MAORI MEMORIES
(By J. H. S. for “The Daily Times'’) BLUE. Ir, man, woman or child among the Maori people no one was ever known to have blue eyes; in the half caste blue eyes are more frequently seen than any other shade. In all the brightly coloured native flowers of New Zealand there is not one of blue. Some authorities seek to disprove this toy pointing to'the giant “forget me net”; but that beautiful blue flower was imported from the Chatham Islands about 1855. The Maori had a name for every colour except blue which he now calls “puru. ” The sounds of b or 1 in our alien tongue are a shibboleth to him. All other colours are appropriately named from some object in nature—thus, Kakariki, green, iss from the green parrot, Kowhai, yellow, from the yellow kowhai blossom. The now extinct tribe Nga uru kehu was so named because their light hair resembled that of the brown owl. Their home was in the vicinity of the Main Trunk -railway station of that name. The name “Ma” (white) is said by one authority to be taken from Alahoe, the whitewood tree from which they made the hoe (paddle).
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Bibliographic details
Wairarapa Daily Times, 18 January 1933, Page 4
Word Count
199MAORI MEMORIES Wairarapa Daily Times, 18 January 1933, Page 4
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