EthnogriX})liy of Mieronesia. jj 



after tlicy arc made, it causes stomach-ache, so it is usual for 

 them to wait two or three days for the cakes to harden. 

 After several days tiie cakes turn sour, but they eat them all the 

 same. As to the quantity of food, it is said that two pieces of the 

 bread-fruit a day are enough for one person, thougli allowance must 

 be made for the difference in the size of the fruit (some people say 

 five, wiiich is perhaps too many). This preparation of bread-fruit 

 is undertaken by men in a shed, a sort of comnmnal kitchen, built 

 in a grove at some distance from the dwellings. We are told 

 that they do this twice a week. 



For purposes of baking the islandei's have no other device 

 than the earth oven, which they must make use of when they 

 want to prepare not only the bread-fruit but also other articles 

 of food. The. processes are pretty much the same throughout the 

 East Caroline and Marshall Islands. A similar w^ay of jjreparing 

 the bread-fruit also prevails widely in Polynesia and Melanesia.^ 



In the extent ol its use the coconut surpasses anj^ other fruit 

 in the tropics. Every part of the fruit is valued. The variety 

 used as food is called kaikal^ coconut by the natives, which name 

 is a combination of English and native words. The Japanese re- 

 sidents in the islands also call the variety by this name. The 

 juice of young coconuts makes an admirable drink, and the 

 albumen, together with the bread-fruit, forms an important article 



1 W. Ellis, "Hawaii." p. 2H. G. Turner, " Samoa," p 111. B. T. Somerville, " Ethnological 

 Notes on New Hebrides," .Tour. Anthr. Inst., XXIII, 1804, p. 381. S J. Gardiner, " The Natives 

 of Eotnmii," .Tour. Anthr. Inst., XXVH, 1898, p. 422. A. C. Huddon, " The Ethnography of the 

 Western Tribes of Torres Straits," Jour. Anthr. Inst, XIX, 1890, p. 310. A. C. Hunt, "Ethno- 

 grajihical Notes on the Murr.ay Islands, Torres Straits ," Jour, .inthr. Inst., XXVHI, 1899, p. 13. 

 W. Ellis, "Polynesian Researches" 2nd ed., London, 1831, Vol. I. !>. 40. 



2 The word kaikdl is also used in Torres Straits ; and it is said to be an introducgd word, 

 being the jargon Eiaglish for food. See A. C. Haddon, ibid., p. 420. In Hawaii, the natives iLSe 

 kauka'i (a word of Chinese origin) instead of the native word for eat. See W. Ellis, "Hawaii," 

 p. 392. 



