SOLANACE^ 



449 



appreciated this attempt at cultivation, for writing in his Journal on 

 29th May, Captain Cook says : 



One of these people I took over to Motuara, and showed him some pota- 

 toes planted there by Mr Fanner, Master of the 'Adventure.' There seemed 

 to be no doubt of their succeeding; and the man was so well pleased with 

 them, that he, of his own accord, began to hoe the earth about the plants. 

 We next took him to the other gardens and showed him the turnips, carrots 

 and parsnips ; roots which, together with the potatoes, will be of more real 

 use to them than all the other articles we had planted. 



These other gardens referred to here, included those made early in 

 May, 1773. Forster writes : 



On May 22nd we went over to an island in the Sound to which Captain 

 Cook had given the name of Long Island. Captain Cook, who was deter- 

 mined to omit nothing which might tend to the preservation of European 

 garden plants in this country, prepared the soil, sowed seeds, and trans- 

 planted the young plants in four or five different parts of this island. He 

 had cultivated a spot of ground on the beach of Long Island, another on 

 the Hippah rock, two more on the Motu-Aro, and one of considerable 

 extent at the bottom of Ship's Cove, where our vessels lay at anchor. 

 He chiefly desired to raise such vegetables as have useful and nutritive 

 roots, and among them particularly potatoes, of which we had been able 

 to preserve but few in a state of preservation. 



On his third voyage Captain Cook visited these gardens and in 

 his Journal, under date 15th February, 1777, he says: 



When the 'Adventure ' arrived first at Queen Charlotte Sound in 1773, 

 Mr Bayly fixed upon this place (the Hippah or fortified village at the S.W. 

 point of Motuara) for making his observations; and he and the people 

 with him, at their leisure hours, planted several spots with English garden 

 seeds. Not the least vestige of these now remained. It is probable that 

 they had been all rooted out to make room for buildings, when the village 

 was re-inhabited, for, at all the other gardens then planted by Captain 

 Fumeaux, although now wholly over-run with the weeds of the country, 

 we found cabbages, onions, leeks, purslain, radishes, mustard, etc., and 

 a few potatoes. These potatoes, which were first brought from the Cape 

 of Good Hope, had been greatly improved by change of soil; and, with 

 proper cultivation would be superior to those produced in most other 

 countries. Though the New Zealanders are fond of this root, it was evident 

 that they had not taken the trouble to plant a single one (much less any 

 other of the articles which we had introduced) ; and if it were not for the 

 difficulty of clearing ground where potatoes had once been planted, there 

 would not have been any now remaining. 



Though Captain Cook did not look hopefully on the cultivation 

 of the potato by the Maoris — those natives he met with at Queen 

 Charlotte Sound being rather a poor lot — there is no doubt that the 

 tubers were carried about by them and scattered throughout the 

 various tribes north and south. In 1813 Captain Williams reported 



T. N. Z. 29 



