342 On the Flax of New Zealand. 



northern point, during the voyage undertaken in search of 

 Perouse; \'eatose !2t2d, 1st year ot" the republic. The plant 

 which produces it is of trreal use to these savages ; andwhen 

 they approached us, the first articles tliey exhibited were 

 large handt'uls of its leaves prepared for various purposes, 

 Even when at a considerable distance from us thev waved 

 them with a sort of entiiu^iasni, as if desirous to make 

 known to us their value, and we soon found that we had 

 properly understood tliis kind of language, for they set a 

 very high price on them when thev got on board our vessel. 



For my experiments I preferred thc;se filaments to those 

 produced from the leaves of the same plant raised in greeur 

 houses, where tlie fibres certainly do not acquire so much 

 Strength as in the open air ; besides, the season proper for 

 collecting leaves capable of giving the strongest fibres can 

 be known only bv experience. 



The apparatus I employed for ascertaining the strength 

 of the ditferent fibres which I subjected to trial consisted 

 of two pieces of wood, ten inches in height, fixed on a 

 plank in a vertical direction, at the distance of 6 centime- 

 ters, or 2-598 inches from each other; they were slightlv 

 rounded at the vipper extremity, and on the exterior part of 

 each was fixed a small iron cylinder, about a millimetre in 

 diameter. To these two small cylinders I afhxed the fila- 

 inents the strength of which I intended to try. Thev rested 

 on each side on the rounded extremities of the pieces of 

 wood already nientioned. I took the precaution to employ 

 fibres of the same diameter, that is -J^ of a millimetre or 

 ()'0443 of a line, which I verified by means of a microscope 

 and a good micrometer, taking care to twist equallv the 

 part of the filament which I examined, having chosen it 

 as far as possible of the same dimensions throughout its 

 whole length. I tried the strength of it from every 8 centi- 

 metres to 8 centimetres, or every '2 inches 11*464 Unes, 

 v.hich \\as the distance between the pieces of wood, and I 

 suspended from abqut the middle of it, by means of a wire 

 hook well covered with hemp, a weight which I increased 

 until the filament was broken. 



I took care tliat it should not be twisted, in order that I 

 might ascertain its w hole strength, for without this precau- 

 tion it \vould have broken, as is well known, much sooner. 

 Besides, for many reasons which it would be superfluous to 

 mention here, I should have obtained results much less cer- 

 tain ; and it is needless to observe that, in such cases, a 

 rigorous determination cannot be obtained^ but merely an 

 approximation. 



After 



