Tarakihi.--Locust. Titiwai.--Small luminous earthworm. Toke.--A very long worm. Kokoriro.--Large red _weta_. Weta.--_Deinacrida heteracantha._ A beetle two and a half inches in length. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 75: Mr. G.W. Griffin, United States' Consul at Auckland, whose valuable reports upon the various commercial products of New Zealand have been recently printed by authority of the New Zealand Government, is the author of a very interesting paper upon the economic uses of this tree.] A BRIEF REFERENCE TO THE MAORI LANGUAGE. The Maori alphabet is composed of fourteen letters, namely:-- _Consonants._ H, K, M, N, P, R, T, W, NG. _Vowels._ A, E, I, O, U. _Diphthongs._ aa, ae, ai, ao, au, ee, ei, ii, oo, ou, uu. _Vowels._ _Sound._[76] a as _a_ in f_a_ther e as _a_ in f_a_re. i as _ee_ in sl_ee_p. o as _o_ in m_o_le. u as _oo_ in sh_oo_t. _Consonants._ _How named._ h _ha._ k _ka._ m _ma._ n _na._ p _pa._ r _ra._ t _ta._ w _wa._ ng _nga._ THE PARTS OF SPEECH. _The Article._ _Te_ is the definite article, _nga_ is its plural; as, _te whare_, the house; _nga whare_, the houses. The indefinite articles are _he_ and _tetahi_, a, an, or some; the plural of _tetahi_ is _etahi_, as _he kuri_, a dog; _tetahi hoe_, a paddle; _etahi waka_, canoes or some canoes. _The Noun._ The noun has two numbers, the singular and the plural, the plural being formed by the article _nga_ prefixed to the singular; as, _Te tamaiti_, the child; _nga tamaiti_, the children. _Adjectives._ The adjective does not precede the noun, as in English, but is placed immediately after it; as, _he rakau roa_, a tree long. _Pronouns._ The personal pronouns are:-- {1st person, _ahau_ or _au_, I. Singular {2nd " _koe_, thou. {3rd " _ia_, he, she, or it. {1st person, _tatau_ or _matou_, we. Plural {2nd " _koutou_, ye. {3rd " _ratou_, they. _Possessive Pronouns._ _Tahu_, mine or my. _Ta taua_, _ta maua_, _ta tatou_, or _ta matou_, ours. _Tau_, thine or thy. _Ta korua_, or _ta koutou_, yours. _Tana_, his. _Ta raua_, or _ta ratau_, theirs. _Relative Pronouns._ In the Maori there is no distinct form. _Demonstrative Pronouns._ _Singular._ _Plural._ _Tenei_, this. Enei or _anei_. _Tena_, that (next). _Ena._ _Tera_, that (farther off). _Era._ _Taua_, that (before mentioned). _Ana._ _Ia_, that. _Interrogative Pronouns._ There are three, viz.:-- _Wai_, who; _Aha_, what; _tehea_ or _ehea_, which. _Verbs._ These are of three kinds, active, neuter, and causative, each of which admits of the passive voice.