THE TROPICAL ZONE. 195 



number of Myrtle blossoms clustered together in a head 

 (except that they are red, instead of white) : whilst the tall 

 Plantains shooting up between the other trees, add another 

 feature to this wild scene. But for Orchises we look in vain, 

 for in the Sandwich Islands they are never to be met with. 



When we escape from the forest, we find wide tracts of 

 land in these islands quite covered with those plants before 

 described as being something like Bananas on a smaller 

 scale, the Scitaminetej and planted round the huts of the 

 natives we see an extremely ornamental fence made of a 

 species of the Dragon-tree (Dracana terminalis), the foliage 

 being sometimes green, and sometimes red : these Dragon- 

 trees are not allowed to reach more than five feet in height; 

 for the tuberous roots abound in starch and sugar, and a 

 spirituous liquor is likewise obtained from them, for the 

 sake of which they are occasionally cut from the stalks, and 

 these being stuck in the ground again, soon send out new 

 roots. 



But the Sandwich Islanders depend chiefly for their sub- 

 sistence upon the roots of one or two species of Aroideous 

 plants, which are cultivated extensively within the tropics as 

 a general article of food, scarcely less necessary than bread 

 is to us. In these islands, whole fields are as carefully 



