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requires strict examination, as the characters that mo.st 

 botanists have used to discriminate the various species are of 

 no weight whatever. Loureiro, in his Flora Coc/iinch. 

 expressly states that the fruit of P. odoratissimus is not 

 esculent ; but it constitutes the chief food of the people of 

 Radack. Each of the seeds of which this compound fruit 

 IS composed, contains at the base where it is affixed, an 

 aromatic juice* To obtain this, the fruit is first knocked to 

 pieces with a stone, and then being chewed, the fibres are 

 rejected from the mouth. The fruit is also baked in pits, as 

 m the South Seas; not so much for the sake of eating it in 

 this state, but that the Mogan may be prepared from it. 

 Ihis is an aromatic dry confection, which is carefully stored 

 up for voyages. All the members of one or more families 

 are employed together in making the Mogan. When the 

 irmt has been baked, its concreted juice is carefully scraped 

 out with the edge of a mussel-shell, then spread on some 

 leaves over a gridiron and dried in the sun, or by a gentle 

 fire. The thin cake thus formed, is closely rolled up, and 

 the roll neatly wrapped and tied in the leaves of the tree. 

 The almond of this fruit is pleasant, but being difficult to get 

 Out, it is often neglected. From the foliage of the Pandanus, 

 Ae women of these islands prepare all sorts of mats, some 

 to serve for their aprons, others with ornamented borders, and 

 the coarser and thicker kinds which form the sails of their 

 vessels, and are employed by them for bedding. 



Next to the Pandanus, the Cocoa Tree {Ni) holds the 

 second rank. Not only is its nut valuable as affording good 

 oilj and forming a variety of utensils for domestic purposes, 

 "» which they carry their food and drink, but the fibres that 

 surround the stem are employed for making cordage. Tlie 

 Pandanus gives food, and the Cocoa Tree the materials for 

 navigation to these people. The manufacture of ropes is the 

 labour of the men, and the first of the natives may be seen thus 

 engaged. The fibres of the bark are cleansed and separated 

 ' maceration in pits of fresh water, and then spun. Tlie 

 ^•ood of the old trees is reduced to powder, and formed into 

 a paste with the juice of the unripe fruit: thus prepared and 



