September. is nM much of it: k is ab°uc as big as a large turnip, and
'----‘----’ covered, like the cocoa-nut, with a fibrous coat, under
Which are three kernels, that mull be eaten before they are
ripe, for afterwards they become fo hard that they cannot be
.chewed ; in their eatable ftate they tafte not unlike a green
cocoa-nut, and, like them, probably they yield a nutriment
that is watry and unfubftantial.
The common method of drefiing food here is by boiling,
and as fire-wood is very fcarce, and the inhabitants have no
other fuel, they make ufe of a contrivance to fave it, that is
not wholly unknown in Europe, but is feldom pradlifed except
in camps. They dig a hollow under ground, in a horizontal
direction, like a rabbit burrow, about two yards long,
and opening into a hole at each end, one of which is large
and the other fmall: by the large hole the fire is put in, and
the fmall one ferves for a draught. The earth over this
burrow is perforated by circular holes, which communicate
with the cavity below; and in thefe holes are Yet earthen
pots, generally about three to each fire, which are large in
the middle, and taper towards the bottom, fo that the fire
a<5fs upon a large part of their furface. Each of thefe pots
generally contains about eight or ten gallons, and it is fur-
pnfing to fee with how fmall a quantity of fire they may be
kept boiling; a palm leaf, or a dry ftalk, thruft in now and
then, is fufficient: in this manner they boil all their vidluals,
and make all their fyrup and fugar. It appears by Frazier’s
account of his voyage to the South Sea, that the Peruvian
Indians have a contrivance of the fame kind, and perhaps it
might be adopted with advantage by the poor people even of
this country, where fuel is very dear.
Both fexes are enflaved by the hateful and pernicious habit
o f chewing beetle and areca, which they contrail even while
they
they are children, and pradtife inceflantly from morningtill >770.
night. With thefe they always mix a kind of white lime, 1----;----.
made of coral ftone and fhells, and frequently a fmall quantity
of tobacco, fo that their mouths are difguftful in the
higheft degree both to the fmell and the fight: the tobacco
taints their breath, and the beetle and lime make the teeth
not only as black as charcoal, but as rotten too: I have feen
men between twenty and thirty, whofe fore teeth have been
confumed almoft down to the gums, though no two of them
were exaiStty of the fame length or thieknefs, but irregularly
corroded like iron by ruft. This lofs of teeth is* I think, by
all who have written upon the fubjecl, imputed to the tough
and ftringy coat of the areca nut; but I impute it wholly to
the lime: they are not loofened, or broken, o r forced out, as
might be expectcd if they were injured by the continual!
chewing of hard and rough fubftances, but they are gradually
wafted like metals that are expofed to the adlion of
powerful acids; the flumps always adhering firmly to the
focket in the jaw, when there is no part of the tooth above
the gums: and poflibly thofe who fuppofe that fugar has a
bad effedt upon the teeth of Europeans, may not be miftaken,
for it is well known that refined loaf fugar contains a con-
fiderable quantity o f lime ; and he that doubts whether lime-
will deftroy bone of any kind, may eafily. afecrtain the fadt
by experiment.
If the people here' are at any time withour this odious
mouthful, they are fmoking. This operation they'perform'
by rolling up a fmall quantity of tobacco, and putting it into*
one end of a tube about fir inches long, and as thick as a:
goofe quill1, which they make oka palm leaf. As the quantity
of tobacco in thefe pipes i$ very fmall, the effedl of' it is»
increafed, efpecially among the women, by fwallowing the-'
fmoke;
When.