282 A MISSION TO VITI. 
Oil and vegetable fat next claim our attention. The 
most valuable oil produced in Fiji is that extracted from 
the seeds of the Dilo (Calophyllum inophyllum, Linn.), 
the Tamanu of Eastern Polynesia, and the Cashumpa of 
India. It is the bitter oil, or woondel, of Indian com- 
merce. The natives use it for polishing arms and greas- 
ing their bodies when cocoa-nut oil is not at hand. But 
the great. reputation this oil enjoys throughout Poly- 
nesia and the East Indies rests upon its medicinal pro- 
perties, as a liniment in rheumatism, pains in the joints, 
and bruises. The efficacy in that respect can hardly be 
exaggerated, and recommends it to the attention of Eu- 
ropean practitioners. The oil is kept by the natives in 
gourd flasks, and, there being only a limited quantity 
made, I was charged about sixpence per pint for it, 
paid in calico and cutlery. The tree yielding it is one 
of the most common littoral plants in the group, and its 
round fruits, mixed with the square-shaped ones of Bar- 
ringtonia speciosa, the pine-cone-like ones of the sago- 
palm, and the flat seeds of the Walai (Entada scandens, 
Bth.), are found densely covering the sandy beaches, a 
play of the tides. Dilo oil never congeals in the lowest 
temperature of the Fijis, as cocoanut oil often does 
during the cool season. It is of a greenish tinge, and 
a very little of it will impart its hue to a whole cask 
of cocoa-nut oil. Its commercial value is only partially 
known in the Fijis, and was found out accidentally. 
Amongst the contributions in cocoa-nut oil which the 
natives furnish towards the support of the Wesleyan 
missions, some Dilo oil had been poured, which, on ar- 
riving at Sydney, was rejected by the broker who pur- 
