M4 On the Flax of JSPew Zealand. 
the porcelain. The metallic matter thus penetrates 
into the substance of the porcelain itself, and forms a 
metallic mirror of the colour and splendour of polished 
^teeL^ 
No. 86. 
:Ex tract of a Memoir read in the French National In- 
stitute, on the Strength of the Flax of JSTew Zealand , 
compared with that of the Filaments of the Aloe , of 
Hemp, Flax, and Silk . By C. Labillardiere.I 
THE flax of New Zealand, which, as is well known, 
is obtained from a plant of the family of the asphodela, 
called Phormhim tenax, holds the first rank among the 
vegetable fibres, yet known, proper for the making of 
ropes, This fact was first made known by the cele- 
brated Captain Cook and his illustrious fellow-naviga- 
tor Sir Joseph Banks. It was afterwards confirmed by 
Hr. Forster, who gave a good description of the plant, 
which he found growing in full vigour during various 
excursions in New Zealand, at several parts of which 
lie touched when he accompanied Captain Cook on his 
second voyage round the world. A good figure of 
the plant may be seen in the first volume of the ac- 
count of that voyage, and also in Miller* s leones Plan- 
tarum , Dr, Forster has described all the parts of 
fructification, and illustrated them with figures, in bis 
work on the new genera of plants discovered in the South 
Seas. 
* At the time this paper was read in the Royal Academy of Sciences , the aiu 
thor exhibited several patterns of porcelain ornamented in this manner, which 
had been made in the royal observatory, 
f Tilloch, vol. 17 y p. 341. 
