Francis had soon become tired of playing with the long leaves his brother had brought him, and they were thrown aside.

Fritz happened to take some of the withered leaves up, which were soft and flexible as a ribbon, and he advised Francis to make whiplashes of them, to drive the goats and sheep with, for the little fellow was the shepherd.

He was pleased with the idea, and began to split the leaves into strips, which Fritz platted together into very good whiplashes.

I remarked, as they were working, how strong and pliant these strips seemed, and, examining them closely, I found they were composed of long fibres, or filaments, which made me suspect it to be _Phormium tenax,_ or New Zealand flax, a most important discovery to us, and which, when I communicated it to my wife, almost overwhelmed her with joy.

"Bring me all the leaves you can without delay," cried she, "and I will make you stockings, shirts, coats, sewing-thread, cords--in fact, give me but flax and work-tools, and I can manage all." I could not help smiling at the vivacity of her imagination, roused at the very name of flax; but there was still great space between the leaves lying before us and the linen she was already sewing in idea.