GENERAL ACCOUNT HEDLEY. 37 



" We will plait thick wreaths ofjiale for our heads, and prepare 

 strings of hooni for our necks, that their whiteness may show off 

 the colour of our skins ;"* and we read that " sweet scented 

 plants, principally the jiale," were planted before the grave of 

 the Tongan king.f 



Near the town were a few Crinum plants, whose flowers were 

 woven by the girls into wreaths. They seemed to me to have 

 been planted there, but the natives assured me that the species 

 was indigenous, which I am more inclined to believe after reading 

 that Woodford remarked it in the Gilberts. J 



Thespesia populnea, Soland., known both to the Ellice Islanders 

 and Tahitians by the name of Miro, grew on the embankments 

 between the cultivated swamps, I saw none undoubtedly wild. 

 It is chiefly valued for producing the long, straight poles used in 

 bonitp fly fishing. The handsome dark wood I saw carved into 

 a native drum. || 



The Tausoun (Tournefortla argentea, Linn.) grows upon sandy 

 soil and flourishes upon the leeward islands, where it gives its 

 name to one locality. It appears as a low, round-topped tree 

 with rough bark, dense foliage, and large dense cymes of small 

 purple flowers. The large, obovate silky leaves attract a visitor's 

 attention. No use is made of the soft wood, but the leaves are 

 applied as a styptic to incised wounds ; they are also collected to 

 enrich the soil of the Taro plantations. 



A bush, Valla valla (Premna taitensis, Schauer), grows abundantly 

 on sandy ground, the large, thin, light green leaves of which emit 

 an agreeable scent when crushed in the hand. These are used by 

 the natives to scent coconut oil. When matches were unknown, 

 the usual material for raising fire was Valla valla wood, a pencil 

 being ploughed in a groove till friction produced ignition. At 

 Nukulailai cauterisation was practised by applying a piece of 

 Valla valla bark glowing from the fire to the seat of the pain.U I 

 was told on this island that the root of this shrub was sometimes 

 used as a dye. " The natives of Fiji, who call the tree ' Yaro,' 

 employ the wood for house building."** 



* Mariner Tonga, i., 1817, p. 308. 



t Mariner loc. cit., p. 409. 



j Woodford loc. cit., p. 346. 



Guppy Trans. Viet. Inst., 1896. 



|| "The natives in Fiji do not seem to make any use of the fibre of 

 the Mulomulo (T. p.) so frequently used in other countries for cordage, 

 but bestow great praise on the tree on account of the almost indestruc- 

 tible nature of the wood whilst under water. In Tahiti the tree was 

 formerly regarded as sacred and planted on the ' Marae.' " Seemann 

 loc. cit., p. 19. 



1 Mariner tells us that the Tongans applied ignited tappa to cases of 

 hard indolent tumours. Loc. cit., p. 261. 



** Seemann loc. cit., p. 187. 



