Stack. — 0)i the Colour- Sense of the Maori. 155 



term, as, unlike mangu,'^^ it does not carry with it the idea of relative 

 luminosity. 



To express the quality of redness we find whero, kura, ngangana, uraura, 

 miimura, and in addition to these hum kehu to describe red hair, and kokowai, 

 red ochre ; but neither of these words was ever applied to describe redness 

 in anything but human hair and ochre. 



All the words for expressing redness, except ngangana, may I think be 

 traced to Ha, and connect the Maori idea of that colour with the brilliant rays 

 of the sun. Ngangana is not the word generally used to express the quality 

 of redness, but only certain appearances of it, as in flowers or blood-shot 

 eyes. "Ka hete ngangana o te puawai o te rata! = How brilliant is the 

 crimson of the rata flowers ! " Whero is the most commonly used term. 

 Kura is used very often instead of ichero to describe redness in any inani- 

 mate object, and is figuratively applied to anything very highly prized, 

 probably because the scarlet feathers of the kaka, which were highly prized, 

 were called kura. It is worthy of remark that raukura is the word for 

 feathers. Rau means leaf, and also thatch, from leaves being used for 

 thatching. Was the term kura for red suggested by the brilliant plumage 

 of tropical birds ? 



Ura = redness, and muniura = flame, were employed to describe the 

 flushing cheek of the warrior, or the heightened colour of the maiden. Eed 

 was the sacred colour with which sacred places and things were painted, 

 and with which chiefs adorned their persons. 



Yellow and green were recognized, not as abstract conceptions of colour, 

 but only as they are associated with objects. Puakowhai, or kowhai flower, 

 is the term which represents yellow ; but ivaipakui-akura is sometimes applied 

 to yellow liquids with an orange tint = reddish-yellow. 



Kakariki or kakawariki = green. It is worthy of remark that the 

 word representing green has no reference to the hue of the bird's plumage, 

 it means literally, little parrot. This word, slightly altered to kakawariki, 

 means green lizard ; and I have sometimes heard kaivakawa used to describe 

 green. Pounamu or greenstone, of which there are at least six varieties, 

 (each known by a name descriptive of the particular tint by which it is dis- 

 tinguished) is sometimes used now as a colour term. Karupounamu = green- 

 eyed, is the term applied to persons with light-coloured hazel eyes, but I 

 never heard -pounamu used to describe the colour of the sea, some hues of 

 which it exactly resembles. Although the New Zealand flora is so rich in 

 its varied tints of green, no impression of its prevailing colour seems to 



* Ink was mangumangu, also ngarahu = ash, but the latter word conveyed no idea of 

 colour. Ink for tattooing was aalledLjigarahu because made with pine-ash, hence our ink 

 came to be called ngarahu. 



