EuTLAND. — History of the Pacific. 21 



which has not been satisfactorily determined. Of these nine 

 species, all but one — the kumara — belong to the Asiatic flora, 

 and must have found their way into Polynesia from the west. 

 In that direction, therefore, it seems reasonable to seek the 

 origin of Polynesian agriculture. Of the eight Asiatic species, 

 the breadfruit, banana, Malay apple, yam, alocasia, taro, aute, 

 and calabash — on the first six of which the Polynesians were 

 mainly dependent for food — belong, probably, to the Malay 

 Islands. The breadfruit, as we have already seen, is unable 

 to live on the mainland ; the now widely-distributed banana 

 and the Malay apple, as far as can be determined, originally 

 belonged to the island region ; while the taro, alocasia, and 

 yam may have been brought into cultivation either there or on 

 the continent, being found wild in both situations. The ques- 

 tion, then, naturally arises. Is the Malay Archipelago the 

 birthplace, or one of the birthplaces, of agriculture ? — for it is 

 quite possible the art may have had more than one starting- 

 point. 



The presence of the seedless breadfruits and bananas in 

 eastern Polynesia, and of the aute or paper mulberry in New 

 Zealand, proves beyond doubt that both regions were regu- 

 larly colonised, and not accidentally peopled, as many writers 

 have asserted. We know that into New Zealand all the 

 cultivated plants the Polynesian people possessed capable of 

 withstanding the climate were introduced. It seems there- 

 fore reasonable to conclude that in like manner all the plants 

 in cultivation amongst the people of the Malay Archipelago at 

 the period of Polynesian colonisation were also transplanted 

 there, the climatic conditions of the two regions being the 

 same. 



In Polynesian agriculture, at a period immediately pre- 

 ceding the European intrusion, we have, then, evidence of 

 what Malay agriculture was at a more remote epoch. Con- 

 sidered as a whole, the Malayan plants found in cultivation 

 amongst the people of the Pacific form a collection of escu- 

 lents well adapted to support a people dwelling within or near 

 the equatorial belt, where vegetable growth is constant 

 throughout the year, and where, owing to the absence of 

 periodicity, it is unnecessary to store provisions during any 

 great length of time ; but, besides their incapacity to with- 

 stand a low temperature, the perishable nature of their pro- 

 ducts unfits these species for countries where, from the lack 

 of moisture or a low temperature, vegetation is periodically 

 suspended. 



Leaving Polynesian agriculture, if we direct our attention 

 to other portions of the earth we will find that both in 

 ancient and modern times the labour of the husbandman has 

 been chiefly directed to the production of commodities capable 



