290 A MISSION TO VITL 
arrowroot has become an article of foreign demand, it 
has been pointed out to the natives that the impurities 
imparting a greyish colour to the production, caused 
partly by not peeling the tubers previous to rasping 
them, partly by not washing the sediment a sufficient 
number of times, must be removed in order to raise the 
marketable value of the article. When a satisfactory 
degree of whiteness has been attained, the starch is 
dried in the sun. For their own consumption the Fiji- 
ans do not dry their arrowroot, but tie it up in bundles 
of leaves and bury it in the ground, when it speedily 
ferments, and emits a rather disagreeable odour. South 
Sea arrowroot fetches from threepence halfpenny to 
fourpence per pound in London ; and, as it is invaluable 
when taken in cases of dysentery and diarrhcea,—the 
bane of the South Seas,—it is necessary to have it genu- 
ine. The Tonguese have of late years been known to 
adulterate it to a great extent with lime in order to in- 
crease its weight and volume, but this fraud may readily 
be detected by watching the arrowroot when it first 
comes in contact with water; if adulterated with lime, it 
will fizz. Care should also be taken to guard against 
the starch of the Cassava or Tapioco plant being passed 
off for Polynesian arrowroot, which, from its slightly 
purgative tendency and poisonous properties, is ill- 
adapted for bowel complaints. It is much whiter than 
the arrowroot made of Zacca, sticks to the hands like 
flour, and when a little water is allowed to act upon it, 
it assumes a pinkish colour; whilst the arrowroot made 
of Zacca has a granulated feel, does not adhere to the 
hand like flour, and is not changed in colour by contact 
