GENERAL ACCOUNT HEDLEY. 23 



Though romance and poetry have always linked together reef 

 and palm, yet truth to tell, the coconut does not attain its 

 greatest luxuriance upon the low reef islands. To an eye, not to 

 mention an appetite, accustomed to the coconuts of New Guinea, 

 the fruit of Funafuti seems to be dwarfed and stunted, and the 

 palm trunks to be small and slender. A hundred nuts on a stem 

 is a maximum yield for Funafuti, but double that amount is 

 obtained elsewhere. " As big as a Rotumah nut," is a phrase 

 often heard upon Funafuti, the richer soil of that high island 

 producing larger nuts than the atolls ; the shells of very large 

 nuts being valued for flasks and toddy vessels. 



Native traditions point not only to the fact that the coconut 

 is an introduced plant, but that the date of its introduction into 

 Funafuti is, historically speaking, comparatively modern, possibly 

 a couple of centuries ago. Certain of the tallest and presumably 

 oldest* palms about the principal village are known as "Touassa's 

 trees," having been planted in the reign of that chieftain. 

 Tradition narrates how the priest Erivada despatched double 

 canoes, "fouroua," or ocean-going craft, to Vaitupu to bring 

 thence seed nuts, Vaitupu having previously received the coconut 

 from the Gilberts. On the canoes returning with their cargo, 

 the sprouting nuts were dexteriously split so that the spongy 

 core could be extracted for food, while the germinating plant, 

 uninjured by this treatment, was cultivated. At this period land 

 other than the village site and the taro gardens first acquired a 

 value, and the whole atoll was then parcelled out among the tribe, 

 each man proceeding to plant his portion with coconuts. Two 

 generations ago so valuable were the nuts that to steal them was 

 a crime which these gentle islanders punished by drowning the 

 culprit in the lagoon. Two varieties of coconut are recognised, 

 the sweet nut " uta maunga " and bitter "niu." 



When the nut is a couple of inches long it is called " kaieri," 

 a little olderf when the creamy deposit begins to form it is 

 " mukkamuk," the contained liquid being " swanu," later when 

 it is sufficiently ripe to be plucked for drinking the nut is termed 

 "bee," the milk of which is "swabee," and the kernel "ingati;" 

 a more mature nut whose shell begins to turn black is " mutta- 

 mutta," and when the nut drops naturally from the tree it is 

 "niu." A store of these old nuts is kept always in the huts 

 against time of famine, they are partially husked, but care is 



* Dr. Gill states that " The coconut palm attains the age of from 180 

 to 200 years in well sheltered places." Jottings from the Pacific, 1885, 

 p. 203. 



t The stage in ripeness which the nut has reached is ascertained by 

 tapping on it with the knuckles, as in Fiji. See Seemann Flora Vitiensis, 

 1865-73, p. 278. 



