PALMS. 367 
ferns (Lygodictyon), partially no doubt from some super- 
stitious notions, but partially also to keep out the wet. 
The trunks of the Balabala, cut into ornamental forms, 
are frequently observed around tombs, temples, churches, 
and bures, presenting a pretty effect. The little sticks 
which the chiefs carry, stuck under their turban, and 
with which they scratch their heads, are also made of 
Balabala. The young leaves are eaten in times of scar- 
city, while the soft scales covering the footstalks, or 
more correctly speaking the stipes, of the fronds, are 
used for stuffing pillows and cushions by the white set- 
tlers, in preference to feathers, because they do not be- 
come so heated, and are a real luxury in a sultry tropical 
night. The Balabala is common all over the group, es- 
pecially on the weather-side, and its trunk attains the 
height of about twenty-five feet, and eight or ten inches 
in thickness. The fronds form a magnificent crown of 
gigantic dimensions, rendering the plant a noble feature 
in the landscape. 
Palms play an important part in the domestic econo- 
my of the natives. The Fijians are the only people who 
in their barbarous state had a collective term for the 
great natural order of palms, applying that of “Niu’”’ 
to all those inhabiting their islands, and adding specific 
names to distinguish the one from the other ; viz. :— 
Niu dina = Cocos nucifera, Linn. 
Niu sawa = Kentia exorrhiza, Wendl. 
Niu niu = Cagicake = Ptychosperma filiferum, Wendl. 
Niu soria = Sogo = Sagus Vitiensis, Wendl. 
Niu masei = Sakiki = Viu = Pritchardia pacifica, Seem. et 
Wendl. 
Niu Balaka = Ptychosperma Seemanni, Wendl. 
