172 Essays. 
applied that may not be accomplished by having recourse to the indigenous 
trees of the country. And it must not be forgotten that in most European 
countries the timber which is operated on by the carpenter, shipwright, or 
furniture maker, is either grown in the country, the produce of exotic species 
naturalized, or else—as to take, for instance, the teak and mahogany—is 
directly imported from foreign countries. 
Of the other substances useful to man which the vegetable kingdom 
yields, comparatively little is known. The gum of the kauri (Dammara 
australis) is exported from the northern parts of the North Island in con- 
siderable quantities, and its collection furnishes employment to a con- 
siderable number of Maoris. Of the gums or extracts yielded by the 
trees of this island hardly anything is known, for they have not as yet been 
the object of any direct observation or experiment. . 
In plants yielding fibre the country appears to be unusually rich. There is 
the well-known Phormium tena, which, though not yet utilized as an article 
of export,—chiefly, in all probability, in consequence of the very high remu- 
neration of labour that has hitherto prevailed,—is nevertheless daily applied, 
in its crude state, to an endless variety of useful purposes, both by the 
Maoris and the settlers. There is the tiof the Maoris (Cordyline), the fibre 
of which is as strong as that of the Phormium, while the leaf, when used green, 
is considerably tougher and more lasting. On account of these qualities it 
is the substance used by the natives in the construction of the sandals which 
they extemporize upon a journey ; and various species of the natural order 
of the Malvaceæ, the Plagianthus, and the Hoheria, termed by the colonists 
ribbon-wood, yield barks admitting of being torn into strips of great tenacity, 
and admitting, probably, of useful applications in the arts. While upon this 
subject, I may mention that when in the Province of Otago in the year 
1844, I saw excellent strong fishing-lines which were made of the epidermis 
which clothes the under surface of the leaf of the Celmisia coriacea twisted 
up into a string, and I saw at the same time another application of the same — 
material in the shape of an excellent pair of soft mocassins or leggings, of 
native manufacture, which were made out of a cloth formed by using the 
aforesaid string as a yarn, and rudely weaving it. The leggings had very 
much the feel and consistence of soft buff leather. 
I hardly consider it necessary to apologize for mentioning this circum- 
stance, as I am sure most people will agree with me that it is desirable to 
place on record those little incidents of native habits and resources which 
otherwise, owing to the great changes that have taken place in the Maoris 
within a few years, would soon be altogether forgotten. 
. Of the native grasses of New Zealand several are considered by the 
_flock-owners to possess high nutritive powers; but it is universally remarked 
