AmjJa^•18P78arIn•}  Notes  on  Casual  Drugs,  29 
in  the  joints  and  bruises.  Its  efficacy  in  this  respect  can  hardly  be 
exaggerated,  and  recommends  it  to  the  attention  of  European  practi- 
tioners. The  oil  is  kept  by  the  Fijians  in  gourd  flasks,  and  there  being 
only  a  limited  quantity  made  I  was  charged  about  sixpence  per  pint  for 
it,  paid  in  calico  and  cutlery.  The  tree  is  one  of  the  most  common 
littoral  plants  in  the  group  ;  its  round  fruits,  mixed  with  the  square 
ones  of  Barrtngtonia  speciosa,  the  pine  cone-like  ones  of  the  sago  palm, 
and  the  flat  seeds  of  the  walai  (Entada  scandens,  Benth.),  densely  cover 
the  sandy  beaches.  Dilo  oil  never  congeals  in  the  lowest  temperature 
of  the  Fijis,  as  cocoa-nut  oil  does  during  the  cool  season.  It  is  of  a 
greenish  tinge,  and  very  little  of  it  will  impart  its  hue  to  a  whole  cask 
of  cocoa  nut  oil.  Its  commercial  value  is  only  partially  known  in  the 
Fijis,  and  was  found  out  accidentally.  Amongst  the  contributions  in 
cocoa-nut  oil  which  the  natives  furnish  toward  the  support  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  missions,  some  dilo  oil  had  been  poured,  which  on  arriving  at 
Sydney  was  rejected  by  the  broker  who  purchased  the  other  oil,  on 
account  of  its  greenish  tinge  and  strange  appearance.  On  being  shown 
to  others  a  chemist,  recognizing  it  as  the  bitter  oil  of  India,  purchased 
it  at  the  rate  of  c£6o  per  tun,  and  he  must  have  made  a  good  profit  on 
it,  as  the  article  fetches  =£90  a  tun. 
"  In  order  to  extract  the  oil  the  round  fruit  is  allowed  to  drop  in  its 
outer  fleshy  covering  and  rot  on  the  ground.  The  remaining  portion, 
consisting  of  a  shell  somewhat  of  the  consistency  of  that  of  a  hen's 
egg,  and  enclosing  the  kernel,  is  baked  on  hot  stones  in  the  same  way 
that  Polynesian  meat  and  vegetables  are.  The  shell  is  then  broken,, 
and  the  kernels  pounded  between  stones.  If  the  quantity  be  small, 
the  macerated  mass  is  placed  in  the  fibres  of  the  vau  [Hibiscus  tiliaceus 
and  tricuspis),  and  forced  by  the  hand  to  yield  up  its  oily  contents;  if 
large,  a  rude  level  press  is  constructed  by  placing  a  boom  horizontally 
between  two  cocoa-nut  trees  and  appending  to  this  perpendicularly  the 
fibres  of  the  vau.  After  the  macerated  kernels  have  been  placed  in 
the  midst,  a  pole  is  made  fast  to  the  lower  end  of  the  fibres,  and  two 
men,  taking  hold  of  its  end,  twist  the  contrivance  round  and  round  till 
the  oil,  collecting  into  a  wooden  bowl  placed  underneath,  has  been 
extracted.  Of  course,  the  pressure  thus  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
pounded  kernels  is  not  sufficiently  great  to  express  the  whole  of  the  oil, 
and  there  is  still  much  waste." 
Boomah  Nuts. — These  are  the  fruits  of  Pycnocoma  macrophylla, 
