234 Essays. 



landing of tLe adventurous and celebrated Britisli navigator Cook, — the great 

 navigator of and for all nations, — on these shores, witli Ms illustrious band of 

 devoted disciples of natural science ! For altbongb many a botanist has 

 followed in their steps in N^ew 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. Tet 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 sj)ot 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 v.ith others in the nearest, though 

 far off, land), and thereby constitute a botanical Ccutre or region ? Were all 

 existing species created at once ? or are species still being created ? or has 

 such creation ceased ? and if so, when ? Are all the so-called generic or 



