TEANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE, 



1896. 



L— MISCELLANEOUS, 



Aet. I. — Traces of Civilization : an Inqtdry into the History 

 of the Pacific. 



By Joshua Eutland. 



Communicated by E. Tregear, F.R.G.S. 



[^Read before the Wellington Philosovhical Society, 22nd July, 23rd Sep- 

 tember, and 11th November, 1896.] 



I. — Intkoduction : Cultivated Plants of New 

 Zealand. 



Ever since Nunez de Balboa first beheld its waters from the 

 heights of Panama, the Pacific Ocean, or Great South Sea 

 as it was long familiarly styled, has been a region of mystery. 

 Until iVIagalhaens discovered the strait that bears his name 

 it seemed to be walled off from the Atlantic, or North Sea, 

 and from the civilized world beyond, by an unbroken barrier 

 of land that stretched from pole to pole. After European 

 mariners were afloat on its surface, what lands, what conti- 

 nents, what islands lay within its broad expanse and around 

 its shores, remained for centuries unknown. As the explorer 

 and the geographer solved these questions new sources of 

 wonder revealed themselves. Strange forms of animal and 

 vegetable life — pouched quadrupeds, wingless birds, leafless 

 trees — were brought to light, setting the poet rhyming and 

 the naturalist thinking how these discoveries agreed with 

 long-cherished beliefs they were destined to subvert. 

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