2l6 



in their own group years since, and who have retained many of 

 their primitive customs. 



Home,* writing of the fruit from the Fijis, says that "the qual- 

 ity of some of them is excellent, dry and mealy like a potato ; that 

 of others as watery and insipid. They are either baked or boiled, 

 and eaten alone, or with pork or fish. Sometimes they are made 

 into puddings, or buried under ground, and made into mandrai, i.e. 

 native bread." 



CONCLUSION. 



This short sketch of the natural history, history proper, and 

 uses of the breadfruit does not pretend to even approach com- 

 pleteness in any of the three categories mentioned, owing to the 

 absence of literature of a useful character. It only strives to be a 

 foundation, if possible, for future work on the subject which will 

 put the subject matter in a stronger light. 



Flowers, fruits, and trees have always figured largely in song 

 and story, and oriental imagery in particular is full of references 

 to natural products, among which the coconut possibly takes first 

 place. In Polynesian folklore, appropriately enough, the bread- 

 fruit, as we have seen, plays an important part, and its praise has 

 been sung by poets of many lands. Lord Byron, inspired by the 

 tales of early voyagers, describes it in the following beautiful 

 lines : 



" The breadfruit tree which without the plowshare yields 



The unreaped harvest of unfurrowed fields, 



Ahd bakes its unadulterated loaves 



Without a furnace in unpurchased groves, 



And flings off famine from its fertile breast, 



A priceless market for the gathering guest." 



♦Home, " A Year in Fiji," pp. 82, 8». London 1881. 



[Issued 9th September, 1904.] 

 Printed at the Govt. Printing Office, Kingston, Jam. 



