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esteemed as the latter plant. Both the via mila and 

 the via kana are eaten cither hoiled or roasted. 

 Sometimes they are grated, and along with other in. 

 gredients made into madrai. The poisonous qualities 

 are driven off by the heat in cooking. 



The daiga (amorphophallus campanulatus) grows 

 wild in almost every part of Fiji. The root, the part 

 used for food, is a flat tuber about 6 inches broad and 

 3 or 4 inches thick. The plant is herbaceous, and 

 the flower appears before the leaf; it has only one of 

 each. The flower, on well developed plants, is about 

 6 inches in diameter, and rises about 9 inches above 

 the ground. It has a curious and grotesque appear- 

 ance. The spathe, or outer floral covering, is brown, 

 and is supported in the centre by the spadix, around 

 which the spathe, when undeveloped, is closely wrapped, 

 — much in the same way as an unexpanded bell- shaped 

 tent is wrapped around the centre pole. As the flower 

 attains maturity the spathe expands like an umbrella, 

 but the margin is rolled inwards. Thus strengthened, 

 the margin is prevented from falling and covering the 

 spadix which, by the expansion of the spathe, is ex- 

 posed like the handle of an opened umbrella. The 

 individual flowers are sessile, and arranged closely 

 together round the spadix. When the flowers reach 

 maturity, they emit an offensive carrion-like odour, 

 which may be smelt at some distance. Though hidden 

 among long grass, the position of a plant of the 

 daiga, when in flower, is quickly ascertained by the 

 offensive smell and the swarms of flies that hover 

 about, it. As the individual flowers reach a mature 

 stage one after another the disagreeable smell is kept 

 up for a week or ten days. The leaf, which is hand- 

 some and pinnatifidly divided, pcdate-shaped, is from 



