perstitious origin-witness the facts that only men
may plant it and that it is the only vegetable in the planting of
which superstitious methods are employed, and the special methods and
ceremonies adopted in the hanging of the yams at the big feast. But
I fancy this idea as to the yam is not confined to the Mafulu; and
indeed Chalmers tells us of a Motu superstition which attributes to
it a human origin; [88] and a perusal of the chapter on sacrifices
in Dr. Codrington's book, _The Melanesians_, leaves the impression
on one's mind that among these people the yam is the one vegetable
which is specially used for sacrificial purposes.

Taro and similar vegetables are planted by women in August and
September among the yams, at distances of 2 or 3 feet apart. For this
purpose they take the young secondary growths which crop up round the
main central plants during the year. [89] They are ready for eating
in, say, May or June of the following year. They are dug up by women
from day to day as wanted, as they, like the sweet potato, cannot
be kept, as the yams are, after being taken up. There is, however,
a method when the taro is ripe and needs digging up, but is not then
required for eating, of making a large hole in the ground, filling it
with grass, digging up the taro, putting it on the grass in the hole,
covering and surrounding it with more grass, and then filling up with
soil, and so preserving the taro for future use by a sort of ensilage
system. I was told that this was not done on the plains.

Bananas are planted by men, this being done every year, and off and on
all through the year, generally in old potato gardens. In this case
they take the young offshoots, which break out near the bases of the
stems. The closeness of planting varies considerably. The fruit is
gathered all through the year by men. A banana will generally begin
to bear fruit about twelve months after planting, though some sorts
of banana take as long as two years.

Sugar-cane is planted by men off and on during the whole year,
generally in old potato gardens, the growing points at the tops
of the canes being put into the ground at distances of 5 or 6 feet
apart. Each plant produces a number of canes, and these begin to be
edible after six or eight months. They are then cut for eating by
both men and women.

As regards both banana and sugar-cane, the people, after planting
them in the potato gardens, allow the potatoes to still go on growing
an