English Prayer Book comprising matins and
evensong, litany, baptism of adults, certain psalms and hymns,
catechism, Holy Communion with Sunday collects.

2. The four Gospels.

The grammar here given is an alteration of the grammar prepared by