VOCABULARY OF BOUGAINVILLE STRAITS. 187 



islands of Bougainville Straits the four common panclanus-trees 

 are known as Darashi, Sararang,Pota, &nd Samala. In the Sikyana 

 or Stewart Islands off the eastern end of the Solomon Group, the 

 pandanus is named Dawa} The Fijians name the "Pandanus 

 odoratissimus " Balawa.^ In the Hervey Group and in the surround- 

 ing islands, as we learn from Mr, Wyatt Gill,^ the " Pandanus 

 odoratissimus " is the Ara of the natives, whilst the " Pandanus 

 utilis " is the Rauara ; the first being the Thatch-tree, and the last 

 the Mat-tree. In the Austral Islands further to the eastward, the 

 names of the pandanus-trees were ascertained by Dr. G. Bennett to 

 be Iloslioa, Sahang, and Pauliuf (" Pandanus odoratissimus.") ^ 



Indian Archipelago Haragh-hagh . . . Harrassas . . . Pudak, Putih. 



Bougainville Straits Sararang Darashi Pota. 



Sikyana Islands Dawa. 



Fi j i Group Balawa. 



Hervey Group, and vicinity... Rauara, Ara. 



Austral Islands Sahangr Hoshoa Pauhuf. 



^£3" 



By arranging these names as in the above list, the important 

 bearings of such a comparison are at once seen ; and I may here re- 

 mark that I have attached no weight to the non-retention of the 

 same native name for the same species of " Pandanus " in difierent 

 localities, since as in the instance of " P. odoratissimus," there 

 is no evidence that would lead us to expect such a close agreement. 

 Most of the common pandanus-trees have a very similar appearance, 

 and there is often a general na^me given to them in addition to their 

 distinctive names. Thus the natives of the Bousfainville Straits 

 often designate all the species by the term Sararang. In the Indian 

 Archipelago, the general names are Pandan, Har^agh-hagh, Harassas, 

 Pudak, liamj.ai, &c. These are the names which would be applied 

 to any new kind of pandanus-tree during the migration eastward 

 of the races of this archipelago ; and it is manifest that as the 

 separate Pacific groups of islands came to be occupied by different 

 offshoots of the main migration, the same tree miorht have received 

 a different general name. Therefore, in investigating the nomen- 

 clature of the pandanus-trees throughout the Pacific, we should 

 concern ourselves not wdth a comparison of the names of identical 



1 Scherzer's "Voyage of the Novara," vol. ii. p. 617. London, 1861-63. 



2 Seemann's "Mission to Viti." London, 1SG2. 



3 " Jottings from the Pacific," pp. 183, 188. London, 1885. 



* " Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia," p. 389. London, 1859. 



