STARCH. 289 



by cultivation, as is done in the Tongan islands. The 

 two kinds of Yabia are the arrowroot of Fiji, errone- 

 ously stated by Wilkes and others to be the Maranta 

 anmdinacea, Linn. They are both species of Tacca; 

 their foliage springing up in great abundance in the 

 beginning of the warm season, and their tubers ripening 

 about June, when leaves and flowers die off. The most 

 common is that kind termed on the Macuata coast 

 Yabia dina (genuine arrowroot), the Tacca pinnatifida, 

 Forst. It delights in light sandy soil, and is therefore 

 most frequently encountered on the seashore ; whilst 

 the second species, known in Macuata as " Yabia sa," 

 is almost entirely confined to the sides of hills and 

 heavy soil. The natives prefer the first-mentioned spe- 

 cies for the purpose of making arrowroot, though they 

 own that there is no difference in the quality of the 

 farinaceous substance prepared from either. In most 

 parts of Fiji there are no distinctive names for the two 

 kinds, both being called "Yabia;" yet the natives are 

 perfectly well acquainted with their various characters 

 and peculiarities of habitat. The leaf, stalks, and scape 

 of the Yabia sa are prominently speckled, and the seg- 

 ments of the leaves are long and narrow, by which it is at 

 once distinguished from its ally. The tubers, when quite 

 ripe, are dug out of the ground and rasped on the~mush- 

 room coral (Fungia sp.). The fleshy mass thus pro- 

 duced is washed in fresh water to enable the starch to 

 settle at the bottom of the vessel in which the operation 

 is carried on ; by pouring off the dirty water, and re- 

 peated washings, the starchy sediment may be made to 

 assume any desired degree of whiteness. Since Fijian 



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