6 PKOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



weeds during the growth of the crop. The root, when carefully culti- 

 vated, grows to 18 inches, or 2 feet in length, and weighs 10 to 20 or 

 30 lbs., or more. In shape and aspect it resembles a mangel wurzel, but 

 in its farinaceous property and taste it is more like the potatoe, though 

 botanically it is far removed from that plant. Yams are, perhaps, more 

 watery than the potatoe, but, if well baked, become dry, and are quite 

 as well tasted as ordinary potatoes. The Peejee yams are, however, 

 inferior to those grown in the Tonga groups, which may be owing to 

 difference of soil. 



The sweet potato (as the edible root of a species of convolvulus is 

 termed) is grown occasionally, but does not constitute a staple crop. 

 Two kinds of arrow-root abound in the plains, and their roots are col- 

 lected by the natives, but I did not see them cultivated in gardens. 



Almost every house has its patch of bananas, of which they cul- 

 tivate several varieties. These fruits are a very important element in 

 the food of the people, and are eaten both raw and roasted, or variously 

 dressed. The sugar cane is seen in a few places, and might be cultivated 

 to any extent. The breadfruit tree abounds, but its fruit was not in 

 season during my visit. 



The cocoa-nut, which is generally so abundant on the shores of all 

 tropical islands of both hemispheres, does not seem to nourish in Feejee, 

 or at least is only abundant on some of the islands. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Bau cocoa-nuts are so scarce that they are Tabu to the common 

 people, being kept for the use of the chiefs. At Lakemba they abound, 

 and the natives manufacture a considerable quantity of oil. Where the 

 cocoa palm grows, its nuts, used when about half ripe, furnish the luxu- 

 ries of puddings and drinks ; and the husks supply fibre, of which the 

 natives make their very neatly plaited ropes. At dinner the milk of 

 the cocoa-nut is generally drunk hot, and the dessert closed by a cold nut. 



The great luxury of the islands, in the way of drink, however, is 

 derived from the Piper methysticum, a specimen of which is on the table. 

 This is a large growing, shrubby pepper, which the Feejeeans call Yan- 

 gona, but which is elsewhere more commonly known under the name 

 Kcwa, or Ava. It is universally cultivated, and, on approaching a chief, 

 it is usual formally to present him with a piece. The method of pre- 

 paring a drink from this root has been often described. 



[Professor Harvey next gave an account of the coral reefs and the 

 fisheries carried on about them, the navigation and harbours, the foreign 

 colonies settled in the islands, the state of the native population, their 

 government, ideas of religion, and superstitious practices.] 



At Bau there was a celebrated large temple, before which, by 

 the command of its priests, many thousand victims have been killed 

 and eaten. As many as a hundred bodies were sometimes cooked at a single 

 feast. There is a stone in front of the temple against which the victim's 

 brains were generally dashed out as a coup de grace, before going to the 

 oven. It was described to me as being, in old times, rarely seen free 

 from blood or brains ; but when I visited it, it was overgrown with 

 weeds, as heathenism no longer exists at Bau. The great temple itself 



