18 THE SWEET POTATO. 



any specific name, but accepts that it is a creeping 

 Convolvulus. 



In 1737 Linnaeus (Hortus Cliff ortianus, p. 67) 

 describes the sweet potato as follows : 



' ' Convolvulus. ' ' 



^'3. Convolvulus foliis cordatis angulatis, radice 

 tuberosa. 



Convolvulus radice tuberosa esculenta, spinaciae 

 foliis, flore albo fundo purpureo, semine post singulos 

 flores singulo. (Sloan flor, 53). 



Convolvulus indicus. Batatas dictus (Ray, Hist., 

 728). 



Convolvulus indicus orientalis. Inhame sen Bat- 

 tatas, Sisarum peruvianoruni sen Battata hispan- 

 orum (Moris. Hist., 2, p. 11, f. 1, t. 3, f. 4). 



Batatas (Bauh., pin., 91; Bauh., Hist., 2, p. 792; 

 Clus., Hist., 2, p. 78). 



Jetica (Marcgr. bras. 16). 



Kappa-Kelengu (Rheed, mal., 7, p. 95, t. 50). 

 Crescit culta in utraque India vulgaris; foliis 

 variat. ' ' 



Under 1740, in Pickering's Chronological History 

 of Plants, appears the following: "In the time of 

 Teraraku (great-grandfather of Pomare) the chief 

 seen by us at the Bay of Islands (Hale ethnogr. 

 Expl. Exp. 146, and Races of Man, IV, 4), the 

 'kumara' (batatas edulis) sweet potato, brought to 

 New Zealand in a ' canoe formed of separate pieces ' 

 by Pani and his sister Hinakakirirangi of Hawaii 

 (Savaii)." The account is confirmed by the *' con- 

 struction of the canoe, peculiar to Samoan Islands, 

 by the slender finger-rooted variety, seen by us only 

 in the two localities," and which a separate tradition 

 made "the only kind formerlv known in New 

 Zealand." 



