190 NEW ZEALAND CHAP, vm 



this we visited several houses, and saw a little of their 

 customs, for they were not at all shy of showing us anything 

 we desired to see, nor did they on our account interrupt their 

 meals, the only employment we saw them engaged in. 



Their food at this time of the year consisted of fish, with 

 which, instead of bread, they eat the roots of a kind of fern, 

 Pteris crenulata, 1 very like that which grows upon our 

 commons in England. These were slightly roasted on the 

 fire and then beaten with a stick, which took off the bark 

 and dry outside ; what remained had a sweetish, clammy, 

 but not disagreeable taste. It might be esteemed a tolerable 

 food, were it not for the quantity of strings and fibres in it, 

 which in quantity three or four times exceed the soft part. 

 These were swallowed by some, but the greater number spit 

 them out, for which purpose they had a basket standing 

 under them to receive their chewed morsels, in shape and 

 colour not unlike chaws of tobacco. Though at this time of 

 the year this most homely fare was their principal diet, yet 

 in the proper seasons they certainly have plenty of excellent 

 vegetables. We have seen no sign of tame animals among 

 them, except very small and ugly dogs. Their plantations 

 were now hardly finished, but so well was the ground tilled 

 that I have seldom seen land better broken up. In them 

 were planted sweet potatoes, cocos, and a plant of the 

 cucumber kind, as we judged from the seed leaves which 

 just appeared above ground. 



The first of these were planted in small hills, some in 

 rows, others in quincunx, all laid most regularly in line. 

 The cocos were planted on flat land, and had not yet 

 appeared above ground. The cucumbers were set in small 

 hollows or ditches, much as in England. These plantations 

 varied in size from 1 to 10 acres each. In the bay there 

 might be 150 or 200 acres in cultivation, though we did 

 not see 100 people in all. Each distinct patch was fenced 

 in, generally with reeds placed close one by another, so that 

 a mouse could scarcely creep through. 



When we went to their houses, men, women and children 



1 The same plant as the British bracken, Pteris aquilina. 



