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A BOTANICAL TOUR AMONG THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. 119
Lichee of China, although a much larger and more delicious fruit, occurs here,
as also in the Fi-iendly Islands and the Fijis. It is caUed by the Samoans
Tara, at Tavou (a group of the Friendly Islands) it is known as Dava, and
in the Fijian dialect Lauva. When first I met with the tree at Upolu, I was
a beautiful specimen, about 45 feet high,
standing on the side of a mountain ;
was towering above the dwarf, but pretty shrubs that surrounded it in the
valley beneath. Not knowing at the time that a great peculiarity of the tree
is its fiery I'ed, immature leaves, which, contrasted with the grassy-green of
the full-grown ones in the distance, are really charming, more especially when
the dense foliage of a Calophi/Uum, or a Eugenia Malaccensis, forms a back-
ground,—I quickly descended, thinking that I had discovered something new.
My native guides kept close to me, saying, Tava tava, at the same time
putting their hands to their mouths and smacking their lips, to signify that the
tree I so eagerly rushed to, bore an edible fruit. Eugenia Malaccensis is also
an excellent fruit, and, Uke Sapindus pinnatus, it is to be found in most of the
South Sea Islands. I have seen several fine varieties of it in the Fijis, vei-y
different from the one called Fekeka in the Samoas, and wliich I believe is the
same as the one at Yavou, Friendly Islands, called Fegeka. At Burretta, the
private residence of Mr. Thurston, H.M. Consul at Fiji, my attention was
called to a scarlet and a yellow fruitjng variety growing side by side, and both
had flowers corresponding in colour with their fruit, which were the same in
size and taste, and the trees themselves were about the same lieight. The Ti-
apple (Eoea dulci-o) seems to be more plentiful in Upolu than in most of the
islands ; it is an excellent fruit, and a very ornamental tree. Some very fine
specimens of it occur in the mountains above Apia, and at the time of my
visit the ground was strewed, even for a distance, with their delicious fruit,
which is of a golden-yeUow colour, perfectly oval, very juicy, and weighs gene-
rally about three-quarters of a pound. The tree bears two crops in the year.
The Plantain and the Banana are common almost everywhere. Musa Caven-
dishi, of China, which I have found in many of the islands, Mr. Williams,
H.M. Consul at Samoa, informed me was first introduced by his father (the
Rev. John Williams), from the Duke of Devonshire's garden many years ago.
It has been introduced into most of the islands by native missionary teachers.
There are a great many varieties of the Plantam and the Banana among the
islands, and there were at least twenty-five kinds among those we visited. I
met with a very remarkable species in a plantation in the Fijis. The foliage
was of a rich purple, and had a most beautiful effect, mingled with the varie-
gated foliage ai'ound. I attempted to take up a small plant of this beautiful
variety, but was immediately prevented by the natives. Tobacco, calico, and
even money, were offered for it, but to no purpose. I afterwards learnt from
a settler, that it is customary with the Polynesians to plant ornamental foliage
near to their houses in honour of their deceased relatives, and that to break
one of those plants is considered an atrocious crime, punishable by death. I
recollect, at Tutuila, having attempted to pull up a small plant oiAralia, near
to a village, when a yoimg chief rushed forward, bawling as loudly as possible,
Tabu tabu (forbidden), and from his excited appearance I should think that,