Colours.

An examination of the colours of greenstone with reference to their names and qualities, in which I desire to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of Professor Scott, of the Otago University, shows that with many shades they are mainly grass-green (grasgr ¨ n of Radde's Internationale Farben-Scala), or green-grey or pea-green (blaugr ¨ n-grau, Radde). Exceptional pieces are found to be shades of vermilion-grey (zinnober-grau, Radde). In each of these three colours or combinations I find that between my own collection and that of Mr. White the extreme points of the gamut of twenty shades are reached. In the grass-greens and pea-greens the foot of the gamut is a creamy piece with a faint-green tinge, while the head of the gamut is difficult to distinguish from black. In the vermilion-grey, or brown, the same thing occurs—namely, the foot of the gamut is a beautiful cream-colour faintly tinged with chocolate, while the head is so dark that its colour would scarcely be made out but for the assistance of lighter pieces occurring in places. In the case of certain of the green colours transparency considerably modifies the apparent colour, while numerous pieces of stone vary so much over their surface that the standard colour must be differently expressed for each square half-inch. In the appended scale I have endeavoured to express, in terms of Radde's standard, the colours of typical pieces of the most marked varieties, but, not being in a position first to submit my specimens to a first-class Maori expert, I cannot profess to present the tables as free from error, Radde's classification of colours is based upon twenty-two cardinal colours, with twenty intermediate colours, making forty-two gamuts or scales, which are expressed on cards. Bach gamut exhibits twenty tints, produced by modifying the colour by lightening it or making it darker; so that each gamut runs up from nearly white, showing a trace of the colour, to nearly black, still showing a trace of the colour. They are shaded from dark at the head to light at the foot, and these shades are distinguished, in the annexed table describing the various objects, by letters from a to v.

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