NEW ZEALAND FLAX. 285 



contains two smooth rollers, one of wood and the other of iron, 

 about a foot long and an inch thick, in a manner close to each other. 

 While one hand gives motion to the first of these rollers, and the 

 foot to the second, the other hand applies the cotton, which is 

 drawn through and separated from the seeds which remain behind. 

 Afterward they card and spin the cotton, and weaving it, convert it 

 into calico. 



On the island of Sumatra the silk cotton tree flourishes near the. 

 city of Acheen. These trees are large, and have a smooth ash- 

 coloured rind, and are generally full of fruit, which hangs down at 

 the ends of the twigs like purses, three or four inches long. No 

 tree can grow more regular and uniform : the lower branches being 

 always the largest and longest, and the upper gradually lessening to 

 the top. When the cotton is ripe, the cods drop off the tree, for 

 the cotton is so short, that it is not thought worth gathering; though 

 they will sometimes take the pains to pick it off the ground, to stuff 

 their quilts with. 



The cotton shrub of Hindostan is of great use, for of this they 

 manufacture ginghams, muslins, calicoes, &c. and therefore, every 

 year, sow large fields with the seed. 



The cotton tree is also cultivated there, and grows to a great 

 height. The fruit, if it may be so called, or pod, becomes of the 

 size of a hen's egg; and then bursting, like that of the shrub, yield* 

 a fine white wool. 



In Abyssinia, the cotton shrub is extremely plentiful. 

 [Linn. Lockyer. Barrow. Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses. 



SECTION III. 



New Zealand Flax. 

 Phormium tenax. Wilden. 

 The systematic name for the common flax is linum, of which 

 there are twenty-five known species ; the linum usitatissimum, 

 or peculiarly useful linum, being that employed in our manufacto. 

 ries of linen : several of the other species, however, being useful 

 to a certain extent for other purposes. The flax before us is of a 

 different genus, and is called phormium ; it possesses but one spe- 

 cies, that described above by the name of tenax. It is exquisitely 

 silky, grows luxuriantly in New Zealand, and will, as we trust, 



