316 A MISSION TO VITI. 



apple, the papaw, the custard-apple, and the Chinese 

 banana, have been introduced of late years. The most 

 prominent place among the native fruits undoubtedly 

 belongs to the Wi (Evia dulcis, Comm., = Spondias 

 dulcis, Forst.). The tree appears to be self-sown, and is 

 met with in abundance about towns and villages. It is 

 often sixty feet high ; the bark is smooth and whitish, 

 the leaves pinnate, glabrous, and of a dark green, form- 

 ing a fine contrast with the yellow oval-shaped fruits 

 with which the tree is heavily laden. The fruit has a 

 fine apple-like smell, and a most agreeable acid flavour, 

 rendering it highly suitable for pies ; indeed, the Wi is 

 the only Fijian fruit which recommends itself for that 

 purpose. At Rewa I weighed and measured several 

 highly developed ones, and found the largest to be ex- 

 actly one foot in circumference, and one pound two 

 ounces in weight. The natives are as fond of Wis as 

 the white settlers, and quite content to make their 

 dinner of Taro and Wis. The Dawa (Nephelium pin- 

 natum, Chamb., = Pometia pinnata, Forst.) is more 

 plentiful than the Wi ; entire forests of it are frequently 



sawesawe in the Straits of Somosomo. The leaves, especially when the 

 plant is young, are distinctly bi-pinnatifid, in which respect this kind dif- 

 fers from all others ; fruit, according to natives, rather oblong and covered 

 with prickles. 



Of the following I know nothing, save the names, partly taken from 

 Hazelwood's Dictionary, partly from a list of breadfruits known atOvalau, 

 and kindly communicated by Mr. Binner, of Levuka. Most of them will 

 doubtless prove synonyms of those enumerated above : Draucoko ( = Co- 

 cocoko?), Bucotabua, Utoga ( Koqo), Waisea, Utoloa (=Uto lolo?), 

 Matavesi, Dregadrega (N.B. Drega is the name of the gum issuing from 

 the stem), "Buco uvi." The"Bucudo" of Wilkes's Narrative, and is 

 probably identical with Buco, though he mentions the latter name spelt 

 " Umbuda ;" but what can be meant by his " Botta-bot "? 



