194 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
four or six inches in diameter. Seldom more than 
two or three leaves were attached to a root, and 
those of a light green colour, frequently blotched 
and sickly in their appearance. The inside of the 
root is of a brown or reddish colour, and much 
inferior to that of the arum esculentum , or lowland 
taro. It is, however, palatable, and forms a prime 
article of food in those parts of the island, where 
there is a light soil, and but little water. 
Between three and four o’clock in the afternoon 
we reached Kaulu, a small village environed with 
plantations, and pleasantly situated on the side of 
a wide valley, extending from the mountains to 
the south point of the island. As the men with 
our baggage had not come up, we waited about 
two hours, when Tuite, the head man of the 
village, arrived, and pressed us to spend the night 
at his house. We accepted his invitation, and 
proposed to him to collect the people of the village 
together, to hear about the true God. He con¬ 
sented, and a little before sunset about a hundred 
and fifty assembled in front of his house. Mr. 
Thurston, after the usual devotional exercises, 
preached to them for about half an hour, and they 
paid great attention. 
At the request of Makoa, Tuite furnished men 
to carry our baggage to the next district, and soon 
qffer daylight on the 29th we left Kauru, and, 
taking an inland direction, travelled over a fertile 
plain, covered with a thin yet luxuriant soil. 
Sometimes the surface was strewed with small 
stones, or fragments of lava, but in general it was 
covered with brushwood. 
The population in this part did not appear con¬ 
centrated in towns and villages, as it had been 
along the sea-shore, but scattered over the whole 
