352 A MISSION TO VITI. 



made of many different plants, and might be classified 

 into temporary and permanent. Amongst the tempo- 

 rary Likus ought to be placed those made of plantain 

 and cocoa-nut leaves, or those made of a climbing plant, 

 the Vono (Alyotia bracteolosa, Eich., A. Gray), the stem 

 of which is partially broken to give it greater flexibility, 

 and also to bring out an agreeable smell peculiar to the 

 Vono, on account of which it is also worn as garlands 

 around the head. Amongst the permanent Likus is one 

 termed " Sausauwai," the long black fringes of which, 

 playing on the white Tapa, or on the fine limbs of the 

 natives, has a most graceful appearance. Both on ac- 

 count of the scarcity of the materials of which it is com- 

 posed, and its being unaffected by water, especially when 

 greased with cocoa-nut oil, the Sausauwai is highly 

 valued by fishermen, and all people living on the coast 

 of Fiji ; they will give twenty fathoms of white Tapa, 

 and the Tonguese and Samoans as much as 1 sterling, 

 for a single one of these elegant articles of dress. The 

 fringes of which it is composed are of the thickness of 

 a common wire, rather flexible, and occasionally orna- 

 mented with small beads. Placed under the microscope, 

 the vegetable origin of these fringes becomes at once 

 evident, and they are found to be composed of glossy 

 black joints, of unequal length. None, save a few na- 

 tives, had ever seen the plant producing them, and it 

 was the general belief of all the foreign residents in 

 Fiji that they were the roots of a certain tree, until 

 Mr. Pritchard and myself made the subject a point of 

 special inquiry during our first visit to Navua. A few 

 words from Chief Kuruduadua, and two large knives 



