rnment reduced the
price of telegrams to sixpence (slang, a `tanner') for twelve
words.

1896. `Oamaru Mail,' June 13:

"Tannergrams is the somewhat apt designation which the new
sixpenny telegrams have been christened in commercial
vernacular."

<hw>Tappa</hw>, <i>n</i>. South-sea Island word. A native
cloth made from the bark of the Paper-mulberry, <i>Broussonetia
papyrifera</i>, Benth.

1886. `Art journal: Exhibition Supplement,' p. 24:

"The Tappa, or native cloth [of Fiji], made from the bark of a
tree. . . Has been extensively used in the draping of the
court."

1888. H. S. Cooper, `The Islands of the Pacific,' p. 9:

"Tappa, a native cloth of spotless white, made from the bark
of the mulberry-tree.'

<hw>Tapu</hw>, <i>adj</i>. a Maori word, but common also to
other Polynesian languages. The origin of the English word
<i>taboo</i>. It properly means `prohibited.' There was a
sacred <i>tapu</i>, and an unclean <i>tapu</i>. What was
consecrated to the gods was forbidden to be touched or used
by the people.

1820. `Grammar and Vocabulary of Language of New Zealand'
(Church Missionary Society), p. 208:

"Tapu, <i>a</i>. sacred, inviolable."

1835. W. Yate, `Some Account of New Zealand,' p. 84:

"This system of consecration--for that is the most frequent
meaning of the term `tapu'--has prevailed through all the
islands of the South Seas, but nowhere to a greater extent than
in New Zealand."

1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i.
p. 194:

"They wrapped the mutilated corpse in his red blanket, and
bore it, lashed to a tree, to the village, where the usual
tangi took place after it had been deposited in the wahi tapu,
or sacred ground.'"

1859. A. S. Thomson, M.D., `Story of New Zealand,' p. 100:

"The primary meaning of the Maori word <i>tapu</i> is `sacred';
<i>tabut</i> is a Malay word, and is rendered `the Ark of the
Covenant of God'; <i>taboot</i> is a Hindoo word signifying
`a bier,' `a coffin,' or `the Ark of the Covenant'; <i>ta</i>
is the Sanscrit word `to mark,' and <i>pu</i> `to purify.'"

[There is no authority in this polyglot mixture.]

1879. Clement Bunbury, `Fraser's Magazine,' June, `A Visit to
the New Zealand Geysers,' p. 767:

"I had not much time to examine them closely, having a proper
fear of the unknown penalties incurred by the violation of
anything `tapu' or sacred."

1893. `Otago Witness,' Dec. 21, p. 10, col. 1:

"He seeks tr