Aufe m Neiu Zealand. 



15 



the inhabitants. The genus of Morinda seems worthy of being examined as to its 

 properties for dj-eing. Browne, in his History of Jamaica^ mentions three species 

 whose roots, he says, are used to dye a brown colour; and Rumphius says of his 

 Bancudus angustifolia \^Morinda a^igiistifolia^ , which is very nearly allied to our nono^ 

 that it is used b}^ the inhabitants of the East Indian Islands as a fixing drug for the 

 colour of red, with which he says it particular!}' agrees. 



"Thej- also d3-e 3-ellow with the fruit of a tree called tamami {Calophyllum 

 Inopliyllu7n) ^ but their method I never had the fortune to see. It seems, however, 

 to be chiefly esteemed b}^ them for the smell, more agreeable to an Indian than an 

 European nose, which it gives to the cloth." 



Because I am inclined to follow so interesting a narrator, I shall take v!\y 

 readers next to New Zealand, still quoting from Sir Joseph Banks : — 



"After this the}^ showed us a great rarit}-, six plants of what the}- called aoitto 

 \aute\ , from whence they make cloth like that of Otahite. The plant proved exactl}' 

 the same, as the name is the same, Morns papyrifera^ Linn, (the Paper Mulberr}'). 

 The same plant is used by the Chinese to make paper. Whether the climate does not 

 well agree with it I do not know, but they seemed to value it very much ; that it was 

 very scarce among them I am inclined to believe, as we have not yet seen among them 

 pieces large enough for any use, but only bits sticking into the holes of their ears." ' 



Now that we are at the extreme southwest end of Poljmesia, we may add to 

 this statement what little there is to be said about this ante so far from home. It is 

 not merely a matter of manufacfture, but a far wider interest that affects us just here 

 — the whence of the Maori branch of the Pol3'nesian race, and so slight are the records 

 that we grasp each witness and wring from him an}- scintilla of evidence. The Maori 

 came to New Zealand "from the northward" some time after another branch of the 

 same family, the Moriori, of whom we unfortunately know little," had colonized on 

 the group. Did they bring the cloth plant with them (as they did other useful 

 things), and from what group? The climate of New Zealand was too cold and windy 

 for such frail material as bark cloth for clothing; the strong native flax was soon 

 found more suitable, but the name and memory clung to the people, and remain 

 to the present day when the plant has gone from New Zealand, and the bark is 



' Loc. cit., p. 206. 



'The Bishop Museum has a fairly goorl collection of Moriori stone and 1)one iniplcnieiits from Cliatliani Island, 

 where the tribe finally perished, driven before their more warlike cousins. They were purchased for us by a former 

 member of our staff, Mr. Acland Wansey, now of Duugog, N. S. W., and they show good workmanship. 



