130 VOYAGE TO THE 



We found upon Pitcairn Island, cocoa-nuts, bread- 

 fruit (artocarpus incisa), plantains {musa paradaisa- 

 ca), bananas (musa sapientum), water-melons (cucur- 

 bita citrullus), pumpkins (cucurbita pepo), potatoes 

 (solatium esculentum), sweet potatoes (convolvulus ba- 

 tatas), yams (dioscoria sativum), taro (caladium escu- 

 lentum), peas, yappai* (arum costatum), sugar-cane, 

 ginger, turmeric, tobacco, tee-plant* (draccena ter- 

 minals), doodoe* (aleurites t?'iloba), nono* (morinda 

 citrofolia), another species of morinda, parau* (hibis- 

 cus tiliaceus), fowtoo* (hibiscus tricuspis), the cloth- 

 tree (broussonetia papyrifera), pawalla* (pandanus 

 odoratissimus ?), toonena* (?), and banyan-tree. A 

 species of metrosideros, and several species of ferns. 



The first twelve of these form the principal food 

 of the inhabitants. The sugar-cane is sparingly cul- 

 tivated ; they extract from it a juice which is used 

 to flavour the tea of such as are ill, by pounding the 

 cane, and boiling it with a little ginger and cocoa- 

 nut grated into a pulp, as a substitute for milk. In 

 this manner a pleasant beverage is produced. 



The tee-plant is very extensively cultivated. Its 

 leaves, which are broad and oblong, are the common 

 food of hogs and goats, and serve the natives for 

 wrappers in their cooking. The root affords a very 

 saccharine liquor, resembling molasses, which is ob- 

 tained by baking in the ground ; it requires two or 

 three years after it is planted to arrive at the proper 

 size for use, being then about two inches and a half 

 in diameter; it is long, fusiform, and beset with 

 fibres : from this root they also make a tea, which 

 when flavoured with ginger is not unpleasant. The 



* Native names. — A more correct account of the botany will be 

 published by Dr. Hooker, Professor of Botany, &c. of Glasgow. 



