State Library of NSW
OF THEIR PRODUCE
& even sea insects & what is commonly called blubber of many kinds conduce to their support. For tame animals they have Hogs, Fowls, Dogs, the Latter of which we learned to Eat from them & few were there of us but what allow'd that a South Sea Dog was next to an English Lamb, one thing in their favour is that they live intirely[sic] upon Vegetables. Probably our Dogs would not Eat half so well, little can be said in fav.r of their Fowles[sic], but their Pork is most Excellent, they have no Beasts of Prey of any Sort & Wild Fowls are scarce & confin'd to a few Species. when any of the Chiefs kill a Hog it seems to be almost equally divided among all his Dependants & as these are generally very numerous it is but a little that comes to each persons share, so that their chief food is Vegetables & of these they eat a large quantity. Cookery seems to have been but little studied, here they have only 2 Methods of applying. Fire, broiling & Baken an as we called it. the method this is done I have before discribed[sic] & I am of Opinion that Victuals dressed this way are more juicy & more equally done than by any of our Methods large fish in particular, Bread Fruit, Bannanoes & Plantains Cooked this way eatt like boild Potatoes & was use by us by way of bread when ever we could get them, of bread Fruit they make 2 or 3 dishes by beating it with a Stone Pestle till it makes a paste mixing water or Cocoa Nut liquor or both with it & adding ripe plantains Bannanoes Sour Paste etc this last is made from bread Fruit in the following manner. this fruit from what I can find remains in Season only 8 or 9 Months in the Year. as it is the Chief Support of the inhabitants a reserve of food must be made for those months when they are without it to do this the fruit is gathered when upon the point of ripening after the rinde is scrap'd off it is laid in heaps & covered close with leaves where it under goes a fermentation & becomes soft & disagreeably sweet, the core is then taken out & the rest of the fruit thrown into a Hole dug for that purpose, the sides & bottom of w.ch is neatly tied with grass, the whole is cover'd with leaves & heavy stones laid upon them here it under goes a second Fermentation & becomes sourish in which condition they say it will keep good 10 or 12 Months, as they want to use it, they make it into balls which they wrap up in leaves & bake in the same manner as they do the fruit from the Tree it is then ready for eating either hot or cold & hath a sour & disagreeable taste in this last state it will keep good a Month or 6 Weeks it is called by them Mahai & they seldom make a Meal without some of it, one way or another. To this plain diet Salt Water is the universal source hardly any one sits down to a meal without a Cocoa Nut shell full of it standing by them into which they dip most of what they Eat especially fish, drinking at Intervals large sups of it out of their Hands, so that a man may use half a pint at a meal. It is not common for any 2 to eat together the better sort hardly ever & the Women never upon any acco.n eat with the Men but always by themselves what can be the reason of so unusual a custom it is hard to say especially as they are a people in every other instance fond of Society, & much so of their Women. they were often asked the reason but they never gave no other Answer but that they did it because it was right & Express'd[sic]much dislike at the Custom of Men & Women Eating together of the same Victuals, we have often used all the intreaty's[sic] we were Masters of to invite the Women to partake of our Victuals at our Tables but there never was an instance of one of them doing it but they would Often go 5 or 6 together into the Servants apartments & there eat very heartily of whatever they could find nor where[were] they the least disturbed if any of
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