CHAPTER XXVII 



GENERAL REVIEW OF CULTIVATION continued 



POLYNESIA 



FIJI. " A great many different kinds of Musa were found 

 established in different parts of tropical Polynesia, when 

 Europeans first became familiar with them. In Tahiti 

 alone, Banks and Solander saw twenty-eight. . . . Bananas 

 and plantains are known in Fiji by the collective name of 

 4 Vudi.' There are about eighteen different kinds, all of 

 which bear distinctive names. With the exception of one, 

 the ' Soaga,' none are found wild ; and even this wild one 

 is occasionally met with in plantations. It grows spon- 

 taneously in the depth of the forests, often in ravines, and 

 is distinguished from all congeners by its bunch, instead 

 of hanging down, being perfectly upright and presenting 

 a dense collection of orange-coloured fruits (Musa feki). 

 An important addition to their stock of bananas the Fijians 

 received in '.Vudi ni papalagi ' (Le. foreign banana)." * 



The dwarf Chinese banana (M . Cavendishii) has proved 

 of such immense importance to Fiji and other islands 

 in Polynesia, that the history of its introduction there 

 is worth recording. Mr. Charles Telfair was the first 

 to obtain plants of this species in 1826 from its native 

 country, Southern China, for his collection of Musae in 

 Mauritius. He considered it to be the most valuable cf 

 all the kinds in his extensive collection. "As it fruited 

 profusely and only grew three feet high," he thought that 

 it would be a great acquisition to the stoves of this country 

 and accordingly sent two plants of it to his friend Mr 



* " Flora Vitiensis." R Seemann. 1866-73. 

 196 



