256 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
liquor is then drawn off, and sometimes distilled, when 
it produces a strong spirit; but the greater part of it is 
drank in its fermented state without any further prepa¬ 
ration. The root is certainly capable of being used for 
many valuable purposes. A good beer may be made 
from it; and in the Society Islands, though never able 
to granulate it, we have frequently boiled its juice to a 
thick syrup, and used it as a substitute for sugar, when 
destitute of that article. 
We should think it an excellent antiscorbutic, and 
as such, useful to ships on long voyages. Captains 
visiting the Society Islands frequently procure large 
quantities of it to make beer with during their voyage, 
as it will keep good six weeks or two months after it is 
baked.* It is not so plentiful in the Sandwich Islands 
as it was before the natives used it for the above pur¬ 
pose, but in some of the other islands of the Pacific it 
is abundant, and may be easily procured. 
Other parts of the dracaena are also useful. The 
natives frequently plant the roots thickly around their 
enclosures, interweave the stems of the plant, and form 
a valuable permanent hedge. The branch was always 
an emblem of peace, and in times of war, borne, together 
with a young plantain tree, as a flag of truce by the 
messengers who passed between the hostile parties. 
* On my return in the American ship Russell, Captain Cole¬ 
man, we procured a quantity that had been baked, at Rurutu, 
near the Society Islands, and brought it round Cape Horn. It 
lasted five or six weeks, and would probably have kept longer, 
as the only change we perceived during that time was a slight 
degree of acidity in the taste. Cattle, sheep, and goats, are fond 
of the leaves; and as they contain more nutriment than any 
other indigenous vegetable, and may be kept on board ships 
several weeks, they are certainly the best provender that can be 
procured in the islands for stock taken to sea. 
