36 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
an aoa appears to have been planted near the foot 
of the rocky pile, and the tender fibres protruded 
from the branches, being nearer the rocks at the 
side than the ground below, have been attracted 
towards the precipice. From this, fresh nourish¬ 
ment has been derived ; the tree has continued to 
ascend, and throw out new fibres still higher, till it 
has reached the top. Here a branching tree has 
flourished, exhibiting all the peculiarities of the 
aoa; while the root, and that part growing along 
the face of the rock, resemble a strong interwoven 
hedge, extending from the base to the summit of 
the precipice. 
The account of the origin of this tree is one of 
the most fabulous of native legends : it states that 
the moon is diversified with hill and valley like 
our earth, that it is adorned with trees, and among 
these the aoa, the shadow of whose spreading 
branches, the Polynesians suppose, occasions the 
dark parts in her surface. They state that, in an¬ 
cient times, a bird flew to the moon, and plucked 
the berries of the aoa; these are smaller than 
grapes; the bird readily carried them, and, flying 
over the islands, dropped some of the seeds, 
which, germinating in the soil, produced the 
aoa tree. 
Nearly allied to the aoa, is the mat e, ficus pro - 
hxa, an useful tree, its berries furnishing a beauti¬ 
ful scarlet dye, and its bark supplying the cord for 
the manufacture of the large and durable nets 
employed in taking salmon. The romaha, urtica 
argentea , is also a valuable plant, with the bark 
of which, the natives twist their strong and elastic 
fishing-lines, and the cord for their smaller nets. 
The vegetable productions, from which the 
inhabitants derive a great part of their subsist- 
