A MISSION TO VITI. 



from the chief or his head wife, and after I had in- 

 structed Koytoo into the mysteries of concocting it into 

 soup, with which neither he nor the Fijians were pre- 

 viously acquainted, the chief would never fail to appear 

 at the very moment the soup was put on our table. In 

 fact there were always boys of his loitering about the 

 kitchen, eagerly watching the moment that it was 

 ready, and then running as fast as they could to inform 

 their chief of the important event. 



Koytoo was an expert climber, and thought nothing 

 of ascending a tree to collect some specimens of flower 

 or fruit for me. We often made excursions together, 

 and I have frequently admired the way in which he 

 would walk up the smooth trunk of a tall cocoa-nut 

 palm, in order to knock down a few fruits for refreshing 

 ourselves. Without closely embracing the tree, as we 

 are wont to do in climbing, he actually walked up, his 

 feet and hands just touching the trunk, and his body 

 being far off. He was scarcely seated on the leaves 

 forming the feathery crown of the palm, when down 

 came a number of nuts, all of which he had carefully 

 tapped with his fingers to ascertain by the sound 

 whether they had arrived at that stage of maturity 

 which I preferred for drinking ; for there is a great 

 difference in the taste of the cocoa-nut as it advances 

 towards maturity, and for every one of these stages 

 the natives have a distinct term. What is yet still 

 more remarkable, they at once know the stage by 

 merely tapping at the nut with their fingers. As the 

 transition from one stage to another, from insipid to 

 sweet, and very slightly acid, is brought about in a day 



