SCENTS AND PERFUMES. 345 



in the Chinese and Polynesian markets, that about the 

 year 1816 there was scarcely enough left for home 

 consumption several thousand tons having probably 

 been exported, worth in China from 20 to 30 a 

 ton. In 1840, the United States Exploring Expedition 

 with difficulty obtained a few specimens for the her- 

 barium. To save the tree from utter destruction in 

 the islands, the Kev. Mr. Williams planted one in the 

 garden of the mission station, at Bua, which, when I 

 visited the place, in 1860, was in full vigour and bloom. 

 When sandal-wood was still plentiful, a butcher's knife 

 was usually exchanged for ten sticks of three feet 

 long. At present, fancy prices are readily given for the 

 little that now and then turns up. In 1859, Tui Le- 

 vuka, chief of Ovalau, had nearly half a ton of it in 

 his possession, but that seems to have been the largest 

 quantity of late years brought together ; a year later 

 Mr. Hennings, a German, trading in Fiji, could only 

 succeed in obtaining a few pieces. On visiting Bua, 

 in October, 1860, a log, six feet long and two or three 

 inches in diameter, was presented to me, and thought 

 quite a valuable gift by my native attendants. The 

 Yasi has very much the appearance of a .Myrtaceous 

 plant, and the^ijiajis^who possess a quick eye for dis- 

 cerning natural affinities, ^class it with several species 

 of Eugenia, which they respectively distinguish as Yasi 

 ni wai, Yasi dravu, etc. The leaves are opposite and f 

 lanceolate, and the flowers very minute, and on first 

 opening they are white, but gradually change to pink, 

 and ultimately to a brownish purple. The fruit is in 

 shape, size, and colour like that of the black currant. A 



