THE SWEET POTATO. 5 



author which would support such a supposition is 

 Pickering's statement that he observed varieties 

 unknown in America under cultivation on Metia, 

 Tahiti, the Hawaiian, Samoan and Tonga Islands. 



The author has obtained eleven native varieties of 

 sweet potatoes from Hawaii, some of which do not 

 differ markedly from some of the varieties received 

 from Jamaica, although they can be easily distin- 

 guished from any of the varieties common in the 

 United States. Pickering gives no description of any 

 of the varieties. As he was unable to distinguish 

 from the cultivated plants in Tahiti what he calls, 

 * ' . . . seemingly the same species springing up spon- 

 taneously, usually as a weed in cultivated ground, but 

 distinguished by the natives, and its roots not used" 

 (Cliron. Hist., under 1273), it seems that he made no 

 thorough investigation, but made his statements in 

 regard to the varieties from casual observation. 

 Moreover, Pickering himself calls the sweet potato 

 a native of tropical America (Chron. Hist., under 

 1273). 



Should the varieties of Tahiti or Samoa prove 

 distinct from American varieties, that would in itself 

 be no proof that these islands should be considered 

 the native countries of the sweet potato, as the 

 plant varies readily and had ample time to vary. 



There is then really no proof that Tahiti or the 

 neighboring islands should have originated the 

 sweet potato, except that it was found there as early 

 as 1769. 



But long before that time it had spread through 

 tropical America. It had been reported from Cuba 

 by Oviedo, from other West Indies by Sloane and 

 Hughes, from Surinam by Merian, from Brazil by 

 Marcgrav and Piso, from Peru by de Vega. 



