308 A MISSION TO VITI. 



Kitchen vegetables are supplied by a number of wild 

 and cultivated plants. The natives boil the leaves of 

 several ferns, among them those of the Litobrochia 

 sinuata, Brack., and in times of scarcity those of the Ba- 

 labala (AlsopMla excelsa, R. Br.) ; those of the Ota (An- 

 giopteris evecta, Hoffm.), a species with gigantic foliage, 

 are peculiarly tender, and their taste not unlike that of 

 spinach. The common brake (Pteris aquilina, Linn., 

 var. esculenta, Hook, nl.), though plentiful, does not 

 seem to be used as it is by the Polynesian tribes of New 

 Zealand. The leaves of the Boro ni yaloka in gata (i. e. 

 serpent's-egg boro), our Solanum oleraceum, a spiny kind 

 of herbaceous nightshade, serve as " greens " to both the 

 natives and foreigners. The young shoots of the Vaulo 

 of Viti Levu (Flagellaria indica, Linn.), known also, if I 

 am not misinformed, by the names of Tui, Vico, Turuka, 

 and Malava in different districts, after having been 

 boiled, are eaten with taro and yams, but only by Fijians. 

 Two kinds of purslane, termed " Taukuku ni vuaka " in 

 Taviuni (Portulaca oleracea, Linn., et Portulaca quadri- 

 fida, Linn.), are common weeds which, during my stay 

 at Somosomo, were frequently brought to table. The 

 natives sometimes grow whole fields of the Bete or Vau- 

 vau ni Viti (Hibiscus [AbelmoscJms] Manihot, Linn.), an 

 erect shrub, attaining six or eight feet in height, bear- 

 ing yellow flowers and lobed leaves, which, especially if 

 not quite developed, are tender eating, relished even by 

 Europeans. The Boro dina (Solanum antliropophagorum, 

 Seem.), a straggling shrub with glabrous leaves and 

 scarlet or yellow berries, possessing a faint aromatic 

 smell, and resembling tomatos in shape, has also edible 



