FEEJEE GROUP. 337 
part of it is cut off from the leaves; the portion which is left attached 
to them is at once replanted. These roots are prepared for eating by 
boiling, and when not properly cooked an acrid juice remains, which 
will smart the mouth and throat. They are also pounded into a kind 
of flour, that is preserved by kneading it up into large balls, which 
they make into puddings with cocoa-nut milk. Large quantities of 
taro are also stored away in pits, where it becomes sour, and is after- 
wards used by the natives as mandrai. 
The natives also make use of the arrow-root (Maranta arundinacea), 
which is found in great abundance in a wild state. They pound it up 
into a kind of flour, for puddings. This plant might be cultivated ex- 
tensively, and would prove a valuable article of commerce. 
Sugar-cane is somewhat cultivated by the Feejees, who use it for 
chewing, for thatching their houses, and for arrows. It also grows 
wild in all parts of the islands. 
The root of the ti (Draczena), which they wrap closely up and bake, 
contains even more saccharine juice than the sugar-cane, and is very 
agreeable to the taste. 
The turmeric (Curcuma) also claims much of their attention. The 
natives dry it, and pulverize the part of the root below the bulb be- 
tween stones. It is used by the women to rub over their bodies to 
promote health, and in their opinion beauty; from this habit they have 
a yellow oily appearance, and some are seen who are of a saffron 
colour. 
Tobacco is cultivated in quantities, and smoked with avidity. They 
are exceedingly pleased with a gift of it; however small, it is always 
thankfully received; this, however, is the prevailing taste throughout 
Polynesia, and the farther west one travels, the more the natives seem 
to be addicted to its use. 
We were told by the whites of a native nankeen-coloured cotton: 
of this we did not get specimens; but we found another, which 
produces a fine white cotton. ‘They have also the cotton-tree (Gossy- 
pium herbaceum), which grows to the height of fifteen feet. 
The Feejees carefully cultivate the paper mulberry (Broussonetia 
papyrifera), from which they make their tapa-cloth, and which they 
call malo. The plantations of this tree resemble young nurseries. 
The plants are cut down when the stems are about one inch in dia- 
meter; the bark is taken off in as long strips as possible, sometimes 
the whole length of the tree, ten or twelve feet; it is next steeped in 
water, scraped with a conch-shell called kaku, and then macerated. 
When thus prepared it is laid on a log (nondatua) and beaten with a 
mallet (ike), three sides of which are grooved longitudinally, and the 
VOL. III. 43 
