49 
article of export it has greatly diminished, but this is‘entirely owing to 
the Natives having generally given up the dressing the plant for sale,— 
to the dearth of hand labour—and to the difficulty in properly preparing 
its fibre for use by machinery ; which difficulty, however, will without 
doubt be eventually overcome, From official statistical papers it is 
gathered, that the export of hand-dressed Flax, during the 10 years 
ending 1852, from the port of Wellington alone, amounted to 523 tons 
15 ewt., value £7,200: of which, nearly one-fourth, or 128 tons 10 ewt. 
85/bs., was exported in one year, 1850. Of late years the export of this 
article has been very small compared with what it once was, and with 
what (it is firmly believed) it will yet be. 
(ii) The Kapia, or Kauri Gum, is (as its colonial name shows) a Gum, 
or rather a Resin, from the Kauri Pine (Dammara australis) ; it is not 
however obtained in the present living Kauri Pine forests, but only in 
the North parts of the Province of Auckland, where (it is believed) such 
trees formerly grew,—yet of such ancient forests no other trace generally 
remains than the resin itself slightly buried in the soil. Large tracts of 
the country north of Auckland (particularly of the more barren spots,) 
is of this deseription ; and much of it has been already dug over, (care- 
lessly perhaps,) and the resin collected. It is now about 20 years since 
the Kauri gum was first noticed as an article of export ; and it has been 
mainly, if not entirely, gathered by the Aborigines from the Thames to 
the North Cape, The quantity exported from Auckland, in 1863, was 
1,400} tons, worth £27,026 ; and the total quantity exported from that 
Province, during the 10 years ending 1862, amounted to 13,575 tons 
18 cwt. 84/bs., worth £174,148. The largest quantity exported in any 
one year (1857), was 2,464 tons 10 cwt., worth £34,550. 
(i.) Another peculiar article of export, which has also been exten- 
sively used in the Colony for tanning, is the bark of the Towai (Wein- 
mannia racemosa), This tree (or a closely allied species), is more or 
less common throughout the Island, but it is much more abundant in 
the Northern parts, where, too, its Bark has been more particularly 
gathered for use, and exported for tanning purposes. 
(iy.) Other indigenous vegetable substances, which have been both 
successfully used and brought to market, are,—the Kareao, or Supple- 
jack creeper (Rhipogor.um parviflorum), as coarse Basket and Wicker 
work ; Brooms, for ship and domestic purposes, made of the twiggy 
Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium); the woody stems of the white 
Mangrove (Avicennia officinalis), for soapmaking; the downy pappus 
