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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the researches of various English botanists, and the Mesozoic forms are 

 being cleared up by Professor Wieland, of Yale. 



A glance at a globe or map will show that the trip was not only 

 round the world from east to west, but also more than half the way 

 around from north to south; further, that nearly all the journey was 

 by water; about three months on the water, with less than three weeks 

 by rail, and about three months on foot, or, occasionally, on horseback. 

 Another glance at the globe will show that there was no need for any 

 tongue but English. Why should there be a Volupuk or Esperanto, 

 when English is becoming the universal language ? Faddists may com- 

 plain that English is too difficult, but most of the Maoris in New 



Fig. 1. Dense Fokest at Ohakune, New Zealand. 



Zealand speak it, and my Maori guides spoke it even better than the 

 average American high-school girl, for the Maori guides speak English 

 without slang. Many of the Zulus in Africa now speak our language. 

 The stay in New Zealand was brief, only four weeks, but by con- 

 fining my attention to the north island and following the suggestions 

 of Professor Thomas, the botanist of the University College at Auck- 

 land, I was able to see a great deal of the botany of that peculiar region. 

 New Zealand is well within the temperate zone, but not far enough 

 south for severe winters, so that the landscape is green all the year 

 round, most of the trees which shed their leaves at regular intervals 

 being exotics like the willow and poplar. Late in September several 

 species of willows and poplars were just coming into leaf and the 



