Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/217

] thus afford the natives an abundance of wholesome food. I shall not describe it here, as this has been done already by skilful botanists. The want of seeds, no doubt, arises from propagating the tree by suckers; and in this respect it differs remarkably from the wild species, the fruit of which is much smaller, not very numerous, and full of large kernels, which are difficult of digestion.

The natives brought us a few bits of yellow sanders, and to render its smell more powerful, they took care to rub it strongly with a rasp made of the skin of the ray, such as is represented in Plate XXXII. Fig. 24. They told us, that they procured it from the Feejee Islands, whence they call it haï-feejee: and they said that they had frequently endeavoured to transplant some of the trees to their own island, but they could not succeed.

The canoes round our ship left us when night was coming on, returning to the nearest part of the shore, as was customary; and our men were still very merry, when the young women, who had found means to get between decks, gave them notice of their departure, saying to them aloud, bongui bongui, mitzi mitzi. These words I shall not attempt to translate; but from the vocabulary of the language of these people, given