ea ggg a at ne a A a a a I i ee a as = ica I aa or a ele es: oe an gs on 
34 The Philippine Journal of Science 1914 
nesians as presents, and in connection with this matter it is 
well to note that at every island where a protracted stop was 
made the live stock was placed on shore to recuperate, and that 
on leaving an abundant supply of forage was collected for the 
subsistence of the animals in the passage from one group of 
islands to another. At each stopping place abundant food sup- 
plies were provided for the officers and crews of the ships, 
consisting of living animals, yams, fruits, rice, and other edible 
products. It is difficult to imagine a more ideal method of trans- 
mitting weeds and weed-like plants from one island to another 
than by these means. It is interesting to note in this connection 
that Captain Cook was by no means the first navigator to 
transmit living animals to the Pacific for he states that goats 
had been left in the Society Islands by some previous expedition."* 
The practice of early voyagers taking with them live stock either 
for distribution, or for food during the voyage, seems to have 
been a very common procedure. Considering the number of 
expeditions to Polynesia from the American side of the Pacific, 
before Cook’s voyages, and the long period covered, it is by 
no means difficult to conceive that through these early voyages 
a considerable number of American weeds may have been dis- 
tributed to the islands of the Pacific. In fact it would be very 
strange if not more than the 5 or 6 indicated above were not 
then introduced into Polynesia. In this connection Guam must 
also be considered, for Guam very definitely received a number 
of American weeds at an early date, and these weeds, while 
incapable of being transmitted across the Pacific by natural 
means, still may very readily have been transmitted from island 
to island in Micronesia and so from island to island in Polynesia 
through such agencies as winds, migratory birds, and some, 
perhaps, by ocean currents. From 1521, the date of the dis- 
covery of Guam, to 1815, that island for most of the period as 
already indicated, was in annual communication with Mexico, 
and the interval from 1521 to 1768, the date of Captain Cook’s 
first voyage to the Pacific is a comparatively long period, during 
which sufficient time certainly elapsed to allow certain weeds, 
with special means for dissemination, to become fairly widely 
distributed in Polynesia. 
Take for example any weed of American origin that became 
established in Guam at an early date, or shortly after the arrival 
of the Spaniards in 1521. It may have reached neighboring 
“Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean on Dis- 
covery (1781) 122, 186. 
