154 Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
thirty years’ residence amongst them ; a knowledge of which may in some 
small degree assist those who have undertaken the solution of this very 
interesting problem. 
It may help to render my paper more intelligible, if I state briefly what 
Mr. Gladstone calls the stages of the historical development of the colour- 
sense. 
The starting point is an absolute blindness of colour in the primitive 
man. 
The First stage attained is that at which the eye becomes able to distin- 
guish between red and black. 
In the Second stage, the sense of colour becomes completely distinct 
from the sense of light ; both red and yellow, with their shades, are clearly 
discerned. 
In the Third stage, green is discernible. 
In the Fourth and last stage an acquaintance with blue begins to 
emerge. 
What stage had the colour-sense of the Maori reached before inter- 
course with Europeans began ? This can readily be ascertained by reference 
to the terms existing in the language at that date, for giving expression 
to the sense of colour. 
We find, upon examination, that the language possessed very few words 
that conveyed to the mind an idea of colour, apart from the object with 
which the particular colour was associated. There are only three colours 
for which terms exist, namely, white, black, and red. 
White, ma (sometimes tea—very limited application). 
Black, pouri, pango, mangu. 
Red, whero, kura, ngangana. 
If we analyse these words they seem all to relate to the presence or absence 
of sunlight. Ma is doubtless a contraction for Marama, light, which is 
derived from Ra, the sun. Pouri, black, is derived from Po, night. The 
derivation of pango and mangu is not so apparent, but I venture to think 
that both whero and kura may be traced to Ra. Mais not only the term 
for whiteness and clearness, but also for all the lighter tints of yellow, grey, 
and green. Grey hair is called hina, but the term was never used to desig- 
nate anything else but hair; every other grey object was either ma or pango, 
as it inclined to a lighter or darker shade. 
To express blackness three terms exist, pouri, pango, and mangu. The 
night was pouri,and any very dark tint might be expressed by the same 
word. Pourt and Marama were constantly used to express opposite mental 
conditions.  Pango and mangu were applied indiscriminately to describe 
anything black; the former word seems to approach closely to a true colour 
