America, where it was extensively cultivated, it being in accordance with Polynesian custom to preserve foreign names; merely altering them to suit their mode of speech. But the question arises, Why did not the introduction of New-World cultivated plants go further; several species being as well adapted to the Polynesian region as the kumara, while others would have supplied the wants of the New Zealand agriculturists? To this question I shall again return. The exact distribution of the kumara in the Pacific at the commencement of the sixteenth century cannot be determined, but we learn from Fletcher, to whom we are indebted for an account of Drake's celebrated voyage, that when the “Golden Hind” reached the Caroline Islands, in 1579, the inhabitants brought off to the vessel “cocoas, fish, potatoes, and certain fruits to small purpose.”* “The World Encompassed,” by Sir F. Drake. Fletcher. Drake and his followers having been in the West Indies previous to this voyage of circumnavigation, must have been acquainted with the sweet potato (C. batatas); we may therefore safely conclude that the root referred to by Fletcher was the kumara, and that it had been transported without the direct or indirect intervention of Europeans to the north-western extremity of Polynesia, though it had not made its way across the intervening sea to the Philippines.† “Discoveries in New Guinea and Polynesia,” by Captain J. Moresby. Moresby and Strachan‡ “Explorations and Adventures in New Guinea,” by Captain J. Strachan. found the kumara in New Guinea amongst people that had never previously come in contact with Europeans, and to whom the use of metal was unknown. As Moresby also discovered maize in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, possibly the kumara may have made its way into New Guinea through the Malay Archipelago. From the aute, the taro, and the hue we gather that the inhabitants of the Pacific must formerly have been in communication with the Malay Islands or some other part of the Old World. From the kumara, on the other hand, we learn that during a long period preceding the advent of Europeans this intercourse was suspended, though at the same time the inhabitants may have had access to the New World: this evidence of isolation will be frequently confirmed in the course of this investigation. Harakeke, or New Zealand Flax-Plant (Phormium tenax).—When the missionaries commenced their labours in New Zealand the natives had in cultivation several varieties of the P. tenax, from the fibres of which their finest description of clothing was manufactured; fibres obtained from the wild harakeke and the leaves of the ti (Cordyline australis), every-