354 A MISSION TO VITI. 
the red with the bark of the Kura (Morinda citrifolia, 
Linn.), and that of the Tiri (Guttifere?). The Liku 
worn by the common women consists of one row of 
fibres, all of the same colour; whilst those worn by 
ladies of rank are often composed of two or three rows 
or layers—flounces, I suppose, would be the proper term 
—every one of which exhibits a different colour. 
Mats, with which the floors of houses and sleeping- 
places are thickly covered, are made of two kinds of 
screw-pines: the coarsest, of the leaves of the Balawa 
(Pandanus odoratissimus, Linn.); the finest, of those of 
the Voivoi (Pandanus caricosus, Rumph.). The Balawa, 
or Vadra, as it is termed in some districts, is a tree 
twenty-five feet high, indicative of poor soil, growing in 
exposed positions, and being one of the first plants ap- 
pearing on newly-formed islands. Its singular habit has 
often been dwelt upon. The smooth white branches, 
with their dense heads of foliage, not inaptly compared 
to the arms of a huge candelabrum; the strong aerial 
roots, covered with minute spines, and serving as so 
many props; the curious corkscrew-like arrangement of 
the leaves, the leathery, sword-shaped leaves them- 
selves, and their spiny edges; the long spikes of male, 
and the shorter branches of female flowers, their deli- 
cious perfume strongly recalling to mind that of the 
vegetable ivory of South America; finally, the bright 
orange-coloured drupes, formed into large heads of 
fruit, to say nothing of their insipid taste, appreciated 
only by natives, are all so essentially different from what 
a European traveller is accustomed to in his own coun- 
try, that his attention is involuntarily arrested, and he 
