6 THE SWEET POTATO. 



If the sweet potato were a native of Tahiti it 

 would have to be assumed that the Tahitians, who 

 did not supply the New Zealanders until about 1740, 

 had brought the plant to tropical America so early 

 that it had spread across the continent before 1492. 

 This seems highly improbable. 



It seems very probable, on the other hand, that 

 the sweet potato was carried from South America 

 across to Tahiti. If we had any tradition, name, or 

 other evidence, pointing to an early intercourse 

 between tropical America and Tahiti, that would 

 decide the question as completely as one could expect 

 at this late date. Such proof we have. The writer 

 is not aware of any tradition in regard to the sweet 

 potato, but a similarity in names is apparent. 

 According to Forster, the natives of Tahiti and New 

 Zealand called the sweet potato ''gumarra," and 

 according to Markham (Trav. in Peru, p. 234) and 

 Seemann (Journal of Bot., 1866, p. 328) it is called 

 "cumar" by the Quichuen tribe near Quito, Ecuador. 



Besides, we have ample proof that other economic 

 plants, such as cocoanuts and bananas, have been 

 carried from South America to the Pacific Islands, 

 and vice versa. (The reader is referred especially 

 to Cook, Bulletin Food Plants of Ancient America, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture). 



The writer is of the opinion that the evidence pre- 

 sented warrants fully the conclusion that the sweet 

 potato, Ipomoea batatas, Lam., is a native of tropical 

 America. 



B. History. 



Among the many references to the sweet potato 

 there are some which have been so often cited and 



