SPICES. 29d 
rolled up and strained through a fine basket lined with 
fern leaves. It is then carried away in bamboos, and 
for several days exposed to the air, when the fluid is 
gently poured off, and a sediment, the Rerega of Fiji or 
turmeric of commerce, is found at the bottom. A species 
of ginger (Zingiber Zerumbet, Rosc.) also abounds in the 
lower districts of the group, where it is called “ Beta.” 
The rhizome, though less pungent than that of the spe- 
cies exported from China, has been found to make tole- 
rably good preserves, and answers all the other purposes 
for which genuine ginger (Zingiber officinale, Linn.) is 
commonly employed. During our journey we often 
used it with turmeric, a few leaves of an aromatic Zingi- 
beraceous plant termed ‘Cevuga” (Amomum sp.), and 
a few fruits of the bird’s-eye pepper for making curry, 
which, all the ingredients being fresh, proved of excel- 
lent flavour. A species of Nutmeg (Myristica castanew- 
folia, A. Gray), termed “ Male,” is found in the larger 
islands, forming trees sixty to eighty feet high, but 
yielding a very inferior kind of timber, which rapidly 
decays when exposed to the influence of the weather. 
Both its mace and nut prove a good substitute for those 
of the genuine nutmeg (J/yristica moschata, Linn). The 
“nut” was turned to no account until the whites 
pointed out its valuable properties. It is about the size 
of a pigeon’s egg; the mace (arillus) is of a fine pink 
colour, and the shape of the nut it encloses is too oblong 
to allow this kind of nutmeg ever to be passed off for the 
genuine and best sorts of the Indian Archipelago, though 
the Fijian produce may resemble them in every other 
respect. Bird’s-eye pepper (Capsicum frutescens, Linn.) 
