Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

1835. COUNTKY CULTIVATION. 599 remarkable than hills — every where verdant, in many places wooded, and intersected by numerous streams of water pleased by its supposed capabilities, though not by the pic- turesqueness of its appearance. From seeing the remains of forest, or rather irregular-looking woods, in a variety of situa- tions — at the summits of hills, as well as in the hollows of vallies ; and from the prevalence of fern instead of grass, I was led to think that the whole land had once been thickly wooded, but that the natives had cleared away the trees by burning. We passed by a native village, around which were many acres of well cultivated ground, with maize and potatoes in a thriving state. They were planted in little heaps of earth (hke mole-hills), at exact distances, laid out by line. For planting the sweet potato (cumera), a kind of yam (tarp), or the lately introduced potato, a wooden stake is used as a substitute for a spade, in preparing the ground. The natives acknowledge themselves much indebted to tbe white men for pigs and pota- toes ; but they speak angrily of the 'licjuid fire' — and diseases which they brought. One old native also made a shrewd remark about certain seven-barrelled guns sent among them by some of our countrymen, even while others were preaching the gospel of peace, and trying to check their inclination to quarrel. Abundance of the flax plant was growing on the low moist ground, and also on higher, apparently dry soil. I was told that the flax plant does not like a swamp, but thrives where the ground is rather moist. With leaves like those of an iris or large lily, whence the fibres are obtained which are ' called flax, this plant has always been of great consequence to the natives. Those immense nets which are mentioned in the faithfully descriptive accounts of Cook, are made with the leaves split into long narrow shreds, not scraped or peeled. For the manufacture of smaller cordage and thread, the leaves are scraped by a shell, which removes the upper or green part and leaves the strong white fibres, that run longitudinally along the under side. With these fibres, in less or greater numbers, and twisted more or less, the New Zealand cordage has been made, which was so much liked at its first intro-