ual distances from each other, to which having tied the
threads that formed the woof, she took up six threads with the two
composing the warp, knotting them carefully together." "It was
astonishing," he says, "with what dexterity and quickness she handled
the threads, and how well executed was her performance." He was assured
that another mat which he saw, and which was woven with elaborate
ingenuity and elegance, could not have been manufactured in less time
than between two and three years.

Valuable, however, as is the phormium for the purposes to which alone it
is applied in New Zealand, it would appear that the attempts which have
been made to fabricate from it what is properly called cloth have not
hitherto been attended with a favourable result. Some years ago, a
quantity of hemp that had been manufactured from the plant at Sydney,
was sent to be woven at Knaresborough; but "the trial," it is stated,
"did not succeed to the full satisfaction of the parties."

We have been favoured with a communication upon this subject by a
gentleman who has given much attention to it, which seems to explain, in
a very satisfactory manner, the true reason of the failure that has been
here experienced. "A friend of mine," says our correspondent, "a few
years ago imported a quantity of the phormium, in the expectation that
it would answer admirably for making cloth even of the finest fabric.
But in this he was altogether disappointed. Although it is infinitely
stronger in its raw state than any other flax or hemp, yet when boiled
with potash it becomes so exceedingly weak as not to bear the operation
of weaving but with the utmost difficulty. A gentleman once showed me a
pair of trousers made of this material. They appeared quite rough and
nearly worn out, though they had been used but for a few weeks.

"Although making cloth of it, however, is out of the question, it is
admirably fitted for rope and twine of all descriptions. It will,
therefore, prove highly valuable to our shipping and fishing interests.
Another friend of mine made some rope of it, which, when proved by the
breaking machine, bore, I think, nearly double the strain of a
similar-sized rope made of Russian hemp. The great strength and tenacity
of the New Zealand flax appears to me to be owing to the fibres, though
naturally short, being firmly united by an elastic vegetable glue or
gum, which the boiling process dissolves." Rutherford says the flax
becomes black o