370 A MISSION TO VITI. 



The inflorescence never breaks out below the crown, as it 

 does in the Niu sawa (Kentia? exorrhiza, Wendl.). The 

 spadix is three feet long, stiff and very straight, bearing 

 numerous minute hermaphrodite flowers, of a brownish- 

 yellow colour. The fruit is perfectly round, about half 

 an inch in diameter ; and, when quite matured, it has 

 exactly the colour of a black-heart cherry, the outside 

 having a slight astringent taste. The seeds germinate 

 freely, and out of a handful thrown carelessly into a 

 Wardian case in Fiji, more than thirty had begun to 

 grow when they reached New South Wales, where they 

 were taken care of in the Botanic Gardens, and will 

 duly be distributed amongst the various establishments 

 forming collections of rare and beautiful palms for 

 such this species certainly is. 



The Niu sawa (Kentia ? exorrhiza, H. Wendl.) is a 

 pinnatifid palm of considerable beauty, of which there 

 is a characteristic sketch, representing the vegetation of 

 the Rewa river, in ' The Narrative of the United States 

 Exploring Expedition.' This palm is found all over 

 Fiji, ascending mountains to the height of two thousand 

 feet. Mr. Charles Moore, of Sydney, met with it in New 

 Caledonia ; and there is reason to believe that it is also 

 found in the Tongan group, where, as in Fiji, it is known 

 by the name of " Niu sawa," I am told ; " sawa," signi- 

 fying " red " in Tonguese (and having no meaning in 

 Fijian), being doubtless given on account of the fruit, 

 which merges from bright orange into red. This palm 

 is remarkably straight, and often more than sixty feet 

 high. The trunk is unarmed, smooth, and of a whitish 

 colour ; it is a couple of feet above the base, from two 



