304 A MISSION TO VITI. 



lar names it bears, against any incautious contact with 

 it. Besides the name of Via mila, which signifies " acrid 

 Via," we have that of Via gaga, or poisonous Via. What 

 may be the meaning of Via sori, and Dranu, occasion- 

 ally applied to it, I have not been able to find out. In 

 order to remove the acrid properties, the trunk is baked, 

 or first grated, and then treated as madrai (bread) in the 

 manner to be explained below ; yet, notwithstanding 

 all precautions, the natives are frequently ill from eat- 

 ing it. The Via kau, or Via kana (Cyrtosperma edulis, 

 Schott), is in every respect a similar species, also grow- 

 ing in swamps, not only wild, but frequently cultivated 

 like Taro. It requires fewer preparations to render its 

 root fit for food than that of the Via mila, and its fla- 

 vour is considerd more agreeable. 



The Daiga (Amorphophallus sp.) differs from the 

 three preceding Aroideous plants both in habit and mode 

 of growth. It is always found on dry ground, and ap- 

 pears in the spring of the year, together with arrowroot, 

 turmeric, and ginger. Its foliage consists of a single 

 leaf, which rises from a roundish tuber to the height of 

 from two to four feet, having a petiole full of soft 

 prickles, and a blade spreading out somewhat like an um- 

 brella, and divided into numerous, deeply cut segments. 

 The flower, or rather the spathe, is of a dull colour, not 

 put forth until the leaf is beginning to die off, and emits 

 an offensive carrion-like odour. In the cosmogony of the 

 Samoans, the office of having, by means of its singular 

 foliage, lifted up the heavens when they emerged from 

 chaos, is assigned to this plant ; and the Fijians recom- 

 mend it as a safe place of refuge when the end of the 



