450 DICOTYLEDONS AND CONIFERS 



that the natives at the Bluff had a field of considerably more than 

 one hundred acres 



of potatoes which presented one well-cuhivated bed, filled with rising crops 

 of various ages, some of which were ready for digging, while others had 

 been but newly planted. Captain Fowler of the 'Matilda' was for eleven 

 days in Otago Harbour in 1813, and got potatoes from the natives. 



The Rev. Samuel Marsden who landed in the Bay of Islands in 1814 

 says of the native cultivations : 



Their potato plantations are all very neatly fenced in, and were in as high 

 condition as the gardens in and near London, as they do not suffer a single 

 weed to remain that would injure the growing crops. The flat where the 

 natives were encamped might contain somewhat about a hundred acres 

 or more, part of which was enclosed and planted with potatoes. We were 

 furnished with a good supply of potatoes and pork. 



A. Hamilton, writing of a massacre which took place at Otago 

 Heads in 1817, says: 



De Surville was, with Cook, supposed to have been the introducer of the 

 potato to the Maoris of the North Island and the northern part of the 

 South Island. Many old Maoris contend that tiwas were known and largely 

 cultivated before the advent of Europeans. The Maoris certainly had a 

 number of named varieties as early as 1820, and here we find them in 

 Otago in 1817 able to supply large quantities to whalers as a recognised 

 article of trade. 



Commander BeUingshausen, who visited New Zealand in 1820, 

 says: 



At present the New Zealander also grows potatoes which are as good as 

 the English species. They learned to grow this vegetable from Captain 

 Cook, and although after forty-seven years they grow sufficient quantities, 

 they only use the potatoes for themselves and do not part with any. 



Captain Edwardson found the natives about Foveaux Straits in 

 1823 cultivated potatoes, which he says they preserved during the 

 winter "by the same process as that employed by the Irish." 



The mate of the brig ' Hawes ' found potatoes in the native cultiva- 

 tions near Tauranga in 1828. 



The records of the various whaling stations, which were so in- 

 dustriously collected by the late Dr R. McNab, show that cultivation 

 of the potato had become so common, that considerable quantities 

 were exported to Sydney. The vessels trading between New South 

 Wales and New Zealand very frequently took potatoes back with them, 

 and their cargoes contained potatoes from Kapiti, from Chatham 

 Island, " eight tons from Otago," " four tons from Preservation Inlet," 

 and so on. Most of the cultivation was carried on by native women. 

 This was between 181 3 and 1820, and later the whaling settlements 



