STAPLE FOOD. 301 



ripen, and in the heathen districts offerings of them are 

 made to the priests. In March and April the principal 

 crop comes in, and is stored in sheds thatched with 

 cocoa-nut leaves. As the season advances the contents 

 of these sheds require at least a monthly overhauling ; 

 the roots exhibiting any kind of decay have to be re- 

 moved to prevent their contaminating the healthy ones. 

 Yams are eaten baked, boiled, or steamed, and the na- 

 tives can consume great quantities of them. Whole 

 cargoes have occasionally been taken with profit to 

 New South Wales and New Zealand, and whaling and 

 trading vessels never touch at the group without laying 

 in a good supply. 



There is another esculent root, the Kawai (Dioscorea 

 aculeata, Linn.), also planted on artificial hillocks, though 

 not so high as those of the yam. The stem of this 

 creeper is round, and full of prickles, but it is not ac- 

 commodated with reeds as that of the last-mentioned 

 species. It ripens about June ; on the 27th of that 

 month all the leaves were dead. According to the na- 

 tives it never flowers nor fruits, and I looked in vain 

 over many a field in hopes of being able to disprove 

 the statement. It is propagated by planting the small 

 tubers or roots, which, like the old ones, are oblong, 

 of a brownish colour outside, and a pure white within. 

 When cooked, the skin peels off like the bark of the 

 birch-tree, as Wilkes expresses it. The root is very 

 farinaceous, and when well cooked looks like a fine 

 mealy potato, though of superior whiteness. The taste 

 recalls to mind that of the Aracacha of South America ; 

 there is a slight degree of sweetness about it which 



