mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i5-009

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as a church.

Directly beyond the settlement begin the plantations of
the inhabitants. In these they plant sugar cane, patatas or
sweet potatoes--reaching the size of a human head and having
a cloyingly sweet taste--watermelons, melons, pineapples, and
cucumbers imported by the Europeans. But the main objects,
the roots grown by them,are named taro and iniams, very
similar to each other both in external looks and taste. Taro
is a root resembling in looks and size our turnip, with the
only difference that it has a black exterior skin, and an in-
terior as white as snow. It likes a damp swampy soil, the
reason why its cultivation is connected with much toil. Hav-
ing sown the taro, the inhabitants surround the place with an
earthen dike, which for greater durability they cover with
sod, and conduct a water supply from a small river flowing
nearby, which, upon evaporation, they renew.

Once a place is sown, it is not necessary to repeat the
sowing after every gathering of the fruit. Pulling out the
root, they cut it from the leaves, leaving a small piece of
the fruit with the greens so that the leaves stay together,
and stick it back into the same place. In three months, the
root renews itself and can be cut off again. In good soil,
and with efficient care, this procedure may be repeated about
ten times. The root is used for food in the following way.
Washing in sea water, they place the roots, each wrapped
separately in banana leaves, into pits dug into the earth