62 FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



when the leaves attain a height of twelve or fifteen feet, and the 

 flower stalk six or seven, the root, a greater load than a man can 

 carry, is then about four feet long and twenty inches in diameter. 

 As the plant grows the root is " hilled up " to two or three feet. 

 It is generally harvested about a year after planting, before it 

 has attained the full size. The tuber is hard and unpalatable to 

 Europeans, when cooked it looked to me like brown soap. The 

 Islanders preserve it cooked and packed in coconut shells. At 

 the time of our visit a quantity of brokka so prepared was 

 collected to send to a Native Teacher on one of the Gilbert 

 Islands where a famine was then occurring. Dr. Seemann thus 

 describes this plant in Fiji : "The Via Mila, always growing in 

 swamps, is a gigantic species, often twelve feet high, the trunk 

 or corm of which the edible part is when fully developed, as 

 large as a man's leg, a single leaf weighing three and a half 

 pounds. The petiole was found to be four feet long, and ten 

 inches in circumference at the base ; the blade of the leaf three 

 feet two inches long, two feet six inches broad, and thirteen feet 

 six inches in circumference. The plant emits a nauseous smell, 

 amply warning, as well as the various popular names it bears, 

 against any incautious contact with it. Besides the name of 

 Via mila, which signifies " acrid Via," we have that of Via gaga 

 or poisonous Via. What may be the meaning of Via seri and 

 Dranu, occasionally applied to it, I have not been able to find 

 out. In order to remove the acrid properties, the trunk is baked, 

 or first grated and then treated as madrai, or bread ; yet, not- 

 withstanding all precautions, the natives are frequently ill from 

 eating it."* 



With the brokka is planted the "taro" or "talo," as is indiffer- 

 ently called the Colocasia antiquorum, var. esculenta, of Botanists. 

 Two varieties are distinguished, one with a green another with a 

 red petiole. The leaves are cooked and remind a European of 

 spinach, and the root is roasted or grated as in general use 

 throughout the Pacific. 



Besides brokka and taro there are two other species of aroids, 

 "Ikamakini" and " Ikourourou," which I have not been able to 

 identify botanically. I commend to future travellers the impor- 

 tance of ascertaining exactly the species of aroids cultivated in 

 Polynesia. 



Other varieties of these in cultivation, which have probably 

 been introduced during the present generation from the Gilbert 

 Islands via Nui or Vaitupu, are "Ikoroa," "Kairoro," "Ikamava," 

 and "Teioumai." 



Bananas (Musa sapientium) were planted by the natives in 

 the ground excavated to grow brokka. These low lying swamps 



* Seemann Flora Vitiensis, 1865-73, p. 286. 



