,7?7- with bread-fruit, are, what may be called, the bafis of J u ly . , ' / ^ .
v— v— their food, at different times of the year, with fifh and
fhell-fifh; for hogs, fowls, and turtle, feem only to be
occafional dainties, referved for their Chiefs. The intervals
between the feafons of thefe vegetable productions
mull: be, fometimes, conftderable, as they prepare a
fort of artificial bread from plantains, which they put'under
ground before ripe, and fuffer them to remain, till they
ferment, when they are taken out, and made up into fmall
balls ; but fo four and indifferent, that they often faid our
bread was preferable, though fomewhat multy.
Their food is, generally, dreffed by baking, in the fame
manner as at Otaheite; and they have the art of making,
from different kinds of fruit, feveral difhes, which moll of
us efteemed very good. I never faw them make ufe of any
kind of fauce; nor drink any thing at their,meals but
water, or the juice of the cocoa-nut; for the kava is only
their morning draught. I cannot fay, that they are cleanly
cither in their cookery, or manner of eating. The generality
of them will lay their vidluals upon the firft leaf
they meet with, however dirty it may be ; but when food is
ferved up to the Chiefs, it is, commonly, laid upon green
plantain leaves. When the king made a meal, he was, for
the moil part, attended upon by three or four perfons. One
cut large pieces.of the joint, or of the fifb; another divided it
into mouthfuls ; and others flood by with cocoa-nuts, and
whatever elfe he might want. I never faw a large company
fit down to what we ihould call a fociable meal, by
eating.from the fame difh. The food, be what it will, is.always
divided into portions, each to ferve a certain number;
thefe portions are again fubdivided ; fo that one feldom fees
above two or three perfons eating together. The women
£ " ' , are
are not excluded from eating with the men ; but there are ' 777-
certain ranks or orders amongft them, that can neither eat >...
nor drink together. This diilindlion begins with the king ;.
but where it ends, I cannot fay.
They feem to have no fet time for meals; though it
fhould be obferved, that, during our flay amongft themT
their domeftic oeconomy was much difturbed by their con-
flant attention to us. As far as we could remark, tliofe o f
-the fuperior rank, only drink kava in the forenoon, and the
others eat, perhaps, a bit of yam; but we commonly faw all
of them eat fomething in the afternoon. It is probable that
the prailice of making a meal in the night is pretty common,,
and their reft being thus interrupted, they frequently fleep*
in the day. They go to bed as fd-on as it is dark, and rife
with the dawn in the morning *,
They are very fond of affociating together ; fo that it is;
common to find .feveral houfes empty, and the owners of
them convened in fome other one, or, rather, upon a convenient
fpot in the neighbourhood, where they recreate
themfelves by converfing, and other amufements-. Their
private diverfions are chiefly finging, dancing, and mufic
performed by the women. When two or three women fing,
in concertj and fnap their fingers, it is called oobai; but
when there is a greater number, they divide into feveral
parties, each of which fings on a different key, which makes-
a very agreeable mufic, and is called heeva, or haiva. In the;
fame manner, they vary the mufic o f their flutes,, by playing
on thofe of a different fize.; but their dancing is much-
the fame as when they perform publickly. The dancing:
* Gantova fays of hisiJlanders, te Ils prennent leur repos des que le foleiî cft couché,,
ct & ils fe lèvent avec l'aurore.*’ Lettres. Edifiantes & Curieujes, Tom. xv. p. 314.
Of