NOTES ON THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 339 
are considered a delicacy by the Hawaiians; but it must be confessed, 
that to a European they taste insipid, resembling in flavour more the 
white of a raw egg than any other substance. The fleshy trunks of the 
Ape, an Aroidea, with leaves measuring from eight to twelve feet in cir- 
cumference, after having been roasted, and thus deprived of their acri- 
dity, are eaten, The fruit of the Physalis pubescens, Linn., is brought 
to Honolulu, where the white residents make it into tarts and pies, 
terming it native Gooseberry. The fruit of the Lahala (Pandanus 
odoratissimus, Linn.), the Ohiaai (Jambosa Malaccensis, DC.), the Ulei - 
(Osteomeles anthyllidifolia, Lindl.), the Noni (Morinda citrifolia, Linn.), 
the Kilica (Morus Indica, L.), and many others, are eaten. The berry 
of the Kilica when ripe is black, but inferior in flavour to any of the 
Mulberries cultivated in Europe. This Morus has proved useful for 
silk plantations; its foliage is small, yet one taken from the fields at 
random, of eight months’ growth, produced three pounds and a half 
of leaves, and within six weeks after being wholly stripped, it had so 
much recovered, that it could not be distinguished from those which 
had not been so treated. The Sandwich Islands Arrow-root is prepared 
from the Pia (Tacca pinnatifida, Linn.). The Pia grows spontaneously 
in dry sunny places, and is also cultivated to a considerable extent; it 
is about two feet high, and every part of it is extremely bitter. The ae 
fecula made from its tubers is equal to the best West India Arrow-root, 
and much used by the inhabitants for culinary preparations, starching 
linen, and various other purposes. It sells in Honolulu at about five 
cents a pound, and, according to official returns, 43,683 lbs. of it were - 
exported in 1845; 10,000 lbs. in 1846, In the three following years - 
the quantity sent to foreign countries was less; in 1850 it again in- - 
creased. Still more important than the Pia, is the Kalo* (Colocasia es- 
culenta, Schott), the favourite vegetable of the Hawaiians, It is chiefly 
grown in artificial swamps, but also, as in Central America, on dry — 
ground. As is the case with all vegetables long cultivated by man, a 
great number of varieties exist, distinguished from each other by the 
colour of the corms and foliage, as well as by the height of the entire 
plant and the shape of the leaves; those varieties however in which a © 
bluish colour prevails are considered the best, and the tribute to the 
* Spelt “Taro” by the early voyagers, though incorrectly, as there is neither — 
! nor r in the Hawaiian alphabet. 
