BOTANICAL NOTES. 28? 



ported by the tightening grasp of its foe. Yet its higher branches 

 retain their vitality to the last ; and when the end comes, its ashes- 

 add fertility to the soil and vigour to the growth of its destroyer. 



It is not to be surprised that this battle of the trees should be 

 included in the mythical lore of some of the inhabitants of the Paciho 

 islands. Dr. Gecn'ge Turner, in his I'ecent work entitled " Samoa, a 

 hundred years ago and long before," gives the following legend of 



the banyan "A report reached Samoa that the trees of 



Fiji had fought with the Banian tree, and that it had beaten 

 them all. On this the Tatangia (Acacia lauvifolia) and another tree- 

 went off from Samoa in two canoes to light the Fijian champion. 

 They reached Fiji, went on shore, and there stood the Banian tree. 

 ' Where is the tree,' they inquired, ' which has conquered all the 

 trees? ' 'I am the tree,' said the Banian. Then said the Tatangia, 

 * I have come to fight with you.' ' Very Good, let us fight,' replied 

 the Banian. They fought. A branch of the Banian tree fell, but 

 the Tatangia sprung aside and escaped. Another fell — ditto, ditto — 

 the Tatangia. Then the trunk fell. The Tatamo'ia ao-ain darted 

 aside and escaped unhurt. On this the Banian tree ' buried its eyes, 

 in the earth ' and owned itself conquered." 



An ascent to the summit of the Faro Island in making 



an ascent to the higher districts of this island, which attains an 

 elevation of about 1900 feet above the sea, a little may be learned 

 perhaps of the vertical distribution of the coast flora in this portion 

 of the Solomon Group. The cycad (Gycas circinalis) grows most 

 frequently just within the trees that immediately line the beach and 

 may be often observed at all heights up to 400 feet above the sea, 

 but it is not usually found at greater elevations,^ The following 

 large trees commonly occur on the hill-slopes up to an elevation of 

 a thousand feet, the " fasala " ( Vitea;), the " toa " {Elo30carpus), the 

 " opi-opi," the "ka-i" {Canarium), the "katari" (Calop/tyUwn), and 

 others ; whilst the palms such as- the fan-palm (Licuala), the Caryota 

 (" eala"), the "kisu" (Pinanga) and the arecas, fill up the intermediate 

 ground, the fan-palm growing in great numbers and often mono- 

 polising the slope.'^ The smaller trees, of a height usually of sixty 



1 At Treasury Island I found a solitary cycad at a height of a thousand feet above the 

 sea. As it was in the vicinity of a plantation of sago palms, it is probable that it had been 

 planted by the natives who employ the fruits for medicinal purposes. 



- This fan-palm, the "firo" of the natives, was in 1884 only represented in Treasury by a 

 single individual which had been brought a few years before from Bougainville, where the 

 leaves are employed in making a conical hat that is commonly worn. 



