60 



species that exist are well represented. The paucity 

 of species may be owing to the fires which annually 

 sweep over the dry districts, burning up all the 

 herbage that springs up during the wet season. The 

 yasau or reed (eulalia japonica), is by far the most 

 abundant, covering whole sides of hills and some- 

 times descending into the flat low lying lands. An un- 

 named species, the drauka, although indigenous and 

 not rare, is generally found cultivated. Sugar canes 

 dovo (saccharum onicinarum), are common ; both wild 

 and cultivated varieties. The wild varieties grow 

 in dense brakes on the rich alluvial flats and along 

 the sides of small rivers and streams. They frequently 

 grow to a height or length of about 20 feet, with a 

 diameter varying from one-fourth of an inch to an 

 inch. They are of various colours, green, white, or 

 red, and some varieties are striped like a ribbon. The 

 juice of some of the varieties has a faint sweet taste, 

 but that of the majority is insipid and watery. Their 

 characters at once suggest them to be the plants from 

 which the cultivated varieties of the sugar cane have 

 descended by improvement on successive sorts from a 

 distant period. Improvement on them will be tried 

 in the Botanical Gardens at Mauritius. Such experi- 

 ments while interesting to botanists will be of great 

 importance to growers of sugar cane. Bamboos, of 

 which there are several kinds, are numerous. Lemon 

 scented grass caboi, [cymbopogon refractus, and 

 perhaps another species] is abundant in many places 

 of some of the islands. 



There are very few species of sedge in Fiji, but 

 like the grasses the various sj)ecies are plentifully 

 represented. They are generally confined to swamps 

 over which fire sweeps annually in the dry season, 



