' FROM ISLAND UNTO ISLAND: 327 



about 12 feet), are what at first appear to be excrescences, 

 looking like warts ; these continue to protrude in the form of 

 horns growing downwards, straight, and about the thickness of 

 a man's arm, until they touch the ground, where they take 

 deep root and send out suckers in all directions, thus forming 

 a series of stays round the tree on every side, so that it safely 

 defies the power of the most furious storms. 



These stays, when macerated and freed from their oily pulp, 

 yield a fibre similar in appearance to jute, exceedingly white 

 and exceedingly strong. The trunk of the pandanus tree, at 

 maturity, is as hollow as a stove-pipe ; the wood, never more 

 than a few inches thick, is as hard as bone, and takes a very 

 fine polish. 



The leaves of the pandanus tree are more than 6 feet in 

 length, and from 2 to 4 inches wide, of a bright green, with a 

 rib down the centre, and edged on both sides with a row of 

 sharp prickles. Roofs of houses, sails of canoes, flooring mats, 

 and clothing of all sorts are manufactured from the leaf. 

 Wonderful and beautiful fabrics are made from it, all plaited 

 by hand and dyed various colours. Waist-cloths and sashes, 

 as white as linen and as soft as silk, are also made from the 

 leaves of this rich tree. 



I do not know of anything that will approach the leaves of 

 the pandanus tree as a paper-making material. The tree 

 grows from one end to the other of Coral Lands. Its leaves 

 can be had for the trouble of the cutting, and all that is wanted 

 is to steep them in salt water, pound them and bleach them in 

 the sun, and they will become as soft and white as a linen rag. 



As in other groups, a good number of small traders cruise 

 around the Tuamotus to pick up cargoes of copra and other 

 produce, for the central depots of German and other firms at 

 Samoa, Tahiti, and Tonga. The goods exchanged with the 



