FLORA VITIENSIS. 265 
7. D. Moorei; Lindl. in Journ. Hort. Soc. Lond. vol. vi. p. 271; G. Bennett, l.c. p. 352.--New Cale- 
donia. In Sydney, the bark of branches one year old, as well as the naseent branchlets, were green; the 
young leaves green above, and slightly pruinose below, whilst the old leaves were without any pruinose 
covering; the foliage was very dense. Branches at the base of tree pendulous. The cones are unknown ; 
and I asked Mr. Moore whether he had any proofs of this species really belonging to Dammara, and not to 
Podocarpus, two genera impossible to distinguish in leaf in all cases, but he expressed himself satisfied 
about its being a genuine Dammara. It is just possible that D. lanceolata, from. New Caledonia, a name 
mentioned by Vieillard in the Ann. des Se. Nat. vol. xvi. (ser. 4) p. 56, may be identical with this species, 
which Lindley briefly characterized ^ foliis anguste lanceolatis acuminatis subfaleatis tenuioribus." 
8. D. Vitiensis, Seem. ; G. Bennett, l.c.—Viti, In Sydney the nascent branchlets and young leaves 
were green, without any pruinose covering. 
A plant cultivated in Sydney, under the name Dammara sp. e horto Maurit., with leaves and branches 
green on both sides, I hold to be a Podocarpus. 
1. D. Vitiensis, (sp. nov.) Seem. (Tab. LXXVI.) ; foliis oppositis lanceolatis acutis v. obtusi- 
usculis; amentis d ......; strobili globosi squamis adpressis apice rotundatis ; seminum alis sub- 
eequalibus cultriformibus. Nomen vernac. Vitiense, “ Dakua."—Vanua Levu, Viti Levu, Ovalau, and 
Kadavu (Seemann! n. 577.) 
Dakua trees have been found in Vanua Levu, Viti Levu, Ovalau, and Kadavu; but European sawyers 
have already made such sad havoc amongst them, that it is only in the two former islands where they are 
still abundant. Wilkes alludes to a fine one near Levuka, Ovalau, which measured five feet in diameter, or 
fifteen feet in circumference. Those which I saw at Korovono, Vanua Levu, displayed greater dimensions, 
the largest stem being, at four feet above the base, eighteen feet ; and another, also four feet above the 
base, sixteen feet in circumference. Milne (Hook. Journ. Bot. and Kew Mise. ix. p. 113) gives from 
eighteen to twenty-seven feet circumference as the maximum, but he does not state at what height above 
the base his measurement was taken. Some of the trees at Korovono were from eighty to a hundred feet 
high, and up to a height of sixty feet free from branches. The bark was whitish on the outer, red on the 
— inner, surface, peeling off like that of Australian gum-trees. Old specimens did not exhibit regular whorls 
-of branches, as is the case with most Conifers. The wood of the Korovono tree was white, but there is said 
to be also a red-wooded kind, which may perhaps prove specifically distinct from this plant. Dakua wood 
-is used for masts, booms, and spars, for flooring houses, and for all those purposes for which deal is usually 
: employed by us. Spars, from sixty to eighty feet long, and two to three feet thick, were seen at Taguru, 
- Viti Levu. The Dakua is not gregarious, but always found isolated in forests of a mixed composition. Like 
other Kowrie-pines, the Fijian Dakua exudes a gum, or rather resin, called “ Makadre.” Lumps weighing 
50 Ibs. have occasionally been found under old rotten stumps; and much might be collected in districts 
whence these trees have disappeared, if the natives could be made acquainted with the peculiar way in which 
the New Zealanders sound the ground for their kowrie-gum. There has never been any foreign trade in this 
article, because the Europeans in Fiji, ignorant of its average market-value, rejected the offer of the natives to 
collect it. Captain Dunn, an American, is said to have taken away half a ton of it, but it has not transpired 
whether he was able to dispose of it to advantage. New Zealand kowrie-gum has for years past fetched at 
ublic sales in London from 14s. to 16s. the ewt. In consequence, however, of the rebeilion in New Zealand, 
it gradually advanced in 1860 from 25s. to 28s. ; in the spring of 1861 it was quoted at from 18s. to 20s., 
and it will no doubt ultimately be sold again at its former prices. - The Fijians use the gum principally for 
glazing pots (vakamakadretaka),—the substance being put on while the vessels are yet very hot,—and for 
burning. The older the gum gets, the better it burns. At first it is of a light whitish colour, but with age 
becomes more and more that of amber, as well as transparent. The natives, fearing demons, ghosts, and other 
creations of their wild fancy, are always anxious to be housed before sunset, and when compelled to venture 
out in the dark or when benighted, set up loud yells to drive away evil spirits, and light a torch made either 
of the resin of the Dakua (bound round with rushes), the stem of the Wavuwavu (Erigeron albidum, 
A. Gray), the trunk of the Bamboo, or the flower-stalks of the Cocoa-nut Palm. In the smaller islands 
and certain coast-districts of Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, lamps fed with cocoa-nut oil are common ; but 
in tbe interior of the principal islands, where that oil is au imported and costly article, the resin of the 
' Dakua is burnt, either in the form of pastilles about two inches long, or in ribbon-like strips surrounded by 
slips of wood, so as to constitute a kind of candle. When burnt in the first-mentioned way, the resin is 
protected by crocks from running about and igniting the Pandanus matting or other inflammable materials 
of the houses. A dye obtained from the smoke of the burning resin is used for the hair and for painting 
native cloth black, or mixed with a certain red earth to make a brown pigment. Amongst the lower classes 
it is employed for tattooing women instead of the juice of the Lauci fruit (Aleurites triloba, Forst.), 
resorted to by ladies of rank: the skin being punctured with thorns of the Shaddock-tree. 
