370 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
knots and contortions are formed on tlie buttress and 
branches, which render the outlines more broken and 
fantastic. 
The wood of the rata has a fine straight grain, but 
being remarkably perishable, is seldom used, excepting 
for fire-wood. Occasionally, however, they cut oif one 
of the buttresses, and thus obtain a good natural plank, 
with which they make the long paddles for their canoes, 
or axe-handles. The leaf is large and beautiful, six or 
eight inches in length, oblong in shape, of a dark green 
colour, and, though an evergreen, exceedingly light and 
delicate in its structure. The tree bears a small white raci- 
mated panicle flower, esteemed by the natives on account 
of its fragrance. The fruit, which hangs singly, or in 
small clusters, from the slender twigs, is flat, and some¬ 
what kidneyshaped. The same term is also used by the 
natives for this fruit, and the kidney of an animal. The 
nut is a single kernel, in a hard, tough, fibrous shell, 
covered with a thin, compact, fibrous husk. It is not 
eaten in a raw state; but, though rather hard when fully 
ripe, it is, when roasted in a green state, soft, and plea¬ 
sant to the taste. 
In addition to these, the ^z-root, dracanea terminalis^ 
resembling exactly that found in the Sandwich Islands, 
is baked and eaten* and the to, or sugar-cane, sac- 
charmn officinariim, which grows spontaneously, and 
perhaps in greater perfection than in any other part 
of the world, was formerly cultivated, and eaten raw. 
On a journey, the natives often carry a piece of sugar¬ 
cane, which furnishes a sweet and nourishing juice, ap¬ 
peasing at once, to a certain degree, both thirst and hunger. 
Within a few years, they have been taught to extract the 
juice, and, by boiling it, to prepare a very good sugar. 
