380 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XII. 
of those as yet imported have reached England in so 
bad a state, that what cost 18/. to put on board shij), 
besides freight, insurance, and other expenses, has gene- 
rally been sold in London for 15/. per ton. 
But I still believe that this is the right principle 
upon which to proceed ; and that a person or conij)any 
who should import their own goods into the colony for 
trade, attend to the details which I have noted with 
regard to the time and manner of cutting and drying, 
and the various species, and estciblish the collecting and 
pressing on a good footing, would eventually succeed. 
The next step would be, to invent some process of 
machinery which might imitate the native process of 
separation and scraping, with a saving of time and 
manual labour. 
It will probably be found that even the best varieties 
of the plant will be improved by cultivation ; and this 
conjecture is supported by the knowledge that the 
natives themselves cultivate the kind which they use 
for their finest and most silky mats. I have described 
in a former chapter the appearance of the deserted culti- 
vations of this plant on the table-lands above Ihurangi 
on the Wanganui river. On the same character of land 
on the banks of the Patea, and at various settlements 
all along the fertile table-plain between TVanganui 
and Taranaki, I have observed the same custom. The 
species of phormium tenaoe thus cultivated is the t'lhore, 
literally the " skinning " flax. This name describes the 
ease with which it submits to the process of scraping. 
I have seen a native boy take a leaf of it to make a 
lash for his whip, cut it across, and then strip off" the 
inner fibre, perfectly clear of the pulp which dries into 
chaff", without a muscle-shell, and merely by pressing 
it all along with his thumb. The fibre thus produced 
was peculiarly white, soft, and silk-like. 
