POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
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root found in Tahiti. It is highly farinaceous, though 
less nutritive than the yam ; the stem resembles the 
woodbine or convolvulus. The natives say the flower 
is small and white; I never saw one, for it is not culti¬ 
vated, and but seldom sought, as the tuberous root is 
small, and more than two are seldom found attached to 
the same vine or stalk. 
The natives are acquainted with rice; but, although 
both the soil and climate would probably favour its 
growth, it has not yet been added to the edibles of Tahiti. 
We have not been very anxious to introduce it, as the 
quantity of water required for its culture, would, we 
have supposed, induce in such a climate a state of at¬ 
mosphere by no means conducive to health. But though 
they have not rice, they have a plant which they call 
/^o^, the shape and growth of which resembles the 
Patara; but in taste and appearance it is so much 
like rice, that the natives call the latter by the native 
designation of the former. It is very insipid, and only 
sought in seasons of scarcity. 
The or arrow-root, chailea tacca, is indigenous 
and abundant. It is sometimes cultivated; but in most 
of the islands it grows spontaneously on the high sandy 
banks near the sea, or on the sides of the lower mountains, 
and appears to thrive in a light soil and dry situation. 
Though evidently of a superior quality, and capable of 
being procured in any quantity, it requires some labour 
to render it fit for food, and on this account was not 
extensively used by the natives, but formed rather a 
variety in their dishes at public feastings, than an 
article of general consumption. 
The growth of the arrow-root resembles that of the 
potato. Although indigenous, and growing spon- 
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