CHAPTER XIV. 
ORIGIN, AS TRACED BY THE LANGUAGE. 
One of the principal aids in discovering the Origin of a remote 
and isolated race, like that of the New Zealander, must be lan¬ 
guage ; it is an historical record, which cannot be falsified. As 
we can recognize a friend by his voice, though his person may 
be concealed, so may we identify a people by their language. 
The word Maori , which they apply to themselves as their 
peculiar name, signifies anything that is native or indigenous. 
Maori has precisely the same meaning as the word Moor, and 
a singular resemblance to it, especially to the more ancient 
one of Mauri. The root of the word is uri, which means 
dark. Hence Mauri is the heart, the dark blood, and uri is 
the root of many other words. Pouri, darkness ; kokouri, 
n 2 
