Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 81.djvu/424

418 the researches of various English botanists, and the Mesozoic forms are being cleared up by Professor Wieland, of Yale.

A glance at a globe or map will show that the trip was not only round the world from east to west, but also more than half the way around from north to south; further, that nearly all the journey was by water; about three months on the water, with less than three weeks by rail, and about three months on foot, or, occasionally, on horseback. Another glance at the globe will show that there was no need for any tongue but English. Why should there be a Volupuk or Esperanto, when English is becoming the universal language? Faddists may complain that English is too difficult, but most of the Maoris in New

Zealand speak it, and my Maori guides spoke it even better than the average American high-school girl, for the Maori guides speak English without slang. Many of the Zulus in Africa now speak our language. The stay in New Zealand was brief, only four weeks, but by confining my attention to the north island and following the suggestions of Professor Thomas, the botanist of the University College at Auckland, I was able to see a great deal of the botany of that peculiar region. New Zealand is well within the temperate zone, but not far enough south for severe winters, so that the landscape is green all the year round, most of the trees which shed their leaves at regular intervals being exotics like the willow and poplar. Late in September several species of willows and poplars were just coming into leaf and the