1772 BANKS' MUSEUM 211 



species of wealth, which could tempt the polite Europeans 

 to cut their throats and rob them. The second room con- 

 tains the different habits and ornaments of the several 

 Indian nations they discovered, together with the raw 

 materials of which they are manufactured. All the garments 

 of the Otaheite Indians, & the adjacent islands are made 

 of the inner bark of the Morus papyrifera, and of the bread 

 Tree, Chitodon altile ; this cloth, if it may be so called, is very 

 light and elegant, and has much the appearance of writing 

 paper, but is more soft and pliant ; it seems excellently 

 adapted to these climates; indeed most of these tropical 

 islands, if we can credit our friend's description of them, are 

 terrestrial paradises. The New Zelanders, who live in much 

 higher southern latitudes, are clad in a very different 

 manner; in the winter they wear a kind of mats made of 

 a particular species of Cyperus grass. In the summer they 

 generally go naked, except a broad belt about their loins, 

 made of the outer fibres of the cocoa nut, very neatly plaited ; 

 of these materials they make their fishing lines both here 

 and in the tropical isles. When they go upon an expedition, 

 or pay or receive visits of compliment, the chieftains appear 

 in handsome cloaks ornamented with tufts of white Dog's 

 hair ; the materials of which these cloaks are made, are pro- 

 duced from a species of Hexandria plant very common in 

 new Zeland; something resembling our Hemp, but of a 

 finer harl, and much stronger, and when wrought into 

 garments is as soft as silk ; if the seeds of this plant thrive 

 with us, as probably they will, this will be perhaps the most 

 useful discovery they made in the whole voyage. 



"But to return to our second room. Here is likewise a 

 large collection of insects; several fine specimens of the 

 bread & other fruits preserved in spirits ; together with a 

 compleat hortus siccus of all the plants collected in the 

 course of the Voyage. The number of plants is about 

 3000 ; 110 of which are new genera and 1300 new species, 



