290 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
cane, made sugar themselves, and taught the inha¬ 
bitants of the island to do the same. 
Sugarcane grows spontaneously in all the South 
Sea islands, and more than ten varieties are indi¬ 
genous. It has been stated, that the best canes 
now cultivated in the West Indies, are the kinds 
taken thither by Captain Bligh. In their native 
islands they grow remarkably fine. I have fre¬ 
quently seen canes as thick as a man’s wrist, and 
ten or twelve feet between the root and the leaves. 
The irimotu , a large yellow cane, and the to-ura , 
of a dark red colour, grow very large, and yield an 
abundance of juice, but the patu> a small light- 
red, long-jointed cane, with a thin husk or skin, 
contains the greatest quantity of saccharine matter. 
Some of the sugar manufactured by Mr. Gyles 
was of a very superior quality; and if hired labour 
were less expensive, or the people more indus¬ 
trious, it might be raised with facility in consider¬ 
able quantities. The return, however, is distant, 
and the crops are less productive than many other 
articles that might be cultivated in the islands, 
especially unconnected with the distillation of rum 
from the refuse of the juice, or the molasses of the 
sugar. This is probably the only plan that would 
render it profitable ; but to the use of rum, the 
present chiefs, of the Leeward or Society Islands, 
are averse; its introduction since embracing 
Christianity, they have been able to preyent; and 
it will be matter of deepest regret, if either they or 
their successors should favour its distillation on 
the islands, or its importation from abroad. 
Next to idolatry^ and the diseases introduced by 
foreigners, it is the greatest scourge that has ever 
spread its desolations through their country, and 
w r e cannot deprecate in terms too strong, the 
