Page:Pounamu, notes on New Zealand greenstone (IA pounamunotesonne00robl).djvu/13



THE ordinary words used by the Maori to express the colour green are kakariki and pounamu. Kakariki is the native name of the small green paroquet as well as of the green lizard, and it is considered by some students that this word is thence applied to their colour. But it appears more probable that kakariki is an ancient word for "green," and that it was given to the two creatures by the ancestors of the Maori who, centuries ago, invaded the islands which now we call New Zealand, and found the green bird and the green reptile there.

The history of the word pounamu would seem to be somewhat less involved. Its last two syllables, namu, are a pure Tahitian word meaning "green," and they with the affix pou, make up the Maori word applied both to the colour and the precious greenstone or jade.

Jade, as is pointed out by Mr. G. F. Smith in his Gem Stones, is a general term that includes properly two distinct mineral species, nephrite or New Zealand greenstone, which is the commoner of the two, and jadeite. They are very similar in appearance, both being tough and fibrous silicates of ferrous oxide and calcium more or less greenish in colour, the variations of colour from grey to deep green depending on the relative amount of iron in the