428 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC ch. xxviii 



(5) It is not considered that the distribution of aboriginal weeds 

 can materially aid the ethnologist in his study of the early history of 

 man, since birds are regarded as the chief distributors of their seeds 

 and fruits. Whilst man has prepared the conditions for the growth 

 of weeds, the bird has usually brought the seeds. 



(6) Amongst interesting plants concerned with man in the 

 Pacific are Aleurites moluccana and Inocarpus edulis, which are 

 regarded as in the main distributed through man's agency. 

 Gyrocarpus Jacquini is viewed as a tree originally widely 

 dispersed by the currents in the Pacific, but now becoming extinct. 



