SAMOAN GROUP. 127 



in whirls, at regular intervals, like the white pine (Pinus strobus) of 

 our Northern States. 



It was remarked that the character of the vegetation approached 

 more nearly to that of the East Indies than of the Society Islands, 

 and the leafless acacias were the type of those we afterwards saw in 

 New Holland ; but there are some plants which appear peculiar to 

 these islands. 



Many of the trees we have named, as well as other plants, are 

 objects of cultivation ; but the ground cleared for this purpose does not 

 extend far from the coasts, near which all the villages are situated. 



To clear the land, the bark is burnt off the trees, after which they 

 are permitted to stand until they become dry, when they are cut 

 down and used as fuel. 



The cultivated plants and trees are, bread-fruit (of which they have 

 twenty varieties), cocoa-nut, ti (Dracsna), bananas, taro, paper-mul- 

 berry, tacca, from which arrow-root is made, and of which they have 

 several sorts ; sugar-cane, which is not made into sugar, but used 

 only for thatching; coffee, ava (Piper mythisticum), sweet-potato, 

 pine-apple (Anana), brought by the missionaries from the Society 

 Islands; yams, the papaya, and tobacco in small quantities. The 

 agave has not been introduced ; but in a few years lemons and sweet 

 oranges will be produced in great quantities from trees which have 

 recently been planted. 



To the cultivation of the tacca they pay little attention, yet the 

 quality of the fecula (arrow-root) made from it is said to be superior. 



The missionaries are endeavouring to teach the natives the best 

 mode of cultivating the sugar-cane and manufacturing it ; and it is said 

 that a few persons have adopted the new methods. At present they 

 find a substitute for sugar in the root of the ti plant, which is baked 

 in ovens, and yields a large quantity of saccharine juice resembling 

 molasses. 



Great attention is paid to the cultivation of the yam. They are 

 planted in October, and are ripe in February and March. The vines 

 run up the trees, and when they die, the root is known to be ripe. 

 To plant them, they are cut, like the potato, into pieces containing 

 eijes, which are laid in heaps and covered up until the sprout appears. 

 The pieces are then set out at distances of about three feet from each 

 other. 



Hearing that there were some extensive savannas in Upolu, over- 

 grown with the wild sugar-cane, I directed Assistant-Surgeon Whittle 



