OF THE SOUTH SEAS 429 



and stands on aerial roots resembling inclined stilts. 

 The leaves are in tufts at the tips of the branches, set 

 Hke a screw, twisting around the stem in graceful curves, 

 and marking the stem with a spiral pattern from the 

 root upward. The leaves are edged with spines. The 

 wood is close, hard, and hollow, and full of oil. From 

 the pandanus are made posts five or six inches through. 

 The leaves, four or five feet long, are torn into strips 

 for making hats, thatch, mats, and canoe sails. They 

 are steeped in sea-water, and beaten with a mallet to 

 remove the green outer skin, the residue being white, 

 silken fiber. This is dyed to weave hats and belts. The 

 aerial roots are crushed to make a tougher fiber for ropes, 

 baskets, and mats. The fruit is something like a coarse 

 pineapple, and the blossoms are very fragrant. The 

 ripe fruit is crimson, and strings like beads into favorite 

 necklaces. The fruit separates into cones, and one 

 chews the inner end like licorice, while, when dried, the 

 kernels can be ground into a brown, sweet flour for 

 cakes, a wholesome, nourishing food, but esteemed only 

 in more barren islands, where fish and cocoanuts are 

 the principal diet. From the fruit is distilled a fiery 

 liquor that the early whalers taught the line islanders 

 to drink. 



At the isthmus was the only crossing of the belt or, 

 Broom Road, about Tahiti. One had to choose the left 

 or the right, and we wound to the right to reach the 

 Maison des Varos. To the left we could have gone 

 to Tautira, famous as the last stand of the god Oro 

 against the cross, and still under the chieftaincy of Ori- 

 a-Ori, with whom R. L. S. and his family lived several 

 months. 



