34 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
Next to the trees that furnish them with timber, 
those plants from which they formerly procured 
their clothing, require to be noticed. The most 
valuable of these is the auti, morns papyrifera , 
or the Chinese paper-mulberry. The greater part 
of the cloth worn in the islands is made with the 
bark of this plant, which is cultivated as osiers 
or willow-twigs are cultivated in England, except¬ 
ing that, instead of a low and wet, a rich and dry 
soil is selected. The bark of the bread-fruit is 
also used for this purpose; but the most singular 
tree is the aoa. 
Among the beautiful and diversified vegetable 
productions that adorn the banks of the lake of 
Maeva, is one of these trees. It stands near the 
large temple of Tane, at Tama-pua, and is one of the 
most ancient and extensive that I have met with in 
the islands. In its growth, the aoa resembles the 
banian tree of the East, and is probably a variety 
of the species. The bark has a light tinge and 
shining appearance, the leaf lance-shaped and 
small, of a beautiful pea-green colour. It is an 
evergreen, and is propagated by slips or branches, 
which readily take root. When the stem of the 
young tree is about two or three inches in 
diameter, the bark immediately below the 
branches, which generally spread from the trunk 
about six feet above the ground, begins to open 
near the lower part of the limbs. A number of 
fine yellow-pointed roots protrude, and increase in 
size and length every year. The branches grow 
horizontally, and rather bending than otherwise : 
from different parts of these, fibres shoot forth 
through the bursting bark, and hang like fine 
dark-brown threads. The habits of growth in 
these pendulous roots are singular : sometimes 
