234: Essays. 
landing of the adventurous and celebrated British navigator Cook,—the great 
navigator of and for all nations,—on these shores, with his illustrious band of 
devoted disciples of natural science! For although many a botanist has 
followed in their steps in New Zealand, yet none has equalled them, whether 
the obstacles which impeded, or the fruits of their labours, or their devoted- 
ness to their calling, or the correctness of their views, be duly considered. 
2. But it is only during the nineteenth century that insular botany has 
begun to receive that attention which it demands. It could not advantage- 
ously have been studied much earlier; and even now it may justly be said 
to be in its infancy. Island floras, with their geology and climate, have to 
be more fully explored and made known; and species have to be more 
clearly defined, and the bounds of varieties ascertained; and the innate 
powers of a plant to evolve and change under favourable natural conditions 
have to be better understood, ere many important questions can be satis- 
factorily answered. Yet that day will come. Every natural fact collected 
and recorded by the true lover of science is a step towards it.. The sphinx, 
Nature, is daily being evoked by her faithful sons; and her answers, always 
extorted and always correct, (though not always interpreted correctly), are 
being registered for future generations. To us it appears strange that a 
species should be found here, in New Zealand, and its like only at the 
antipodes ; or perhaps at one of the two great southern capes of America, or 
Africa; or, which is far more probable, only at some small islet—a mere 
speck in the oceanic waste of waters—as Juan Fernandez or Easter Island, 
the Falkland Islands or Tristan d’Acunha, St. Paul’s or Amsterdam, Ker- 
guelen’s Land or Norfolk Island. Is it the very same identical species, or 
is it only similar? If it is similar, has it become changed through climate, 
situation, and soil? and if so, how much more may it not change? If the 
same, was there more than one original germ of its kind? If only one, 
in which spot was it first? and how many ages rolled by ere it was first 
found in the other? and how many before it became common therein? Or 
were the present widely dissevered localities then one continent? and if so, 
how long a period did it require for the said one germ to reach its present 
outermost range—assuming such germ to have been originally placed in its 
centre? If not from one germ but many, were all, required for the various 
localities, created together? or some earlier, some later? and if so, which 
localities were the earlier, which the later supplied? Does every island, or 
island group, far from any mainland, contain genera and species peculiar to 
itself, (among many which are congeneric with others in the nearest, though 
far off, land), and thereby constitute a botanical centre or region? Wereall 
existing species created at once? or are species still being created? or has 
ME TOS aaa and if so, when? Are all the so-called generic or 
