Although the native of Bougainville Straits to a great extent subsists on the produce of his plantations, there are a great number of edible wild fruits and vegetables which he also employs as food, and which in times of scarcity would supply him with ample sustenance. I have already referred to the kanary-nut, the fruit of the Canarium, as forming a staple article in his diet. The nuts of the “saori” (Terminalia catappa) have a small edible kernel which has an almond-like flavour and is much appreciated by the natives. It is the “country almond” of India and, as Mr. Horne tells us, it is extensively eaten in Fiji where the tree is known as the Fijian almond tree.[61] In Tanna in the New Hebrides, as we learn from Mr. Forster, it is also eaten.[62] The fruit of the common littoral tree Ochrosia parviflora (“pokosola”) contains an edible flat kernel. The three common littoral species of Pandanus also furnish sustenance in times of dearth; the seeds of the drupes of the “sararang” and the “pota” contain small edible kernels, and the pulpy base of the “darashi” is also eaten. The pulpy kernels of the fruit of Nipa fruticans are occasionally eaten as in the Malay Archipelago; but the natives of Bougainville Straits do not seem to be acquainted with the alcoholic liquor which this palm yields to the inhabitants of the Philippines. The fruit of the “aligesi” (Aleurites ?), a stout climber common in the woods of Treasury, has a pleasantly flavoured kernel like that of the kanary-nut; and on one occasion my party and I lunched on these kernels; the outer pulp of the fruit has a dry scented but by no means unpleasant flavour. The kernels of the fruit of a stout tree that grows on the verge of the mangrove-swamps in Fauro Island, and which is probably Sapium indicum, are said to be edible by the natives; my natives and I partook of them on one occasion when one man became very sick for some time, and I afterwards found that it was an euphorbiaceous tree, a circumstance which explained his illness; I should therefore doubt the edibility of these nuts. This tree is known by the same native name (“aligesi”) as the preceding, which apparently belongs to the same order. The white kernels of the “kunuka,” a species of Gnetum, are cooked and eaten by the inhabitants of Fauro; this tree grows to a height of sixty feet and has a cylindrical prominently ringed trunk.
[61] “A Year in Fiji.” London, 1881: (p. 88).
[62] “Observations made during a Voyage round the World.” London, 1778.
The growing tops of several species of palms are much appreciated by the natives of Bougainville Straits; and on several occasions I have largely made my lunch off them. They are usually eaten uncooked. The top of the common Caryota palm (“eala”) is often preferred. Mr. Marsden[63] and Mr. Crawfurd[64] inform us that in the Malay Archipelago the growing top of the same or of an allied species of Caryota (C. urens) is a favourite article of food. It is there known as the true “mountain cabbage,” and Mr. Marsden tells us that in Sumatra it is preferred to the cocoa-nut. Amongst other palms which in Bougainville Straits supply in their growing tops the so-called cabbage are the “momo,” a species of Areca, the “sensisi,” a species of Cyrtostachys, and the “kisu.”
[63] “History of Sumatra.” London, 1811: p. 89.
[64] “History of the Indian Archipelago.” Edinburgh, 1820: vol. i., p. 447.
I have already referred to the fact that the small taro grows wild in the ravines and on the banks of the streams in this region. A very savoury vegetable soup is made from the leaves and unopened spathe of a small arum that grows wild on the banks of the streams in Fauro Island. It is a species of Schizmatoglottis and is known to the natives as the “kuraka.” I should here allude to a wild yam which I found during one of my excursions in this island. The mountain-plantain, which grows on the sides of the valleys, and in moist, sheltered situations as high as a thousand feet above the sea, furnishes in its small seeded fruits, when cooked, an occasional substitute for those of the cultivated plantain; it grows to a height of 35 feet, and on account of its striking appearance it often forms a conspicuous feature in the vegetation at the heads of the valleys. It is known as the “kallula.”
Amongst the wild fruits which are eaten by the natives in this part of the group, are those of two trees named the “natu” and the “finoa.” As my specimens were insufficient for the determination at Kew of the characters of these trees, I may add that the “natu” grows to a height of a hundred feet, its fruit being of the size of a small melon and having a pleasant flavour. The “finoa” grows to a height of fifty feet; it is occasionally found in the plantations.
The natives of the Shortland Islands informed me that the neighbouring people of Rubiana were accustomed to eat the fruits of the common littoral tree Morinda citrifolia (“urati”), but that they did not themselves eat it. The shoots of a tree named “poporoko,” which belongs probably to the Olacineæ, are eaten by the inhabitants of Fauro, who also consider as edible the tiara-like cones (?) of the Gnetum Gnemon (“meriwa”).
The fronds of ferns are in some species edible; amongst them, I may particularly refer to the “quaheli” (unfortunately not identified), which is eaten by the natives of Treasury Island. Fungi, which are generally known in this part of the group as “magu,” are often cooked and eaten; but through inadvertence I am now unable to refer particularly to the edible species. A delicacy with the natives of Treasury is an alga, a species of Caulerpa, which grows in the sheltered waters just below the low-tide level at the western end of the harbour. They eat it with keen relish, when freshly picked from the rocks, holding it over the mouth and munching at it just as if it were a bunch of grapes, which it somewhat resembles in appearance. There is another non-edible species of Caulerpa which grows in the broken water on the weather or outer side of the reef-flats.[65]