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 {Freycinetia 

 banksii) ; the bleached inner bark of the celebrated ante (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 ofl' 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 

 coloiir 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 hght 

 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 koivhai'^ flowers 

 ( Edwardsia grancUflora), others corrected them by saying, "No; not so; 

 rather that of the paler lohanarikf (sulphur), with which, in its pure 

 native state, they were well acquainted. 



The beautiful natural light colours of the belhes 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. f Hence, too, they were 



* See " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," Vol. XII., p. 99. 

 t See " Trans, N.Z. Inst.," Vol. XII., p. 142. 



