£74 POLYNESIA!? RESEARCHES. 
and used it as a substitute for sugar, when desti¬ 
tute 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.* 
Other parts of the dracsena 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. The leaves, 
woven together by their stalks, formed a short 
cloak, which the natives wore in their mountainous 
journeys; they also make the most durable thatch 
for the sides and roofs of their best houses. 
About sunset we sent to the head man of the 
village for some refreshment, but he was intoxi¬ 
cated ; and though we had walked upwards of 
twenty miles since morning, and had subsisted on 
but scanty fare since leaving Kapapala, we could 
only procure a few cold potatoes, and two or three 
* On my return, in the American ship Russell, Captain 
Coleman, 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 pro¬ 
bably 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. 
