ng bread-fruit with a stone pestle
upon a block of wood; by being beaten in this manner, and sprinkled from
time to time with water, it is reduced to the consistence of a soft
paste, and is then put into a vessel somewhat like a butcher's tray, and
either made up alone, or mixed with banana or _mahie_, according to the
taste of the master, by pouring water upon it by degrees and squeezing
it often through the hand. Under this operation it acquires the
consistence of a thick custard, and a large cocoa-nut shell full of it
being set before him, he sips it as we should do a jelly if we had no
spoon to take it from the glass. The meal is then finished by again
washing his hands and his mouth. After which the cocoa-nut shells are
cleaned, and everything that is left is replaced in the basket.'

Captain Cook adds, 'the quantity of food which these people eat at a
meal is prodigious. I have seen one man devour two or three fishes as
big as a perch; three bread-fruits, each bigger than two fists; fourteen
or fifteen plantains or bananas, each of them six or seven inches long,
and four or five round; and near a quart of the pounded bread-fruit,
which is as substantial as the thickest unbaked custard. This is so
extraordinary that I scarcely expect to be believed; and I would not
have related it upon my own single testimony, but Mr. Banks, Dr.
Solander, and most of the other gentlemen have had ocular demonstration
of its truth, and know that I mention them on the occasion.'

The women, who, on other occasions, always mix in the amusements of the
men, who are particularly fond of their society, are wholly excluded
from their meals; nor could the latter be prevailed on to partake of
anything when dining in company on board ship; they said it was not
right: even brothers and sisters have each their separate baskets, and
their provisions are separately prepared; but the English officers and
men, when visiting the young ones at their own houses, frequently ate
out of the same basket and drank out of the same cup, to the horror and
dismay of the older ladies, who were always offended at this liberty;
and if by chance any of the victuals were touched, or even the basket
that contained them, they would throw them away.

In this fine climate houses are almost unnecessary. The minimum range of
the thermometer is about 63 deg., the maximum 85 deg., giving an average of 74 deg..
Their sheds or houses consist generally of a thatched roof rai