RADACK AND OTHER ISLANDS. 151 



food of the people. The compound fibrous stone- 

 fruits which compose the conical fruit, contain a 

 spicy juice at their basis, the point where they are 

 fixed. To obtain this juice, the fruit is first beaten 

 with a stone, the fibres chewed, and pressed in the 

 mouth. The fruit is also baked in pits, after the 

 manner of the South Sea, not so much to eat it in 

 this state, as to prepare mogan from it, a spicy dry 

 confectionary, which is carefully preserved as a 

 valuable stock for long voyages. To prepare the 

 mogan, all the members of one or more families 

 are employed. From the stone-fruits, as they come 

 out of the baking-pit, the condensed juice is ex- 

 pressed by passing them over the edge of a shell, 

 then spread out on a grate, covered with leaves, 

 exposed over a slight charcoal fire to the sun, and 

 dried. The thin slices, as soon as they are suffi- 

 ciently dried, are rolled up tight, and these rolls 

 then neatly wrapped in the leaves of the tree, and 

 tied up. The kernel of this fruit is well tasted, 

 but difficult to be obtained, and is often neglected. 

 From the leaves of the pandanus the women pre- 

 pare all sorts of mats, as well the square ones with 

 elegant borders, which serve as aprons, as those 

 which are used as ship's sails, and the thicker ones 

 for sleeping upon. 



After the pandanus, the cocoa-tree (Ni) holds 

 the second rank. It is not only rendered valuable 

 by its nut, which affords drink and food, vessels 

 and oil for domestic use, but also and principally 



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