TE PITO TE HENUA, OK EASTER ISLAND. 455 



was given. Hotu-Matua and his followers are believed tobave brought 

 with them potatoes, yams, bananas, sugarcane, and the seed of various 

 plants, including the paper-mulberry and toromirp trees. The newly 

 discovered species of legume, together with tish and turtle, enabled the 

 first settlers to exist while the first crop was being planted and culti- 

 vated. 



Nothing could be more contradictory than the. description which the 

 different voyagers have given of Easter Island. Roggeveeu states that 

 it was destitute of trees, but the land was found to be exceptionally fer- 

 tile, producing bananas, potatoes, and sugar-cane of extraordinary thick- 

 ness, and concludes by saying that the island, by virtue of its productive 

 soil and salubrious climate, could be made an earthly paradise by careful 

 cultivation. Behrens speaks of trees on the island, but to his romantic 

 eyes the clusters of- banana and paper- mulberries were magnified into 

 forests. Captain Cook expresses great disappointment in the expecta- 

 tion that he had formed of this island as a place of refreshment. The 

 only articles of importance obtained were potatoes and yams, and these 

 were only sufficient to serve for a few meals; while the fowls, bananas, 

 and sugar-cane were in such inconsiderable quantities that they were 

 deemed hardly worth mentioning. George Foster writes: 



The island is so very barren that the whole number of plants growing upon il docs 

 not exceed twenty species, of which the, far greater part is cultivated, though the 

 space which the platforms occupy is inconsiderable compared with what lies waste. 

 The soil is altogether stony and parched by the sun, and the water is so scarce that, 

 the inhabitants drink it out of wells which have a strong admixture of brine, and 

 some of our people really saw them drink id' the sea water when they were thirsty. 



Mr. Foster devoted considerable attention to the investigation of 

 indigenous plants, ami his report embraces all of the most important 

 varieties. He found the paper-mulberry carefully cultivated for the 

 purpose of making cloth. The steins were from 2 to 1 feet high, and 

 tiny were planted in rows among the rocks where the rains had 

 washed a little soil together. The Thcnpesid populnea Carr. (Hibiscus 

 l><>l)iihi< its Linn.), was cultivated in the same manner, and likewise 

 a Mimosa, which is referred to as the only shrub that affords the 

 natives sticks for their clubs and pattoo-pattoos, and wood sufficient 

 to patch up a canoe. Wild celery and a few other small plants were 

 identified as the same species as that which he had found growing in 

 abundance on the shores of New Zealand. lie also discovered a variety 

 of night-shade, which the Tahiti aus use as a vulnerary remedy (Solantim 

 nigrum), and speculates as to whether it was used here for the same pur- 

 pose. 



La Perouse, impressed with a desire to relieve to some extent the 

 destitute condition in which he found the islanders and of contributing 

 essentially and lastingly to their welfare, had ground prepared in which 

 he sowed, various kinds of pulse. Peaches, plums, and cherries were 

 planted, also pips of oranges inn! lemons. The natives were instructed 



