There is an elegant variety of fern called conini. The dalici bears spike-shaped flowers, and yields a hard and useful timber; but the most useful tree for canoe building, masts, and all kinds of carpentry, is the damanu. A fruit somewhat like a plum is borne by the dawa and the dawamoli. Bread is made from the fruit of the dogo and the dogokana. The wood of the duva, pounded into fibres and fastened to a line, poisons or stupefies fish, which turn on their back as if they were dead, but soon recover when left to themselves. The fruit of the ivi is either baked or boiled, or grated and made into bread or pudding. The leaves of the danidani and ] the kura are used medicinally. The smaller branches of the loselose are used by the natives as torches. But the most important of all the botanical productions is the cocoanut tree, here called niu, almost every part of which is put to some use. Drums are made of the wood of the tavola; fans and umbrellas from the leaves of the viu, a kind of palm. A fruit very much like the raspberry is obtained from the wagadrogadro. The root of the lagon a (piper mythisticum) is chewed and mixed with water and drunk as a beverage. The bitu and the bituvatu are kinds of bamboo which grow extensively.

Cotton has succeeded admirably, and can be harvested within six months. Many of the colonists are planting coffee. Fishes are plentiful, including the porpoise, sole, mullet, and many other edible kinds; also a large shark, called mego, and a still more dangerous fish called ago. A kind of sea worm called babolo, found on some reefs toward the latter part of the year, is much esteemed by the natives as food. A maggot called yarato, which bores into | wood, is much eaten on the poor islands. There are several kinds of oyster (civa), of which the large pearl shell is ground and used for ornaments. The coqe, a sacred bird, has a singular cry, much like a dog's or the human voice. There is a small bird somewhat like a corncrake, called bici; a vampire bat, called beka; a large sea gull, called kasaqa; the kitu, a bird destructive to the sugar cane; the kulu, a species of red parrot, whose feathers are much valued for fringes of mats and personal ornaments; the sacred lawedua, a sea bird with two long feathers in its tail; owls, hawks, pigeons, etc. From a pair of horses introduced in 1851 all the mission stations have been supplied. Some islands of the group are much troubled with mosquitoes.-The natives are above the middle height, sleek and portly, with stout limbs and short necks.

They are of darker complexion than the copper-colored and lighter than the black races. Their hair is black, long, frizzled, and bushy, sometimes encroaching on the forehead and joined by whiskers to a thick round or pointed beard, to which moustaches are often added. They are almost free from tattooing; only the women are tattooed, and that on the parts of the body which are covered. The men dress in a sort of sash of white, brown, or figured masi, using generally about six yards, though a wealthy man will wear one sometimes nearly 300 ft. long. The women wear a liku or fringed band, made of the bark of a tree, the fibre of a wild root, and some kinds of grass; the fringe is from 3 to 10 inches deep. The turban, worn only by the men of the respectable classes, is a fine masi of one thickness, and has a gauze-like appearance. They bore the lobe of the ear and distend the hole, and wear enormous ear ornaments. Both sexes paint their bodies, and seem to prefer red; they also besmear themselves with oil. The hair is the most, important part of the toilet, and is dressed in grotesque forms, sometimes attaining a diameter of 5 ft. The chief's barber is held in high respect, and his hands are not allowed to touch food. The hair is colored sometimes with two or more dyes.

They are fond of music, and have invented the nose flute, the conch shell, the pandean pipes, a jewsharp made of a strip of bamboo, and several sorts of drums. The singing is invariably in a major key. The musicians perform on one note, the base alternating with the air: they then sound one of the com-mon chords in the base cleff without the alternation. The natives love to dance and are fond of poetry. Their verses occasionally rhyme, but seldom preserve a uniform measure. In chanting the chorus is repeated at the end of each line. Girls are betrothed at a very early age, and often to old men. Brothers and sisters, first cousins, fathers and sons-in-law, mothers and daughters-in-law are forbidden to speak to each other or to eat from the same dish. The latter prohibition extends to husbands and wives. The common people usually take two meals a day, the chief three or more. As they abhor drinking after each other from the same cup, they hold the vessel about ten inches above the mouth, and pour the stream down the throat. They eat with their fingers. Rheumatism is common; they relieve the patient by making deep incisions over the part affected. The law of descent is curious.

The successor of a chief is his next brother, failing whom, his own eldest son or the eldest son of his eldest brother fills his place; but the rank of the mother often causes an infraction of this rule. The person of a pagan high chief is taboo or sacred. In some cases they claim a divine origin. Everything becomes consecrated which the supreme chief touches. He works sometimes at agricultural labor or plaits sinnet. He has always several attendants about his person, who feed him and perform the most servile offices. He has no throne, but squats on the ground like his subjects. A peculiar language is used when speaking of the chief. All his actions and the members of his body are hyperbolized. Respect is indicated by the utterance of a peculiar shout or chant called tama; this is uttered by inferiors on approaching a chief or chief town. It is necessary to crouch when a chief passes by. Standing in the presence of the chief is not allowed, and all who move about the house in which he is creep, or, if on their feet, advance bent, as in act of obeisance. No one may cross a chief behind his back; the inferior must pass in front of the superior, and when at sea must not pass the canoe of a chief on the outrigger side. If a chief stumbles or falls, his subjects must do the same.