38 



and then burnt off the land, while large imports of 

 timber for building are constantly arriving from New 

 land and Oregon, and yet the damanu is superior 

 both to the kauri of the one country and to thepme 

 of the other. The timber cut down for clearing 

 might, in many instances, be floated down the rivers 

 to the coast, where it could be utilised. This should 

 be done after the timber is seasoned in the log, as some 

 of the kinds, when green, are too heavy for floating, 

 or, their buoyancy might be aided by the use of bamboo 

 rafts. 



A large number of the natives in Namosi, and some 

 other villages which I visited, are covered with what 

 is locally known as the Tokalu, or Solomon Island 

 ringworm. This is, I believe, a fungus, which lives 

 and spreads in the skin until it extends all over the 

 body. The skin becomes rough, and changes from 

 its natural dark colour to grey, and the body of the 

 infected person at a short distance appears as if 

 covered with scales, like a fish. The disease, if it 

 may be so called, is infectious but not painful, and it 

 docs not seem to impair the strength or energy of 

 those affected by it. The Chief Medical officer of the 

 colony has prescribed an effectual cure for it, but it 

 is difficult, if nol impossible, to get the natives to use 

 it Long enough to make a cure. At Vienunga the 

 natives have a cure of their own, the sap of a tree 

 which they call km karo. The tree abounds in the 

 forests in differenl parts of Fiji, but I was not fortu- 

 nate enough to gel either Hie flower or the fruit of it. 

 It seemed to be a species of Oncocarpus. One or 

 more Bpecies of this genus are indigenous to the 

 islands, and the juice is acrid and burning. The 

 natives use the juice by allowing a few drops to fall 



