ZEALAND, NEW. 



163 



cordage as they require, but also the cloaks, or 

 mats, as they have been somewhat improperly call- 

 ed, which form their clothing. This plant is re- 

 peatedly noticed by Cook ; and Mr Anderson des- 

 i ribes the flax produced from it as of a silky fineness, 

 and superior to any thing we possess. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Queen Charlotte's Sound, in the south- 

 ern island, it grows, he says, everywhere near the 

 sea, and in some places a considerable way up the 

 hills, springing up from the earth in bunches or 

 tufts, with sedgelike leaves, and bearing on a long 

 stalk, yellowish flowers, which give place to long 

 roundish pods, filled with very thin, shining, black 

 seeds. This is very nearly the description of it 

 given by Mr Nicholas, who saw it in the northern 

 island, where he found it flourishing with equal 

 luxuriance in the most exposed as in the most shel- 

 tered situations, and growing to the height of from 

 five to seven feet. It bears a strong resemblance, 

 he says, to our common flag, only that the stem is 

 much thicker, and the flowers less expanded, and 

 of a red colour. It belongs to the genus to which 

 Linnaeus gives the name of Phormium ; and seven 

 varieties of it have already, it seems, been disco- 

 vered in New Zealand. Of these, one is particu- 

 larly described as remarkable for the facility with 

 which its boon, or useless vegetable matter, admits 

 of being separated from the fibres. Fibre of a 

 peculiarly silky lustre and softness is also said to 

 be produced from another species, which is under- 

 stood to grow in the more southern parts of the 

 country. Valuable, however, as is the phormium 

 for the purposes to which alone it is applied in New 

 Zealand, it would appear that the attempts which 

 have been made to fabricate from it what is pro- 

 perly called cloth, have not hitherto been attended 

 with a favourable result. Some years ago, a quan- 

 tity of hemp that had been manufactured from the 

 plant at Sydney, in New South Wales, was sent to 

 be woven at Knaresborough ; but " the trial," it 

 is stated, " did not succeed to the full satisfaction 

 of the parties." 



Among the useful plants for which we are indebt- 

 ed to New Zealand, is the summer spinach (tetra- 

 gonia expansu Murray), which was discovered in 

 Cook's first voyage by Sir Joseph Banks, and was 

 " boiled and eaten as greens" by the crew. It was 

 afterwards seen by Forster at Tongataboo, though it 

 was not used by the natives ; but Thunberg found 

 the Japanese acquainted with its value as a pot-herb. 

 It was introduced into Kew Gardens in 1772 ; but 

 the first account of it as a vegetable worthy of cul- 

 tivation, was published by Count D' Auraches in the 

 Atmales d'Agriculture for 1809. Its chief advan- 

 tage lies in the leaves being fit for use during the 

 summer, even in the driest weather, up to the set- 

 ting 1 in of the frosts, when the common spinach is 

 useless ; but it is not reckoned of so fine a flavour 

 as that plant. The Rev. J. Bransby says, that the 

 produce of three seeds (which must be reared by 

 heat before planting out) supplied his own table, 

 and those of two of his friends, from June till the 

 frost killed it. The plants should be six feet 

 asunder, and, to save room, planted on ridges two 

 feet high. 



As yet, the mineralogy of New Zealand has been 

 as imperfectly investigated as its botany. A blue 

 pigment, which the natives make use of to paint 

 their faces, appears to be manganese. They also, 

 as has been already mentioned, make certain of 

 their weapons, and carving tools, of a green talc, 

 or jasper stone, which is found only in the southern 



island, and, at least, before they became acquainted 

 with iron, used to be accounted by themselves a 

 very precious article. Captain Cook remarked, on 

 his first visit, the great quantities of iron-sand which 

 were brought down to the shore by every little 

 rivulet of fresh water from the interior, and regarded 

 the fact as a demonstration that there was ore 

 of that metal not far inland. Mr Nicholas, while 

 in the country, procured one or two pieces of 

 pumice stone, which the natives made use of in 

 polishing their spears, and likewise some obsidian 

 or volcanic glass ; but he seems to think that these 

 substances are not produced in New Zealand ; al- 

 though, in thai case, it would not be easy to con- 

 ceive where the inhabitants could have obtained 

 them. 



The native land animals of New Zealand are not 

 numerous. The most common is said to be one 

 resembling our fox-dog, which is sometimes eaten 

 for food. It runs wiid in the woods, and is described 

 by Mr Savage as usually of a black and white 

 skin, with pricked up ears and the hair rather long. 

 But it may perhaps be doubted if even this quad- 

 ruped is a native of the country. There are in 

 New Zealand a few rats, and bats; and the coasts 

 are frequented by seals of different species. One of 

 the natives told Captain Cook that there was in 

 the interior a lizard of eight feet long, and as thick 

 as a man's body, which burrowed in the ground, 

 and sometimes seized and devoured men. This 

 animal, is probably an alligator. 



There are not many species of insects, those seen 

 by Mr Anderson, who accompanied Cook, being 

 only a few dragon-flies, butterflies, grasshoppers, 

 spiders, and black ants, vast numbers of scorpion 

 flies, and a sand-fly which is described as the only 

 noxious insect in the country. It insinuates itself 

 under the foot, and bites like a mosquito. 



The birds of New Zealand are very numerous, 

 and almost all peculiar to the country. Among 

 them are many sorts of wild ducks, large wood- 

 pigeons, sea-gulls, rails, parrots, and paroquets. 

 They are generally very tame. Rutherford states, 

 that during his long residence he became very ex- 

 pert, after the manner of the natives, in catching 

 birds with a noosed string, and that he has thus 

 caught thousands of ground parrots with a line 

 about fifty feet long. The most remarkable bird 

 is one to which Cook's people gave the name of 

 the mocking-bird, from the extraordinary variety of 

 its notes. There is also another which was called 

 by the English the poe, or poi bird, from a little 

 tuft of white curled feathers which it has under its 

 throat, and which seemed to them to resemble cer- 

 tain white flowers worn as ornaments in the ears by 

 the people of Otaheite, and known there by a simi- 

 lar name. This bird is also remarkable both for 

 the beauty of its plumage and the sweetness of its 

 note. Its power of song is the more remarkable as 

 it belongs to the class of birds which feed on honey, 

 whose notes are generally not melodious. 



One of the chief sources of natural wealth which 

 New Zealand possesses, consists in the abundance 

 and variety of the fish which frequent its coasts. 

 Wherever he went, Captain Cook, in his different 

 visits to the two islands, was amply supplied with 

 this description of food, of which he says, that six 

 or eight men, with hooks and lines, would in some 

 places catch daily enough to serve the whole ship's 

 company. Among the different species which are 

 described as being found, we may mention mackerel, 

 lobsters, crayfish, a sort called by the sailors cole- 

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