1770 HOUSES FOOD 



237 



carved planks of a workmanship superior to any other we 

 saw on the land. For what purpose this was built or why 

 deserted we could not find out. 



Though these people when at home defend themselves so 

 well from the inclemencies of the weather, yet when they are 

 abroad upon their excursions, which they often make in search 

 of fern roots, fish, etc., they seem totally indifferent to shelter. 

 Sometimes they make a small shade to windward of them, 

 but more often omit that precaution. During our stay at 

 Opoorage, or Mercury Bay, a party of Indians were there, 

 consisting of forty or fifty, who during all that time never 

 erected the least covering, though it twice rained almost 

 without ceasing for twenty-four hours together. 



Their food, in the use of which they seem to be moderate, 

 consists of dogs, birds (especially sea fowl, as penguins, 

 albatrosses, etc.), fish, sweet potatoes, yams, cocos, some few 

 wild plants, as sow-thistles 1 and palm-cabbage, but above all, 

 the root of a species of fern which seems to be to them what 

 bread is to us. This fern is very common upon the hills, and 

 very nearly resembles that which grows upon our hilly 

 commons in England, and is called indifferently fern, bracken, 

 or brakes. As for the flesh of man, although they certainly 

 do eat it, I cannot in my own opinion debase human nature 

 so much as to imagine that they relish it as a dainty, or 

 even look upon it as common food. Thirst for revenge may 

 drive men to great lengths when their passions are allowed 

 to take their full swing, yet nature, through all the superior 

 part of the creation, shows how much she recoils at the 

 thought of any species preying upon itself. Dogs and cats 

 show visible signs of disgust at the very sight of a dead 

 carcass of their own species; even wolves or bears are said 

 never to eat one another except in cases of absolute necessity, 

 when the stings of hunger have overcome the precepts of 

 nature, in which case the same has been done by the in- 

 habitants of the most civilised nations. Among fish and 

 insects, indeed, there are many instances which prove that 



1 The New Zealand bracken and sow-thistle are identical with the English 

 (Pteris aquilina, Linn., and Sonchus asper, Vill.). 



