ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY OF FIJI. 133 



ulcers, whilst the leaves themselves are put on the wound as 

 a kind of bandage. The bark of the danidani (Panax fruti- 

 cosum, Linn.), a shrub about 8 feet high, and cultivated near the 

 native houses on account of its deeply-cut, ornamental foliage, 

 is scraped off, and its juice taken as a remedy for macake, the 

 thrush, ulcerated tongue or throat. The properties of the 

 sarsaparilla as a means of purifying the blood are well known. 

 The creeper is found throughout the group, especially on land 

 that has at one time been cleared, and might be gathered in 

 quantities if there were any demand for it. In the London 

 market, it would at present be unsaleable. It belongs to that 

 section of sarsaparillas distinguished by pharmacologists as 

 the 'non-mealy,' the most valued representative of which is 

 the Jamaica species. Moreover, it has no 'beard' or little 

 rootlets. The natives of Ovalau, Viti Levu, and Vanua Levu 

 name it kadragi and wa-vusi ; those of Kadavu, ra-kaurwa, 

 literally, 'the woody-creeper.' Dr. Seeman met with it years 

 ago in the Hawaiian Group ; it is said to be also common in 

 the Samoan and Tongan Groups, and prepared sarsaparilla 

 occasionally imported to the two last-mentioned has found no 

 market, the indigenous being preferred to the foreign pro- 

 duction. Curious to add, in Fiji it is not, as with us, the 

 rhizome that is used, but the leaves, which are chewed, put in 

 water, and strained through fibre, like the angona or Jcava 

 (Piper methysticum, Forst), before being taken. Strong purga- 

 tive properties reside in the vasa or rewa (Cerbera lactaria, 

 Ham.), a sea-side tree, 25 feet high, with soft wood, smooth 

 shining leaves, and white, scented flowers, used for necklaces 

 by the natives. The aromatic leaves of the law (Plectranthus 

 Forsteri, Benth.), a weed abounding in cultivated places, and 

 having purple bracts supporting pale blue flowers, cure, it is 

 said, 'bad eyes' and headaches on being brought in contact 



