CorENso.— Botany of the North Island of New Zealand. 277. 
greatly diminished, but this is entirely owing to the natives having generally 
given up the dressing the plant for sale, to the dearth of hand-labour, and to 
the difficulty in properly preparing its fibre for use by machinery, which 
difficulty, however, will without doubt be eventually overcome. From official 
statistical papers it is gathered that the export of hand-dressed flax, during 
the ten years ending 1852, from the port of Wellington alone, amounted to 
523 tons 15 ewt., value £7,200; of which nearly one-fourth, or 128 tons 10 
ewt. 85 Ibs., was exported in one year, 1850. Of late years the export of this 
article has been very small compared with what it once was and with what it 
is firmly believed it will yet be. 
(2.) The kapia or kauri gum is, as its colonial name shows, a gum, or 
rather a resin, from the kauri pine (Dammara australis) ; it is not, however, 
obtained in the present living kauri pine forests, but only in the north parts 
of the Province of Auckland, where, it is believed, such trees formerly grew ; 
yet of such ancient forests no other trace generally remains than the resin 
itself, slightly buried in the soil. Large tractsof thecountry northof Auckland, 
particularly of the more barren spots, are of this description, and much of it 
has been already dug over, carelessly perhaps, and the resin collected. Tt 
is now about twenty years since the kauri gum was first noticed as an article 
of export; and it has been mainly, if not entirely, gathered by the aborigines 
from the Thames to the North Cape. The quantity exported from Auck- 
land in 1863 was 1,4001 tons, worth £27 026; and the total quantity 
exported from that province during the ten years ending 1862, amounted to 
18,575 tons 18 cwt. 84 lbs., worth £174,148. The largest quantity exported 
in any one year (1857) was 2,464 tons 10 ewt., worth £34,550. 
(3.) Another peculiar article of export, which has also been extensively 
used in the eolony for tanning, is the bark of the towai (Weinmannia race- 
mosa). This tree, or a closely allied species, is more or less common 
throughout the island, but it is much more abundant in the northern parts, 
where, too, its bark has been more particularly gathered for use, and 
exported for tanning purposes. 
(4.) Other indigenous vegetable substances which have been both 
successfully used and brought to market are, the kareao or supplejack 
creeper (Rhipogonum parviflorum), as coarse basket and wicker work ; 
brooms, for ship and domestic purposes, made of the twiggy manuka 
(Leptospermum scoparium); the woody stems of the white mangrove 
(Avicennia officinalis), for soapmaking ; the downy pappus hune, from the 
fruiting heads of the large bulrush (Lypha angustifolia), for beds, bolsters, and 
pillows ; and honey, since the introduction of bees and their becoming wild. 
Of this last article a large quantity increasing every year, partieularly at 
the North, finds its way into the market. 
