ra) 
KOROVONO AND ITS FORESTS. 39 
or so, it requires a well-trained ear to detect the diffe- 
rence, and, though trying very hard, I never could mas- 
ter it. No sooner were the nuts down than Koytoo stood 
again on terra firma, cutting a stick about three feet 
long and one inch thick, which he placed obliquely in 
the ground, and used for shelling the nuts. Thus di- 
vested of their thick outer fibrous covering, the hard 
shell of one nut was used as a hammer for knocking a 
hole in the other, and so nicely was this done, that the 
hole was hardly larger than a shilling, and scarcely a 
drop of the milk was spilt. We used to empty a great 
number of nuts in this state without ever experiencing 
any bad effects. We who wear clothes ought to have 
a steady hand, for should any of the milk be spilt, it 
will, on running over the few remaining fibres of the 
husk, become astringent, and produce an indelible stain 
in linen and cotton, having exactly the appearance of 
iron-mould. 
On the 4th of June, I paid a visit to Korovono, on 
Vanua Levu, Mrs. Waterhouse obligingly lending me 
the mission boat and crew to take me across the Straits 
of Somosomo. My object was to examine the Kowrie 
pines and wild nutmegs of that place. We left Somo- 
somo early in the morning, and reached our destination 
at three o’clock in the afternoon. Jetro, an old Manila 
man, who had come to Fiji years ago, and spoke Spanish 
with some difficulty, met us on the beach, and conducted 
us to a fine grove of Kowrie pines (Dammara Vitiensis, 
Seem.) shortly to fall a prey to the axe. European 
sawyers had already cut down a number of the best 
trees, yet some good specimens were still standing, and 
