BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 217 
small fortunes. It has been objected to the colony that there is no 
staple article of export; but it takes some time for a colony to over- 
flow in production, and it is not easy to say in what direction that ` 
will take place. When British enterprise and capital are engaged, and . 
with such active settlers as have come to this country, there is no 
reason to fear that it will be behind other colonies in due time. We 
are going on increasing our exports rapidly, and decreasing the impor- 
tation of articles producible in the country. The native flax is gradually 
rising, as was expected long ago, into importance. In Auckland, we 
have the largest rope-walk on this side of the tropics, from which, on 
several occasions, above twenty tons of rope have been exported at 
atime. The raw material is now prepared of a superior quality and 
in greater quantity than before, and the demand for both it and the 
manufactured form is greater than can be supplied. 
The settlers have gone on as their means would allow in the im- 
portation of cattle and horses, till they have obtained a pretty good 
stock. Sheep are now being imported in large number, and excellent 
artificial pastures are spreading over the country, which will make them a 
profitable investment, and furnish, in the wool, another article of export. 
The experience we have had of the climate proves its excellence. 
There is no malaria in the country, and contagious diseases are 
almost unknown. Pectoral complaints, as shown by the military 
returns, are much fewer and less fatal than at any other station we 
know of, either at home or abroad. 
I must now close this hurried sketch of the country. I have col- 
lected the plants I haye sent you lately and send you now. There are 
still many which I have not been able yet to obtain, as I am obliged to 
pursue botany by snatches only. As I find more, I will transmit them ; 
and I shall try to send you both seeds and living plants, which I have 
been disappointed in not having done long before the present time. — 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
A letter from Dr. DE VRIESE éo RoBEerT Brown, Esq., on a new 
species of RAPFLESIA in the Island of Java, discovered by MM. J. E. : 
Teysman and S. Binnendijk. 
Leyden, May 16, 1851. 
'The recollection of our botanical discussions during your last year's 
