FLORA VITIENSIS. 19 
The natives do not seem to make any use of the fibre of the Mulomulo, so fre uently used i 
other countries for cordage, but bestow great praise on the tree on account of the dhe indeatructible 
nature of the wood whilst under water. When full grown, the Mulomulo is about fifty feet high, and 
the stem from one to two feet in diameter, bearing heart-shaped leaves and flowers somewhat resembling 
those of the Hollyhock (dithea rosea), but changing their colour as the day advances, like some other 
Malvacew. Its thick foliage renders it suitable for avenues, and I have seen it planted for the sake of its 
shade both in Ceylon and the Hawaiian Islands. The centre of the old stems generally decays in the way 
our European Elms do, and the wood towards that part presents a deep claret colour. In Tahiti the tree 
was formerly regarded as sacred, and planted on the “Maraé;? the leaves were used in certain religious 
ceremonies. 
V. Gossypium, Linn, Gen. n. 845; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. p. 209. Bracteolz 3, ample, cor- 
date. Calyx truncatus v. breviter 5-fidus. Columna staminea infra apicem nudum v. rarius anthe- 
riferum filamenta oo exserens. Ovarium 5-loculare, loculis co-ovulatis ; stylus apice clavatus, 5-sul- 
catus et 5-stigmatosus. Capsula loculicide dehiscens. Semina subglobosa vy. angulata, dense lanata 
v. rarius fere glabra; albumen tenue, membraniforme v. 0; cotyledones valde plicate, auriculis 
baseos radiculam rectam involventibus.—Herbee elate vy. frutices subarborei; foliis 3-9-lobis; flori- 
bus majusculis, albis flavis v. purpurcis; bracteolis seepius nigro-punctatis, incisis dentatis v. integer- 
rimis ; cotyledonibus szepius nigro-punctatis. 
Cotton was one of the subjects to which attention was principally directed by my instructions from the 
Colonial Office; and I have endeavoured to collect every information which might prove useful in forming a 
correct estimate of the Fijis as a cotton-growing country, If I understand the nature and requirements 
of cotton aright, the Fijis seem as if made for it, In the whole group there is scarcely a rod of ground 
that might not be cultivated, or has not at one time or other produced a crop of some kind, the soil being 
of an average amount of fertility, and in some parts rich in the extreme. Cotton requires a gently undu- 
lated surface, slopes of hills rather than flat land. The whole country, the deltas of the great rivers 
excepted, is a succession of hills and dales, covered on the weather-side with a luxuriant herbage or dense 
forest ; on the lee-side with grass and isolated screw-pines, more immediately available for planting. Cotton 
wants sea-air, What country would answer this requirement better than a group of more than two hun- 
dred islands surrounded by the ocean as a convenient highway to even small boats and canoes, since the 
unchecked force of the winds and waves is broken by the naturai breakwater presented by the coral-reefs 
which nearly encircle the whole? Cotton requires, further, to be fanned by gentle breezes when growing, 
and a comparatively low temperature; there is scarcely ever a calm—either the north-east or the south-east 
trade-wind blowing over the islands keeps up a constant current, and the thermometer for months vacillates 
between 62° and 80° Fahrenheit, and never rises to the height attained in some parts of tropical Asia, 
Africa, or America. In fine, every condition required to favour the growth of this important product seems 
to be provided, and it is hardly possible to add anything more in order to impress those best qualified to 
judge, with a better idea of Fiji as a first-rate cotton-growing country. 
Cotton is not indigenous in any part of the group. Independent of its introduction being alluded to in 
various works as having taken place in the early part of this century, there is no proper vernacular name for 
it. In all such cases, the Fijian language borrows that of some indigenous plant which resembles the intro- 
duced one as closely as possible: thus the Cassaya-root received the name of “ Yabia ni papalagi” (¢.e. foreign 
Arrowroot), the Bird’s-eye Pepper that of “ Boro ni papalagi” (7. e. foreign Nightshade), and the Pine-apple 
that of “ Balawa ni papalagi” (2, e. foreign Screw-pine). By the same rule, cotton became known as “Vau- 
vau ni papalagi” (7. ¢. foreign Vauvau), from its close resemblance to the Bele, or Vauvau (Hibiscus [ Adel- 
moschus | esculentus, Linn.), a cultivated species, the leaves of which are eaten as a potherb. It is true that 
when foreigners speak about “ Vauvau” the natives of the coast know cotton is meant; but in districts 
where cotton has not yet penetrated, as for instance at Namosi, Viti Levu, one is sure to get the edible 
Hibiscus, if Vauvau, without adding “ni papalagi” (foreign), be asked for. 
Yet, although cotton is an introduced plant, and although until lately no attention whatever was 
paid to its cultivation, it has spread over all the littoral parts of Fiji, and become in some localities per- 
fectly naturalized. The different kinds which have come under my observation are shrubby, and produce 
flower and fruit throughout the whole year, though the greater number of pods arrive at maturity during 
the dry season, from June to September. There is scarcely any difference in the look of these species 
which a person not botanically trained could readily detect. Left to themselves, and never subjected to the 
runing-knife, they become as high as a tall man can reach, and each shrub spreads over a surtace of about 
fourteen feet square. I have had no opportunity of counting the number of pods produced throughout the 
year by a single specimen, but that found in July was on the average seven hundred per plant. Twenty pods 
D2 
