SOME NEW ZEALAND NATURALISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3313, 12 September 1917, Page 55

SOME NEW ZEALAND NATURALISTS.

o SIR JOSEPH BANKS (Continued.) By Geo. M. Thomson, F.L.S. On 16th of January, 1770, the Endeavour went into Queen Charlotte Sound, and Banks records his observations on the singing of the tuis and korimakos in a passage which has now become well known: "I was awakened by the singing of the birds ashore, from whence we are distant not a quarter of a mile. Their numbers were certainly very great. They seemed to strain their throats with emulation, and made, perhaps, the most melodious wild music I have ever heard, almost imitating small bells, but with the most tunable silver sound imaginable, to which, may be, the distance was no small addition. On inquiring of our people, I was told that they had observed them ever since we had been here, and that they begin to sing about 1 or 2 in the morning, and continue till sunrise, after which they are silent all day, like our nightingales." On 22nd January Captain Cook climbed a hill while Banks and Solander were botanising, and discovered the strait communicating with the eastern sea, which was later named Cook Strait. On leaving the sound, and passing through the strait, the course was made northwards till Cape Turnagain was reached, when, having satisfied himself of the insular character of the North Island, Cook made his way south, passing what seemed to be a big island (Banks Peninsula) on 17th February, Otago Harbour on the J&rd, and rounded the south end of Stewart Island on the 19 th of March. A steady run up the west coast of the South Island was then made, and Cape Farewell was rounded on the 24th of March. Two days later the Endeavour anchored in Admiralty Bay, having now made the circuit of the South Island also, and on the 31st she sailed for Tasmania.

Banks devotes a whole chapter in his Journal to a general account of New Zealand, which is the first recorded scientific information the country and its inhabitants. Considering the limited time in which they were made, and the still more limited range of his travels on shore, it is surprising how excellent were his observations. Speaking of the southern island, he says: " I firmly believe it to abound in minerals in N a very high degree: this, however, is only conjecture." Again, with reference to the fauna, he remarks: "On every occasion when we landed in this country we have seen, I had almost said, no quadrupeds originally natives of it. Dogs and rats, indeed, there are—the former, as in other countries, companions of the men; and the latter probably brought hither by the men ; especially as they are so scarce that I myself have not had an opportunity of seeing even one. Of seals, indeed, we have seen a few, and one sealion. It appears not improbable that there are really no other species of quadrupeds in the country, for the Natives, whose chief luxury in dress consists in the skins and hair of dogs and the skins of divers birds, and who wear for ornaments the bones and beaks of birds and teeth of dogs, would probably have made use of some part of any other animal they were acquainted with, a circumstance which, though carefully sought after, we never saw the least signs of." He does not seem to have met with or heard of anv lizards.

His opinion of the fish to be met wfth was most favourable.- " Every creek and corner produces abundance of fish, not only -wholesome, but at least as well tasted as our fish in Europe. The ship seldom anchored in. or, indeed, passed over fin light winds), any place wbose bottom was such as fish generally resort to without our catching as many with hooks and lines as the people could eat. This was especially the case to the southward, where, when we lay at anchor, the boats could take anv quantity near the rocks; besides which the seine seldom failed of success, insomuch that on the two occasions when we anchored to the southward of Cook Strait every mess in the shin that had prudence enough salted as much fish as lasted them many weeks after they went to sea." His observations on the vegetation are very interesting, though he met with Only a very limited section of the flora, as I shall mention later. He remarks : " The entire novelty, however, of the greater part of what we found recompensed us as natural historians for the want of variety. Sow thistle, garden nightshade " (probably Solanum nigrum), " and perhaps one or two kinds of grasses were exactly the same as in England. . . . Of eatable vegetables there are very few. We. indeed, as people who had been long at sea, found great benefit in the article of health bv eating plentifully of wild celery" (Apium prostratum), "and a kind of cress" (Lenidium oleraceum), "which grows evervwhere abundantly near the seaside. We also once or twice met with a herb like that which the country people in England call ' lamb's-riuarters ' or ' fat-hen'" (this is the European species, Atriplex patula, still known here as " fat-hen "). " which we boiled instead of greens; and onlv once a cabbage-tree, the cabbage of which made us one delicious meal." This was not the tree we now wrongly call "cabbage-tree," but the nikau palm. Tthonalostvlis (Areea) sapida. " But of all the plants we have seen among thes9 people that which is the most exceMent in its kind, and which reallv excels most if not all that are nut to the same uses in other countries, is the plant which .serves them instead of hemp or flax," and then he gives quite a long account of the Phormium tenax, of which he recognised the value. His account of the Maori population is very interesting and verv accurate. He concludes it as follows: —"Among them I have seen several very healthy old men,

and in general the whole of them are as vigorous a race as can be imagined. . . . Water is their universal drink; nor did I see any signs of any other liquor at all known to them or any method of intoxication. If they really have not, happy they must be allowed to be above all other nations that I have heard .of."

The Endeavour reached Deal on 12th June, 1771, having been three years on the voyage, of Avhich nearly six months were spent in New Zealand. This was all that Banks saw of this country; but no one before or since made better use of his opportunities. This is well shown in Cheeseman's account of the material gathered. "The natural history collections, which were the property of Sir Joseph Banks, contained a large amount of material; but no work has ever been published treating of them as a whole. The plants had for the most part been fully described by Solander at the time of collection, and coloured drawings prepared of many of the specie 3. Little additional labour was therefore required to prepare the results for publication. Evidently Banks intended that this should be done, for at his own expense he had 709 plates engraved on copper, and Solander's manuscript descriptions were revised and systematically arranged. The New Zealand portion, which was entitled " Primitiaa Floree Novse Zealandite," contained descriptions of nearly 360 species, illustrated by over 200 plates, and was practically ready for the press. Why it was not actually published is by no means clear; but the suggestion has been made that publication was at first delayed by the preparations made by Banks and Solander to accompany Cook in his second voyage." I do not think this was the real reason. More probably the duties he took on later as organiser and promoter of scientific research occupied his time to the exclusion of many other things. In 1900 a commencement was made by issuing 100 plates (folio) of Australian plants; the following year Part 11, with 143 plates, was issued, and in 1905 Part 111, with 77 plates. There the publication has stopped for the time, and the New Zealand portion of the work is still hung up. The success of the first voyage to these southern waters and the enthusiasm it evoked led to a second voyage being undertaken, and the Resolution was fitted out under Captain Cook. Urged by Lord Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty, Banks offered to accompany the expedition. Additional accommodation had to be provided for the scientific staff which was engaged by Banks—namely, a painter, three draughtsmen, two secretaries, and nine other skilled assistants ; but the new deck cabins so affected the ship's stability and sailing powers that they had .to be taken down. No other accommodation being provided, Banks abandoned his intention to accompany the expedition. Ultimately Dr Johan R. Forster and his son George, two well-known botanists, joined the vessel, and their work—though somewhat disappointing, considering the opportunities they had for collecting plants—added a good deal to the knowledge of /the New Zealand flora.

In 1772 Banks and Solander, with their scientific assistants, visited Iceland, and climbed to the top of Hecla. The results of this expedition were published in full. This seems to have been the last of his travels. The rest of his life was pased in London, where he exercised a great influence as a munificent patron of science.

Banks was elected president of the Royal Society in November, 1778, and held the position till his death in 1820—a wonderful term of 42 years. His great energy had been shown all through the great voyage of circumnavigation, when he _ was always in the first boat which visited any new and unknown land. So when he was placed in the presidential chair he began to put the same energy into his conduct of the affairs of the society. He found many abuses, which set himself to rectifv —among other things that the secretaries had graduallv usurped the powers of the president. He never could play second firldle, seeing that he was leader, and this led to considerable friction, which culminated in 17P3-4 in the secession of the secretaries and a few of the fellows. After this the discontent disappeared, harmony was restored, and the ascendancy of Banks was never again questioned. Tn 1802 he was chosen a member of the National Institute of France, and his attitude towards that country, with which we were continuallv at war, was made the subject of a bitter anonymous attack by one of the disappointed secretaries. But the feeling between the French and English was never of the savage type engendered by the Huns in our own days. When the collections made by La Billardiere during D'Entrecasteaux's expedition fell bv fortune of war into British hands, and were brought to England . Banks sent them to France without having even glanced at them, writing to M. Jussieu that he would not steal a single botanic idea from those who had "one in peril of their lives to get them. Ten times were parcels addressed to the Roval (harden in Paris, which had been captured by English cruisers.

Outside of his Journal Banks's own writings are few and comnarativelv trifling. After T)r Solander's death by apoplexy in 1782, he seems to have given up all thought, of publishing the results of his collections. He died at his hou«e at Tslesworth on the 19th of .Time. 1890. leaving a widow, but no family. His herbarium and librarv were beqiieathed to the nation, and are preserved in the botanical department of the British Museum in Cromwell road, his other collections being at South Kensington. This library was considered at his death to be the richest of its class, <md it is still kept by itself in a room in the Museum.

Though Banks's actual acquaintance with New Zealand was limited to a visit

of less than six months, yet he made such good use of his times and opportunities that he may rightly be claimed as the first of New Zealand naturalists.