No. 692. 
TACCA PINNATIFIDA. 
Chass. Order. 
HEXANDRIA MONOGY NTA. 
This plant grows about two feet high, and 
flowers in August. It requires the stove, 
and when the stems decay should be kept 
dry: it may be planted in peat and loam. 
It is a native of the East Indies and Society 
Islands. The roots are about the size of a 
man’s fist; they are bitter and noxious, but 
are prepared by rasping and washing in 
water, till a fine meal remains, of which in 
Otaheite and other islands, according to 
Forster, nourishing cakes are made. It is 
interesting to observe people in a state of 
comparative ignorance, by a simple opera- 
tion thus changing poison into bread. It 
can only be ascribed to the teaching of that 
beneficent Being, who gives to “ beasts 
their food and to the young ravens when 
they cry.” 
These islands seem in a most particular 
manner to have been favoured by the good- 
ness of God, within these few years: through 
their wars and other vicious practices the 
inhabitants were rapidly deecrasing, and if 
