FLORA VITIENSIS. 247 
and when incommoded by it in walking, playfully swing it over their shoulder. In the Christianized 
districts of the coast, a piece of Tapa, at least two yards long and one yard broad, is worn around the loins, 
and distinguished persons envelope their body in pieces many yards long, and allow long trains to drag 
after them on the ground. A fine kind of Tapa (Sala) is worn in the shape of a turban by those who still 
adhere to the old custom of letting their hair grow long. From a laudable desire to promote cleanliness 
the missionaries have pronounced against long hair and the use of the Sala, but in doing so they deprived 
the natives of a capital protection against the sun; the immense mass of hair curled and frizzled to make it 
stand off many inches, and covered with a piece of snow-white Tapa, must have kept the head cool. Now 
most of the Christian natives move about without any covering for their head, and with their hair cut short, 
which, in a tropical climate, cannot improve their mental power. The abolition of the old custom might have 
proved more beneficial, if immediately followed by the substitution of some kind of head-dress. The manu- 
facture of native cloth is entirely left to women in places not inhabited by great chiefs, probably because 
the noise caused by the beating out of the cloth is disliked by courtly ears. The rhythm of Tapa-beating 
imparts, therefore, as thoroughly a country air to a place in Fiji as that of threshing corn does to our 
European villages. The Masi tree is propagated by cuttings, and grown about two or three feet apart, in 
plantations resembling nurseries. For the purposes of making cloth it is not allowed to become higher 
than about twelve feet, and about one inch in diameter. The bark, taken off in as long strips as possible, 
is steeped in water, scraped with a conch shell, and then macerated. In this state it is placed on a log of 
wood, and beaten with a mallet (Ike), three sides of which have longitudinal grooves, and the fourth a plain 
surface. Two strips of Tapa are always beaten into one with the view of strengthening the fibre—an 
operation increasing the width of the cloth at the expense of its length. It is easy to join pieces together, 
the sap of the fibres being slightly glutinous; and in order to make the junction as perfect and durable as 
possible, a paste is prepared of arrowroot, or a glue of the viscid berries of the Tou (Cordia Sprengelii, 
DC.). Ihave seen pieces of native cloth, intended for mosquito curtains and screens, which were nearly 
one hundred feet long and thirty feet broad. Most of the cloth worn is pure white, being bleached in the 
sun as we bleach linen; but printed Tapa is also, though not so frequently, seen, whilst that used for 
curtains is always coloured. Their mode of printing is by means of raised forms of little strips of bamboo, 
on which the colour is placed, and the tops pressed ; indeed, the fundamental principle is the same as that 
of our printing books, the little strips of bamboo standing in the place of our types. The chief dye employed 
is the juice of the Lauci (Alewrites triloba, Forst.), and the pattern, though rudely executed, often displays 
much taste. It is stated that in timés when the Malo plantations have failed to produce a sufficient quantity 
of raw material, recourse is had to the Baka (Fieus obliqua, Forst.); but this is only a makeshift, whilst 
the bark of the Breadfruit-tree seems never to be resorted to in Viti as in other parts of Polynesia. 
XV. Ficus, Tournef. Inst. t. 420; Linn. Gen. n. 1168; Endl. Gen. n. 1859. Recepta- 
culum earnosum, clausum, globosum v. pyriforme, basi squamoso-bracteatum, ore squamulis clauso. 
Flores co, minimi, in superficie interna receptaculi pedicellati, conferti, dioici v. superiores g, reliqui 9. 
Fl d: Perigonium 3-partitum. Stamina 3, perigonii laciniis opposita; filamenta capillaria; an- 
theræ introrse, 2-loculares, incumbentes. Fl. 9: Perigonium 5-fidum, tubo in pedicellum decur- 
rente. Ovarium gynophoro brevi sublateraliter impositum, l-loculare. Ovulum unicum, parieti 
styligero appensum, amphitropum, micropyle supera. Stylus lateralis gynophoro continuus, fili- 
formis; stigmate breviter 2-fido. Receptaculum fructiferum, succulentum, utriculis membranaceis 
exaridis, perigonii rudimentis stipatis foetum. Semen parietale, uncinatum; testa dura fragili. 
Embryo in centro albuminis carnosi homotropus, uncinatus ; cotyledonibus ellipticis incumbentibus ; 
radicula elongata, umbilico contigua, supera.—Arbores interdum excelse v. frutices scandentes 
lactescentes ; foliis alternis, integerrimis v. lobatis, stipulatis, stipulis magnis convolutis, gemmas 
terminales velantibus, deciduis v. persistentibus, receptaculis axillaribus solitariis v. confertis, raris- 
sime terminalibus racemosis. | y 
Amongst Forster's plants at the British Museum there are no authentie specimens or drawings ot 
Ficus religiosa, Forst. Prodr. n. 402, non Linn., F. septica, Forst. 1. c. n. 407, F. stipulacea, Forst. 1. c. 
n. 571, ce F. Indica, Forst. |. e. n. 406; and I am therefore unable to clear up the synonymy satisfactorily. 
F. religiosa of Forster, from Tana, New Hebrides, is doubtless not the species to which Linnæus gave that 
name; and there is no species from Tana in our collections which accords with the short diagnosis Forster 
furnishes. F. septica of Forster has been named F. verrucosa by Vahl, Enum. vol. ii. p. 16, and is also from 
2 Kk2 
