FEEJEE GROUP. 353 



we found three varieties, cultivated to a great extent in Vanua-levu. 

 The natives, instead of hanging up the fruit until it becomes mellow, 

 bury it in the ground, which causes it to appear black on the out- 

 side, and destroys the flavour. The wild species of Tahiti and 

 Samoa, called by the natives fae, was here found cultivated, dis- 

 playing its rich orange-coloured fruit, densely set on large upright 

 spikes, but not wild. 



The cocoa-nut, called niu, I was told by Whippy that the natives 

 say they have three varieties, but I believe our botanists obtained no 

 more than two, which are distinguished by the brown and green 

 colours of the nuts. The two varieties of the tree are much the 

 same in appearance, and frequently grow to the height of seventy or 

 eighty feet; each of them bears from ten to twenty nuts. The 

 natives are in the habit of collecting the sap from the flower-stalks 

 when young, by cutting off the extremity, and suspending to it a 

 vessel : this, when fresh, forms a pleasant beverage ; it has a tartness 

 that it acquires by the length of time it takes to run, but is in other 

 respects very like the milk of a green or fresh cocoa-nut. What all 

 voyagers have said of this tree we found to be true ; only instead of 

 its uses being exaggerated, as some have supposed, they are in my 

 opinion underrated : a native may well ask if a land contains cocoa- 

 nuts, for if it does he is assured it will afford him abundance to 

 supply his wants. One circumstance, to which my attention was 

 early drawn by Mr. Brackenridge, was the peculiarity of its growth, 

 which would seem to point out something peculiar in its constitution : 

 it does not thrive higher than six hundred feet above the sea. All 

 those seen above that height had a sickly appearance ; and the lower 

 it grew, even where its roots were washed by the salt water, the more 

 prolific and flourishing it appeared. 



There was a use to which it was applied here that we had not 

 before seen : the kernel of the old cocoa-nut is scraped, and pressed 

 through woody fibres ; the pulp thus formed is mixed with grasses 

 and scented woods, and suffered to stand in the hot sun, which 

 causes the oil to rise to the top, where it is skimmed off. The 

 residuum, called kora, is pounded or mashed, wrapped in banana- 

 leaves, and then buried under salt water, covered with piles of stones. 

 This preparation is a common food of the natives, and will keep for a 

 long time ; they prepare it as a kind of soup, which serves them 

 (according to the whites) for tea or coffee. A large quantity of the 

 oil is made and exported. Of this a part reaches the United States, 



vol. in. 89 



