TIMBEK. 363 



Vel&o(Casuarina nodiflora, Forst), which is occasionally 

 met with in its company, and also yields a useful timber 

 Whilst the Nokonoko assumes a more or less pyramidal 

 form, is scarcely ever higher than forty feet, and has a 

 greyish hue, the Velao is often sixty feet and even more 

 in height and three feet in diameter, and has a green 

 mossy-looking crown, which, by its flatness on the top, 

 reminds one of the stone-pine so characteristic of the 

 Italian landscape. The Velao almost invariably grows 

 in good soil, generally in mixed forests ; whilst the No- 

 konoko shuns, as it were, a close contact with other 

 kinds of trees, and it scarcely ever associates with any 

 save the Balawa or Screw-pine (Pandanus odoratissimus, 

 Linn.). 



The Dilo (Calophyllum inophyllum, Linn.), a sea-side 

 tree, grows to a large size, and its wood is used for 

 canoes and boats. Several of the little coasting vessels, 

 cruising about Fiji, are almost exclusively built of it 

 and the Vaivai (Serianthes Vitiensis, Gray) ; their masts 

 being supplied by the Dakua (Dammar a Vitiensis, Seem.). 

 Dilo wood has, besides, a beautiful grain and takes a fine 

 polish. Allied to the Dilo is the Damanu (Calophyllum 

 Jlurmanni, Wight), a large inland forest tree, also fur- 

 nishing materials for boats, canoes, masts, and all kinds 

 of carpentry. The Tivi (Terminalia Moluccana, Lam.), 

 a littoral tree, and its congener, the Tavola (Terminalia 

 Catappa, Linn.), add their share to the Fijian woods. 

 That of the Tavola is made into drums called " Lali," 

 the beating of which is resorted to when distinguished 

 guests arrive, on festive occasions, or to call the Chris- 

 tians to Divine service ; and it is a curious coincidence, 



