SCENTS AND PERFUMES. 345 
in the Chinese and Polynesian markets, that about the 
year 1816 there was scarcely enough left for home 
consumption—several thousand tons having probably 
been exported, worth in China from £20 to £30 a 
ton. In 1840, the United States Exploring Expedition 
with difficulty obtained a few specimens for the her- 
barium. To save the tree from utter destruction in 
the islands, the Rev. Mr. Williams planted one in the 
garden of the mission station, at Bua, which, when I 
visited the place, in 1860, was in full vigour and bloom. 
When sandal-wood was still plentiful, a butcher's knife 
was usually exchanged for ten sticks of three feet 
long. At present, fancy prices are readily given for the 
little that now and then turns up. In 1859, Tui Le- 
vuka, chief of Ovalau, had nearly half a ton of it in 
his possession, but that seems to have been the largest 
quantity of late years brought together; a year later 
Mr. Hennings, a German, trading in Fiji, could only 
succeed in obtaining a few pieces. On visiting Bua, 
in October, 1860, a log, six feet long and two or three 
inches in diameter, was presented to me, and thought 
quite a valuable gift by my native attendants. The 
Yasi has very much the appearance of a Myrtaceous 
plant, and the Fijians, who possess a quick eye for dis- 
cerning natural affinities, class it with several species 
of Eugenia, which they respectively distinguish as Yasi 
ni wai, Yasi dravu, etc. The leaves are opposite and 
lanceolate, and the flowers very minute, and on first 
opening they are white, but gradually change to pink, 
and ultimately to a brownish purple. The fruit is in 
shape, size, and colour like that of the black currant. 
