STARCH. 289 
by cultivation, as is done in the Tongan islands. The 
two kinds of Yabia are the arrowroot of Fiji, errone- 
ously stated by Wilkes and others to be the Maranta 
arundinacea, Linn. They are both species of Zucca ; 
their foliage springing up in great abundance in the 
beginning of the warm season, and their tubers ripening 
about June, when leaves and flowers die off. The most 
common is that kind termed on the Macuata coast 
Yabia dina (genuine arrowroot), the Zacca pinnatifida, 
Forst. It delights in light sandy soil, and is therefore 
most frequently encountered on the seashore; whilst 
the second species, known in Macuata as “ Yabia sa,” 
is almost entirely confined to the sides of hills and 
heavy soil. The natives prefer the first-mentioned spe- 
cies for the purpose of making arrowroot, though they 
own that there is no difference in the quality of the 
farinaceous substance prepared from either. In most 
parts of Fiji there are no distinctive names for the two 
kinds, both being called “Yabia;” yet the natives are 
perfectly well acquainted with their various characters 
and peculiarities of habitat. The leaf, stalks, and scape 
of the Yabia sa are prominently speckled, and the seg- 
ments of the leaves are long and narrow, by which it is at 
once distinguished from its ally. The tubers, when quite 
ripe, are dug out of the ground and rasped on the mush- 
room coral (Fungia sp.). The fleshy mass thus pro- 
duced is washed in fresh water to enable the starch to 
settle at the bottom of the vessel in which the operation 
is carried on; by pouring off the dirty water, and re- 
peated washings, the starchy sediment may be made to 
assume any desired degree of whiteness. Since Fijian 
U 
