94 



The first of the journal relates of a period 28 years before the 

 first missionaries arrived and 33 years before Ellis and his com- 

 panions made the circuit of Hawaii. Menzies had an excellent 

 opportunity to study the islands at a time when taboos were rife 

 and conditions were still very much the same as at the date of 

 Captain Cook's visits. His observations on the leading Hawaiian 

 kings and chiefs and the primitive manners and customs of the 

 people are presented in a very interesting manner. The modern 

 spelling of Hawaiian names has happily been adopted by the 

 publisher, which greatly facilitates the reading of the journal. 



The reader may be somewhat disappointed, however, in not 

 finding in the journal a greater wealth of botanical descrip- 

 tion, especially in view of the fact that 19 species and varieties 

 of Hawaiian plants, including one of the famous tree ferns, have 

 been named after ^lenzies. 



Alenzies did much, however, to improve the fiora of the islands 

 for the immediate benefit of the early Hawaiians, for he dis- 

 tributed vegetable seed which he brought with him from England 

 and landed young orange trees, sprouted on board his vessel 

 from seed secured at the Cape. On his later voyage he had the 

 satisfaction of seeing these growing successfully. 



In connection with the introduction of cattle and sheep by 

 Captain Vancouver, an interesting episode is related in the jour- 

 nal concerning their first progeny. In 1793 the first calf was 

 born in Kona and the natives, in their eagerness to show it to 

 Kamehameha, carried it overland to Hilo, feeding it during the 

 several days of the journey on fish and water. Menzies relates 

 that the calf survived this separation from its mother and even 

 waxed fat on the unusual diet. 



Probably the most interesting facts brought out by the volume 

 are that Menzies was the first educated white man to explore the 

 interior of Hawaii and West ]\Iaui, the first to scale Hualalai, and 

 the first white man, and very likely the first human being, to 

 reach the summit of ]\Iauna Loa. His accounts of these ad- 

 ventures make verv good reading. 



C. S. I. 



Tlic Hardwoods of Australia and Their Ecouofuics. By Richard 

 T. Baker, Curator and Economic Botanist. Lecturer on For- 

 estry, Sydney University, and author of several other works 

 on Australian flora. 

 This is a splendid quarto volume from the government print- 

 ing ofiice of New South Wales, issued under the auspices of the 

 Technological Museum of that state. Impressed upon heavy 

 calendered paper its 522 pages, including an exhaustive index, the 

 book is bountifully illustrated with views of standing trees and 

 sections of the dififerent kinds of wood. There also are many 

 natural color plates of the grain of the various hardwoods used 

 in the arts. 



