376 A MISSION TO VITI. 



Jalapa, Linn.). Prince's feathers (Amarantus cruentus, 

 Linn.), and its congener, Driti damudamu (Amarantus 

 tricolor, Linn.), have become perfectly naturalized in 

 some districts. Attempts to grow the flowers of colder 

 regions have not been so successful. Carnations are kept 

 alive with difficulty ; roses, though growing and bloom- 

 ing freely, possess little or no scent, and are chiefly 

 valued from the pleasing associations connected with 

 them ; dahlias were introduced in 1860, by Dr. Brower, 

 but I have not yet learnt the fate that attended them ; 

 a species of honeysuckle (Lonicera), noticed on the mis- 

 sion premises at Viwa and Bau, concludes the limited 

 list of foreign garden plants cultivated in Fiji, a list, 

 for any additions to which the inhabitants would feel 

 very grateful. 



The natives do not content themselves with merely 

 looking at or smelling plants, but profusely decorate 

 their persons with them : elegant-formed leaves, passion 

 flowers, the bright-red leaves of the dracsenas, or the 

 bleached ones of the stemless screw-pine, are made to 

 grace their heads or turbans. Great aptitude is dis- 

 played in making necklaces (taube or salusalu), the ma- 

 terials for which are principally furnished by monope- 

 talous, white, and odoriferous flowers, strung upon a piece 

 of string. I noticed those of the Bua (Fayrcea Berteriana, 

 A. Gray), Buabua (Guettarda speciosa, Linn.), Vasa or 

 Rewa (Cerbera lactaria, Ham.), and Sinu dina (Leucosmia 

 Burnettiana, Bth. = Dais disperma, Forst.). The flowers 

 of the Sinu dina, or as it is also termed Sinu damu- 

 damu, are capitate, and the necklaces made of them are 

 called " sinucodo," a term also applying to a chain. The 



