EuTLAND. — History of the Pacific. 9 



sections into which the archipelago is divisible. As in the 

 case of the Maoris, the cultivated plants possessed by the 

 Polynesian people in the pre-European time were partly of 

 foreign origin, partly indigenous productions ; of the former 

 the most important were the breadfruit, banana, cocoanut, 

 yam, ape, Malay apple, and winter cherry, besides those 

 already mentioned as having found their way into New Zea- 

 land. 



Beeadpkuit (Artocarjms incisa). — In popular works the 

 breadfruit has been so intimately identified with Polynesian 

 people that we are apt to regard it not only as an indigenous 

 production, but as one confined to the islands. Its original 

 habitat was, however, the Malay Archipelago, where it was 

 brought into cultivation at so remote a period that the culti- 

 vated varieties, of which there are many, ceased to bear seed, 

 and are propagated by suckers.''' As eastward of the Fijis 

 only the cultivated or seedless varieties are found, it was 

 evidently introduced into and spread through Polynesia by 

 man.f 



Moresby informs us that the cocoanut and breadfruit are 

 the only two large trees capable of growing on the small 

 purely coral islands ; I their importance in Polynesia, where 

 so many of these small islands exist, is therefore evident. 



For the dissemination of the breadfruit some skill in the 

 art of agriculture was clearly necessary. Were, then, all other 

 evidence wanting, the presence of these seedless varieties 

 alone would be sufficient to prove the regular colonisation of 

 the islands. 



In the Marquesas, the most easterly of the Polynesian 

 groups, the breadfruit was the principal food of the inhabi- 

 tants, the best-known varieties being there grown. As these 

 varieties, of which Ellis states the early missionaries were 

 acquainted with fifty, § ripening in different seasons of the 

 year, must have been raised from seed, the question naturally 

 arises, Where was the cultivation effected? — eastward of the 

 Fijis no seeding specimens having been observed. To this 

 question I will return in another chapter. 



The breadfruit does not grow on the mainland of Asia. It 

 must, therefore, have been brought into cultivation within the 

 Malay Archipelago. Evidently, then, arboriculture was under- 

 stood in that portion of the world at a very early period. On 

 the mainland the breadfruit is represented by the jackfruit 

 {Artocarjnis integrifolia) , which is a native of Southern Asia. 



* "Jottings in the Pacific." W. Wyatt Gill. 

 t " Origin of Cultivated Plants." A. De CandoUe. 

 I " Discoveries in New Guinea and Polynesia." Captain 

 Moresby. 



§ "Polynesian Researches." W. Ellis (No. 1). 



