The surgeon, in walking about the island, found out the flax-plant, which proved to be what we had hitherto called the iris: not having any description of this plant, I had no idea of its being what Captain Cook calls the flax-plant of New Zealand; the cliffs and shore near the settlement were covered with it; its root is bulbous, and eight leaves issue from it, which are, in general, five or six feet in length, and about four inches broad, close to the root: the plant bears a great resemblance to the iris, except that the leaves are much thicker and larger; the flaxy part is the fibres, which extend the whole length of the leaf; towards the root they are very thick and strong, and diminish in size as they approach the end of the Jeaf. This plant, in its green state, is of a surprising strength: from the quantity of dead leaves about the root, I imagine it is an annual, and that the root sends forth fresh leaves. The method of preparing the New Zealand flax not being described by Captain Cook, I caused three bundles of ours to be put in the rivulet to soak, intending to try it after the European method of dressing flax. The sawpit being finished on the 18th, a small pine was cut down near it, which measured 115 feet in length, and two feet six inches diameter at the base: a twelve foot length was got on the pit, and the sawyers began sawing it into framings and scantlings for the store-house. By the 19th, the greatest part of the seeds we had procured at the Cape of Good Hope, and sown in the garden, were out of the ground, and seemed likely to do well; but scarcely any of the English seeds grew, they, in general, being spoiled. From this time till the 1st of April, two men were employed in sawing up wood for the store-house; one man was building it, six were clearing away the ground, and the women burnt up the small boughs. The store-house was finished on the 2d: its dimensions were twelve feet square, and nine feet high. All the provisions and stores were immediately brought from my tent and deposited in the store-house. During the last three days the wind blew very strong from the south-west, which blighted every plant that was come up and doing very well; I had also the mortification to find that the rats were very numerous; they destroyed some Indian corn which was three inches out of the ground. As there was every reason to suppose that the south-west winds would be frequent during the winter, I began to clear the ground on the north-east side of the hill, (which I named Mount George) which, of course, would be sheltered from the south and south-west winds; and it was my intention to continue clearing the ground in that situation until the middle of June, when I purposed sowing it with wheat and barley. I now found that no vegetables would thrive at this season of the year on the south side of the mount; I therefore ordered the garden ground to be turned up and sown with wheat.