45G On the Flax of New Zealand . 
disposition of their fibres, which is nearly parallel 
throughout the whole length of the leaves, will call to the; 
remembrance of botanists the excellent memoir of our 
colleague Desfontaines, on the organization of the mono- 
cotyledon plants. On the other hand, in the division of 
the dicotyledons, the filaments employed for ropes is ob- 
tained from the bark; and it is well known, that among 
the great number of sections which these vegetables con- 
tain, they are found chiefly in those of the Thymeli , Ur- 
ticce , Malvaceae , Tilice , and the Amentaceoe. The bark 
of a shrub of the first section (of a new kind of Pimelea ) 
produces filaments which I have seen the inhabitants of 
Cape Van Diemen employ for the purpose of making 
ropes. These savages have so little industry, that they 
use them without the least preparation. They even take 
no advantage of a very excellent kind of flax which 
grows spontaneously on their coasts. The crude bark 
of the Pimelea abovementioned formed the handles of 
some baskets made of reeds, which the women at the 
hours of repast filled with shell- fish, diving in the sea 
to considerable depths, at the risk of being devoured 
by sharks, or of being detained at the bottom of the 
water by marine plants, some of which, and particular- 
ly the Ficus pyriferus , are several hundreds of feet in 
length. 
They employed this bark also for fastening round 
their bodies the skin of the kangaroo, the only clothing 
worn by the best dressed of these savages ; for several of 
them were entirely naked, though exposed to severe cold 
in the latitude of forty-four degrees south, and by a very 
strange kind of whim this vestment served only to cover 
the shoulders. 
The Phormiumtenax will succeed perfectly in France^ 
for it is found in New Zealand from latitude thirty-four 
degrees to latitude forty-seven degrees south, and is ex- 
