A BOTANICAL TOUR AMONG THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 119 
Lichee of China, although a much larger and more delicious fruit, — here, 
standing on the side of a mountain ; a beautiful specimen, about 45 feet high, 
was towering above the dwarf, but pretty shrubs that surrounded it in the 
N 
the dense foliage of a Calophyllum, or a Eugenia Malaccensis, forms a back- 
ground,—I quickly descended, thinking that I had discovered something new. 
My native guides kept close to me, saying, Tava tava, at the same time 
— their hands to their dió and smacking their lips, to signify that the 
tree I so eagerly rushed to, bore an edible fruit. Eugenia Malaccensis is also 
an excellent fruit, and, like Sapindus pinnatus, it is to be found in most of the 
South Sea Islands. I have seen several fine varieties of it in the Fijis, very 
different from the one called Fekeka in the Samoas, and which I believe is the i 
same as the one at Vavou, Friendly Islands, called Fegéka. At Burretta, the 
private residence of Mr. Thurston, H.M. Consul at Fiji, my attention w 
called to a scarlet and a yellow fruiting variety growing side by side, and both 
had flowers corresponding in colour with their fruit, which were the same in 
size and taste, and the trees themselves were about the same height. The Vi- 
apple (Zvea dulcis) seems to be more plentiful in Upolu than in most of the 
it is an excellent fruit, and a very ornamental tree. Some very fine 
Visit the ground was strewed, even for a distance, with their delicious fruit, 
which is of a golden-yellow me perfectly oval, very juicy, and weighs gene- 
rally about three-quarters of a pound. The tree bears two crops in the year. 
The Plantain and the Banana ids common almost everywhere. Musa ee 
dishi, of China, which I have found in many of the islands, Mr. W: 
H.M. Consul at Samos, informed me was first introduced by " father (the 
Rev. John Williams), from the Duke of Devonshire’s garden many years ago. 
It has been introduced into most of the islands by native iy teachers. 
There are a great many varieties of the Plantain and the Banana among the 
islands, and there were at least twenty-five kinds among those we visited. I 
met with a very remarkable speeies in a plantation in the Fijis. The foliage 
was of a rich purple, and had a most beautiful effect, mingled with the varie- 
gated foliage around. I attempted to take up a small plant of this beautiful 
variety, but was immediately prevented by the natives. Tobacco, calico, and 
en money, were offered for it, but to no purpose. wards learnt from 
a settler, that it is customary with the Polynesians to plant ornamental reum 
ir houses in honour of their deceased relatives, and that to break 
one of those plants is considered an atrocieus crime, punishable by d: I 
recollect, at Tutuila, having attempted to pull up a small plant of Aralia, near 
to a village, when a young chief rushed forward, bawling “9 loudly as possible, 
Tabu tabu (forbidden), and from his excited appearance I should think that, 
