90 FOOD. 



roots of tliis and another species of Tacca (T. sativa) is even more 

 nutritive than the ordinary arrowroot which is obtained from a very 

 different plant [Maranta arundinacea). This leads me to remark 

 on the singular fact that the inhabitants of one Pacific group are 

 often unacquainted with, or make but little use of, sources of vege- 

 table food which in other groups afford a staple diet. Whilst the 

 Fijians and the Society Islanders make use of the arrowroot obtained 

 from Tacca pinnatifida, the inhabitants of the Radack Archipelago, 

 as Chamisso informs us/ seldom use it, although the plant is very 

 frequent on the islands ; and I have already remarked that the 

 natives of Bougainville Straits make little if any use of the same 

 plant. The Fijians were unacquainted with the nutritious qualities 

 of their sago palm (Sagus vitiensis) until Mr. Pritchard and Dr. 

 Seemann extracted the sago.- On the other" hand we have seen 

 that the natives of Bougainville Straits largelv consume the sacro of 

 their palm which belongs to another species of Sagus growing not 

 in the swamps as in Fiji, but in more elevated and drier situations. 

 In the instance of Gycas circinalis, one of the common littoral trees 

 in the, Pacific, we find considerable variation in the knowledge 

 possessed by the inhabitants of different regions of its value as a source 

 of food. Its growing top produces a cabbage which, as we learn from 

 Mr. ]\larsden, is much esteemed by the people of Sumatra.^ Its 

 fruits, when their noxious qualities have been removed by macera- 

 tion or by cooking, are largely consumed in seasons of scarcity by the 

 inhabitants of the Moluccas, New Ireland,* south-east part of New 

 Guinea, and North Queensland.^ Its central pith yields an inferior 

 kind of sao-o to the inhabitants of some of tlie islands of the Eastern 

 Archipelago ; and a gummy exudation resembling tragacanth, which 

 is yielded by this tree, has probably a medicinal value. The 

 natives of Bougainville Straits are not acquainted with the sago- 

 producing character of this tree nor with the fact that its fruits are 

 edible ; they, however, prepare an application for the ulcers from 

 Avhich they often suffer by macerating the fruits in question. Mr. 

 Home observes that the Fijians do not make use of the Gycas 



1 "A Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea," by Otto voa Kotzebue : Loudon, 1821 : 

 vol. III., pp. 15), 1.54. 



- " A Mission to Viti," by Dr. Bertholil Seein!\nn ; p. 291. 



3 " History of Sumatra," p. 89. 



-> Labillardiere's "Voyage in search of La I'crouse : " London, 180 ' : vol. I., p. 254. 



-5 " Work and Adventure in New Guinea," by Messrs. Chalmers and Gill ; p. 310. 



