GENERAL ACCOUNT HEDLEY. 29 



cavity in the body of a coconut tree, two feet or so from the 

 ground. At the Duke of York's Island, and probably also at 

 the adjacent Bowditch Island, this method is put in practice ; the 

 cavities hold five or six gallons of water." 



The dried leaves tied in bundles are used at night for torches 

 while fishing. 



Fibre for sinnet is obtained by macerating green coconut husk 

 for three or four weeks in fresh or salt water, such is known as 

 "loukafa." 



A kind of fish trap like our crab pot was wove in basket work 

 from the roots of the palm. 



After the coconut the principal tree, both in numbers and 

 utility, is the Fala, Screw Pine, probably Pandanus odoratis- 

 simus, Linn., but the confused literature* of this difficult genus 

 has not allowed a satisfactory identification of this species. The 

 natives recognise and name several varieties of the native Fala, 

 but I do not know whether these are botanical species. On 

 the third islet south of the permanent village I remarked an 

 apparently starved form with scanty foliage and slender limbs. 

 Approaching the atoll from the sea, the pyramidal shape and vivid 

 green of the Fala enables the eye to detect it before any other 

 indigenous plant. It extends over the whole of every islet, and 

 appears to have no especial choice of soil or situation, attaining a 

 height of 25 -30 feet, and a diameter of trunk of 12-14 inches. 

 The facetted fruit, " fui Fala," about the size of a man's head, is 

 orange-red when ripe and then emits a sweet smell, three or four 

 in different stages of maturity being usually carried on one tree. 

 The fruit being broken open the proximal soft portion of the 

 phalanges is chewed. The sweet sugary taste is a favourite with 

 adults and children alike, and meets the approval of the Robber 

 Crab, Birgus latro, but does not commend itself to a European 

 palate. Having chewed the ends into the semblance of a paint 

 brush, the eater throws the phalanges away and never opens them 

 for the edible seeds they contain. There appears to be no private 

 property in Pandanus, anyone may take any ripe fruit he may 

 meet. 



The trunk and branches of the Fandango, as the beach-combers 

 call it, are soft and useless for fuel or building, but the leaves, 

 " lau Fala," yield material for the local arts and manufactures. 

 For thatch the leaves are dressed, stripped of their thorns, folded 

 in a row over a batten and pinned by a riblet of palm frond ; 

 battens so loaded are arranged on the roof one above another 

 with a considerable lap. Such a thatch is excellent and lasts 

 four or five years. The leaves yields material for fine mats, and 



* Vide Balfour, Observations on the genus Pandanus, Journ. Linn. Soc. 

 Bot. xvii. p. 54. 



