340 A MISSION TO VITI. 



a burning pain similar to that ascribed to the sap of 

 Malawaci (Trophis anthropophagorum. Seem.). Milne 

 (Hook. Jour, and Kew Misc. ix. p. 110) states, that "if 

 you should be so unfortunate as to sting yourself, you 

 will feel the effects for some months. I am suffering at 

 this moment," the writer continues, " from an accident 

 which occurred a month ago. There is no eruption ; 

 but it is most painful when exposed to the influence of 

 water." 



The medicinal plants employed by the natives are as 

 difficult, perhaps more difficult, to find out than the 

 poisonous ones used for illegal purposes. Those who 

 profess to be acquainted with their properties often 

 women, and answering to our herbalists cannot be 

 tempted by any presents to disclose secrets which to 

 them prove a lucrative source of income for life. It is 

 only the virtues of plants generally known that a casual 

 inquirer has any chance of learning. The high estima- 

 tion in which the oil of the Dilo (Calophyllum inophyl- 

 lum, Linn.) is held by the whole- population, as an effi- 

 caceous remedy for rheumatism and other pains, has 

 been mentioned in another place. The leaves of the 

 Kura (Morinda citrifolia, Linn.), a middle-sized tree, 

 with shining leaves and white flowers, not unlike those 

 of the coffee-shrub, are heated by passing them over 

 flame, and their juice squeezed into ulcers, whilst the 

 leaves themselves are put on the wound as a kind of 

 bandage. The bark of the Danidani (Panax fruticosum, 

 Linn.), a shrub about eight feet high, and cultivated 

 about the native houses on account of its deeply-cut, 

 ornamental foliage, is scraped off, and its juice taken 



