root, which, when first dug out of the ground, is hard and 
fibrous, almost tasteless, and of a white or light yellow 
colour. The natives bake it in large ovens underground, 
in the same manner as they dress the arum and other roots. 
After baking it appears like a different substance altogether, 
being of a yellowish brown colour, soft, though fibrous, and 
saturated with a highly saccharine juice. It is sweet and 
pleasant to the taste, and much of it is eaten in this state, 
but the greater part is employed in making an intoxicating 
liquor much used by the natives. They bruise the baked 
roots with a stone, and steep them with water in a barrel, or 
the bottom of an old canoe, till the mass is in a state of fer- 
mentation. The liquor is then drawn off, and sometimes 
distilled, when it produces a strong spirit ; but the greater 
part of it is drank in its fermented state without any further 
preparation. The root is certainly capable of being used for 
many valuable purposes. A good beer may be made from 
it; and in the Society Islands, though never able to granu- 
late it, we have frequently boiled its juice to a thick syrup, 
and used it as a substitute for sugar when destitute of that 
article. 
** We should think it an excellent antiscorbutic, and as 
such useful to ships in long voyages. Captains visiting the 
Society Islands frequently procure large quantities of it to 
make beer with during their voyage, as it will keep good 
six weeks or two months after it is baked. On my return 
in the American ship Russell, Captain Coleman, we pro- 
cured a quantity that had been baked at Rurutu, near the 
Society Islands, and brought it round Cape Horn. It lasted 
five or six weeks, and would probably have kept longer, as 
the only change we perceived during that time was a slight 
degree of acidity in the taste. Cattle, sheep, and goats are 
fond of the leaves; and as they contain more nutriment than 
my other indigenous vegetable, and may be kept on board 
ships several weeks, they are certainly the best provender 
that can be procured in the Islands for stock taken to sea. 
It is not so plentiful in the Sandwich Islands as it was before 
the natives used it for the above purpose, but in some of the 
