"The native habitations were low, of a tent form, and thatched with
cocoa-nut leaves; these habitations were not regular, but scattered
among the dense vegetation which surrounded them on all sides. The tacca
pinnatifida, or Polynesian arrow-root plant, called massoa by the
natives, was abundant, as also the fittou, or calophyllum inophyllum,
and a species of fan palm, growing to the height of fifteen and twenty
feet, called tarapurau by the natives; the areka palm was also seen, and
the piper betel was also cultivated among them. They had adopted the
oriental custom of chewing the betel; in using this masticatory they
were not particular about the maturity of the nuts, some eating them
very young as well as when quite ripe; they carried them about enclosed
in the husk, which was taken off when used.[3] At a short distance from
the beech, inland, was a lake of some extent, nearly surrounded by
lofty, densely-wooded hills. Some wild ducks were seen, and a gun being
fired at them, the report raised numbers of the 'plumy tribe,' filling
the air with their screams, alarmed at a noise to which they had been
unaccustomed.
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