LIFE IN LEV UK A. 53 



and hocks were drank instead of the fiery compounds known 

 as brandy, or in place even of the comparatively mild square 

 gin; but from China to Peru the Anglo-Saxon is the same. 

 He takes kindly to the stronger beverages, and a generation of 

 Wilfrid Lawsons will never eradicate traditional preference. I 

 think it is Mr. Buckmaster, in his admirable book on ' Schools 

 of Cookery,' who remarks that until we better understand the 

 culinary science, all hope of inducing Englishmen to confine 

 themselves to those wines which go best with delicate dishes 

 will be futile. In tropical countries, where the Spaniard has 

 ruled, salads and delicious dishes of mixed vegetables are seen 

 on the table as often as bread. In Fiji and other British 

 colonies, as at home, the cook's imagination rarely soars beyond 

 a curry and a hash; and for vegetables, we have the usual 

 greens and potatoes. 



As a rule, fowls and turkeys are very plentiful in Levuka ; 

 but sometimes there is a great scarcity of the latter. Fish is of 

 the mul let order, but is not in very regular supply, and is 

 obtained sometimes shade of Izaak Walton! by means 

 of dynamite. Good beef costs about ninepence, and mutton 

 eightpence a pound, fowls about two shillings a pair, ducks 

 (when to be had market uncertain) about two shillings and 

 sixpence, and turkeys from four shillings each. To the heathen 

 Chinee, who to a small extent is represented in the group, is 

 mainly due the credit of the successful introduction of European 

 vegetables, for in my opinion a native yam, sustaining as it is, 

 is after all a poor substitute for cabbage, and that mottled, 

 soap-looking root, the taro, is to my taste anything but 

 appetising. Lima beans, cabbage, radishes, watercress, spring 

 onions, and lettuce, have all been cultivated with success. 

 Potatoes are at present entirely imported from Auckland and 

 the other colonies. 



