20 New Zealand Flaz. (January, 
make coarse matting for the floor, and baskets to contain fruit 
and serve as dishes. 
The long, tough fibre is made into strong nets and fishing- 
` lines, and is also of great use in building houses, canoes, etc. 
The stone adzes with which the Maoris dug out and orna- 
mented their canoes were lashed to wooden handles by bands of 
Phormium, which also furnished the canoe with sails. 
The clear white gum that exudes from the base of the leaves 
is used as glue and also for chewing ; with the colonists it forms 
an excellent substitute for mucilage and sealing- wax. 
The bright-eyed Maori boy makes his toy canoe of the green 
leaves, and gathers the sweet honey from the blossoms of the 
Phormium. 
At the present day the more enlightened natives use it instead 
of writing- paper, and “with a sharp-edged shell engrave their 
thoughts upon it.” 
One night while spearing the monstrous eels that inhabit the 
New Zealand lakes, we became acquainted with another of the 
uses of this interesting plant; the old dead leaves, when bound 
into small bundles, made excellent torches, which answered our 
purpose nearly as well as pine knots, with the use of which most — 
of us are familiar. 
These are a few of the purposes for which Phormium is used 
by the simple New Zealander. 
To civilized man it would become a bitideed-told more useful, 
could he but invent a cheap and satisfactory method of cleaning 
the fibre. : 
This fibre has been found by experiment to be the strongest 
known, with the exception of silk, being twice as tenacious as 
common hemp. 
Numerous machines have been invented to meet this want, but 
as yet none have been a success. 
Could such a method be devised, this strong and beautiful 
fibre would compete favorably with the manilla of the Philippine 
Islands, or the flax and hemp of Europe and America. 
Such a discovery would bring to New Zealand greater wealth 
than she has derived from her gold mines, and, together with the 
immense amount of wool that is annually shipped from her shores, 
make those rich islands eminently a fibre-producing country. 
With the imperfect means at their command the colonists have 
already produced considerable quantities of dressed Phormium. 
This, in former years, was small in quantity, but of an excellent 
