90 



radishes, green maize, tomatoes, brinjals, french 

 beans, water cresses, ought to be plentiful during 

 from nine months to all the year. The want of any 

 one of these vegetables during the above periods, 

 of good quality and cheap, must not be attributed to 

 either the soil or climate of Fiji. In New Cale- 

 donia, and Mauritius, where soil and climate closely 

 resemble those of Fiji, all the above-named vegetables 

 grow during the periods mentioned respectively. 



The Fijians have of late taken to the cultivation of 

 some European kitchen vegetables, notably cabbages, 

 which they hawk on the streets of Levuka. A small 

 garden planted with them was seen at na Sau-coka, 

 in the interior of A r iti Levu. The garden belonged to 

 the native minister of the " Koro." 



Were the Fijians granted a supply of vegetable 

 seeds to begin with, and taught how to cultivate each 

 different kind, it may justly be inferred from the 

 liking which they have for field and garden work, 

 that they would soon be able to supply the community 

 with good and cheap vegetables. 



The Fijians are fond of green vegetables, and culti- 

 vate several plants to supply them, in addition to 

 those that grow wild. They generally eat them with 

 pork and fowls, or fish. In heathen times, several 

 kinds were eaten with bakolo, or human flesh. No- 

 tably the malawaci (tropins anthropophagorum), 

 tudano (omalanthus pedicellatus), borodina (sola- 

 num anthropophagorum), and kurilagi (a pecu- 

 liar variety of dalo (colocasia antiquoruni). The 

 vegetables commonly used are the young leaves of 

 the tlalo. Like the root they are very acrid, and 

 require to be well cooked, in order to remove their 

 acridity and make them wholesome. The boro nil 



