"Ort the Flax of New 'Zealand. '341 



Viqiior is reduced to and measured at that heat ; and the 

 computation from them, though most strictly accurate in 

 that case, will therefore be liable to some small eiTor in the 

 extremes of tempeniture ; they will, however, be found to 

 be sufficiently correct for all practical purposes. Should 

 the legislature change the standard of proof, they will of 

 course become in a great measure useless as well as tlie in- 

 struments which are graduated from them, and new ones 

 must therefore be calculated. 



LXIII. Extract vf a Memoir read in the French National 

 Institute, on the Strength of the Flax of New Zealand, 

 compared with that of the Filaments of the Aloe, of Hemp, 

 Flax, and Silk. By C. Labillardiei\e. 



-L HE flax of New Zealand, which, a3 is well known,, is 

 obtained from a plant of the family of the asphodela, called 

 Fhormimn tenax, holds the first rank among the vegetable 

 fibres, yet known, proper for the making of ropes. Thi;> 

 fact was first made known by the celebratea Captain Cook 

 and his illustrious fellow-navigntor Sir Joseph Banks. It 

 was afterwards confirmed by Dr. Forster, v.ho gave a good 

 <lescription of the plant, which he found growing in full 

 vigour during various excursions in New Zealand, at seve- 

 ral parts of which he touched when he accompanied Cap- 

 tain Cook on his second voyage round the world. A good 

 figure of the plant may be seen in the first volume of the 

 account of that voyage, and also in Miller's Icones Plan- 

 tarujn. Dr. Forster has decribed all the parts of fructifica- 

 tion, sxiA illustrated them with figures, in his work on the 

 new genera of plants discovered in the South Seas. 



No person, however, has *'ver yet attempted to ascertain 

 how far the fibres of the Fhormiuni tenax are superior in 

 t;trength to those of hemp. 'I'hi-^- is the object of the present 

 memoir, in which I shall compare their strength with that of 

 the filaments of the aloe, of flax, and of silk. It is of the 

 more importance to examine the strength of the flax of New' 

 Zealand, as compared with that of hemp in particular, bc- 

 icause it might be substituted for the latter with great ad- 

 vantage in the navv. whereas ike other substances are too 

 ijcarce and too dear, or much inferior in utility. 



The flax of New Zealand, which I submitted to exami- 

 nation in order to ascertain it-; strength, wa-: given to me 

 in exchange for toys by some of the iuhal)itaiit> of that txten- 

 «jvc country, with whom we had an ir.trrcouric, towards its 

 V J northern 



