278 Essays. 



28. It is reasonably believed that there are yet several indigenous 

 plants and vegetable substances which, may prove to be variable both for 

 use and export, some of which are all but quite unknown to arts and 

 manufactures : a few of them will be here mentioned : — 



(1.) Op Timbers: — (&. Known liard tvoods.) The mairetawhake (-2Ji<;_^emff 

 maire) ; the rohutu {Myrtus fedunculatd), especially the larger southern 

 tree ; the maire {Santalum cunningliamii) , a small tree with dark bark, of the 

 sandalwood genus, scarcely averaging 30 feet in height, only known as grow- 

 ing in the dry forests northward of 36° S.; the manoao {Daorydium colensoi) , 

 a small hard-wooded pine, incorruptible, according to the natives, found 

 sparingly in high and dry forests on the East Coast, north of "Whangarei, 

 and also in the mountainous country near Taupo ; and the long-leaved 

 My r sine (J/, salicind), being the next species to the well-known and valued 

 beech-like tipau or mapau (Ji". australis), and also a much larger tree. 



(b. Trees supposed to he hard-wooded?) The taAvari {Ixerha hrexioides) , 

 the toro (Persoonia toro), the kohuhu, and the tarata {Pittosporum tenui- 

 folium and P. eugenioides), and the porokaiwhiri {Hedycarya dentata) ; 

 besides which there are the white-wooded horoeka {Aralia crassifoUa), the 

 kaikomako (Petinantia corymiosd), the large species of PlagiantJius (P. 

 betulinus) , and the Epicarpurus micropliyllus (or Tropliis opaca) ; all these, 

 from their known aifinities, are well worthy of a trial. 



(2.) Op Barks : 2,. for dyeing ; the hinau and the pokaka (JElcBocarpus 

 dentatics and E. Iioolcerianus) , for dyeing black ; and the makomako 

 (Aristotelia racernosd) for a blue-black. — b. for tanning ; the toatoa, or 

 tanekaha (Pliyllocladus tricliomanoides) , the makamaka (Ackama roscBfolid), 

 so closely allied to the towai ; and the maanawa, or white mangrove 

 {Avicennia tomentosa) , the bark of which is said to be extensively used for 

 tanning at Eio Janeiro. 



(3.) Sundries : The living bark, branches, stumps and roots, and even 

 leaves, of the kauri pine would yield a large amount of kauri resin under 

 proper management. The fibrous leaves of the keikei {Freycinetia hanhsii) 

 are an excellent article for men's hats, far better than the largely imported 

 common cabbage-tree hat, and but little inferior to a coarse Leghorn or 

 Manilla one, as the writer knows from experience. A serviceable oil* could 

 be largely extracted from the seeds of the titoki {Alectryon excelsuiii) ; and 

 from the aromatic leaves and bark of the pukatea {AtJierosperma novce- 

 zealandicd) a valuable essential oil might also be extracted, seeing that from 

 a closely allied Tasmanian plant {A. moscliata) an essential oil, called 

 " sassafras oil," has been obtained ; and Dr. P. Mueller has recently 



* In 1849 the writer sent two bottles of tliis oil to the Kew Museum of Economic 

 Botany ; one was cold-drawn, and the other expressed by heat. 



