156 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 
have been made upon the colour organs of the Maori. The word matomato, 
often employed to express the idea of greenness in vegetation, signifies lux- 
uriance, and whatever colour-impression it conveyed to the mind would be 
associated with the idea of luxuriant growth. 
Blue was not formerly recognized, as no word exists to represent it. 
Anything blue was classed with black, and went under the heading of pouri, 
or pango, or mangu. The blue depths of ocean and sky were pouri, or dark. 
At the suggestion of Europeans, the indigo-blue plumage of the pakura 
(Porphyrio melanotus,) is sometimes employed to indicate the colour, which 
before intercourse with Europeans was unrecognized. 
No words are found in the Maori language to express violet, brown, 
orange, and pink colours; but there are no less than three words to express 
pied or speckled objects. ^ Kopurepure — reddish speckle; Kotingotingo = 
dark speckle; tongitongi — spotted. 
The limited number of colour-expressions that exist in the Maori lan- 
guage, cannot be attributed to the absence of objects presenting those 
colours for which the terms are wanting. If nowhere else, at least in the 
rainbow, they were frequently to be seen. But the Maoris appear to have 
had very vague ideas respecting these colours. While they regarded the 
rainbow as a divinity, and spoke of its exceeding beauty, they do not seem 
to have perceived, much less to have separated, its prismatic colours; to 
their organ of sight, it presented one characteristic tint, and that was ma, 
or allied to light. Its effect upon the eye was described as aniwaniwa, or 
dazzling. Further proof of their imperfect perception of colour is furnished 
by the fact that the Maoris have never shown any real appreciation of 
floral charms. It is true that the kowhai ngutukaka, which was said to 
have been imported from Hawaiki, was occasionally cultivated for the sake 
of its scarlet flowers, but it is equally true that flowers generally were - 
despised, and the greatest astonishment was expressed by Maoris in the 
early days, when they observed the pains taken by colonists to cultivate” 
any but flowers of the gaudiest hues. 
The ornamental scroll-work, and the elaborate patterns employed in tat- 
tooing and carving, showed that the Maoris were capable of appreciating the 
beautiful, both in form and in colouring, and we can only account for their 
indifference to the more delicate tints of flowers which call forth our ad- 
bisce by supposing that their colour-sense was not so well educated as 
ik Maori literature is very limited, we fortunately possess a few 
standard works, which will always serve for reference, whenever a question 
may arise as to the meaning of any word in the language. One of the most 
reliable of these is the translation of the Bible; the work of Archdeacon 
