58 Transactions. —Miscellaneous. 
lines, and threads, of almost all light hues,—from that of a light fawn, and 
a whitish-brown, to a dirty or dull white ; their selected flax strips, tassels, 
and fringes, with the yellow epidermis unbroken save at regular distances ; 
the narrow bleached strips of the leaves of the kiekie plant (Lreycinetia 
banksit) ; the bleached inner bark of the celebrated aute (paper mulberry), 
and, also, the inner bark of the little autetaranga shrub (Pimelea arenaria). 
And so particular were they (at times), that I have known them to 
patiently undo their panels of laced-up reed-work, after having laboriously 
fixed them up in their places in the chiefs’ houses, merely to take out a 
stained reed or two which did not harmonize in colour with the adjoining 
ones ;—though this portion of that work (i.e., the proper selection of the 
reeds) was usually done by going over them one by one, and by joining 
them telescope-fashion, before they were carried off to be fixed in their 
proper places. And just so the women, in the weaving of their best dress 
mats (one of which always took a long time, often over 2-3 years), they 
strove hard to have the bleached yarns of flax in the body of the fine 
garment, though prepared at different times and seasons, all of one hue of 
colour throughout; often while weaving it rejecting a yarn or strand on 
account of a slight difference in the colour. Indeed, so sharp were their 
well-trained eyes at this work, that they could distinguish a difference in 
the shade or hue of the flax-yarns and threads when I could not. 
Two little incidents, illustrating their high powers of discerning the light 
shades of colours, may here be mentioned. (1.) Nearly 50 years ago, when 
some of the Maoris had learned to write, and paper for that purpose was in 
high request, they preferred the white or cream-coloured paper to the foolscap 
writing paper having a light cast of blue, though the Mission annual supply 
of writing paper was composed of this latter sort, and it was stouter and 
stronger and better fitted for their use. (2.) When the first canaries were 
introduced into New Zealand, and the few Maoris who had seen them in the 
Bay of Islands were describing them to their friends who had not seen them, 
and some said the colour of the new bird was that of the kowhai* flowers 
( Edwardsia grandiflora), others corrected them by saying, ‘No; not so; 
rather that of the paler whanariki” (sulphur), with which, in its pure 
native state, they were well acquainted, 
The beautiful natural light colours of the bellies of several living fishes 
—silvery, dead white, slightly iridescent, and with a faint tinge of blue— 
were also much noticed and remarked on; and so were the light colours, 
internal and external, of several shells ; insomuch that not a few of them 
had early passed into their proverbs and songs.+ Hence, too, they were 
* See “ Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” Vol. XIL., p. 99. 
t See “Trans, N.Z. Inst.,” Vol. XIL., p. 142, 
