370 FEEJEE GROUP. 



They eat with their fingers generally, using a piece of taro or yarn 

 at the same time. In serving up their food they always sweep off the 

 mats or lay down new ones, placing the victuals upon fresh bread- 

 fruit leaves. 



Their diet is principally vegetable, consisting of bread-fruit, yams, 

 taro, &c. In the mountain districts the ivi is much used as an article 

 of food. This is found in great plenty in the more elevated regions. 

 It is about the size of an apple, and when cooked resembles a Spanish 

 chestnut. On the coast they have abundance of fish, some of which 

 are of fine kinds, and differ in species from any we had before seen. 

 They likewise have fine crabs, which are caught among the tiri or 

 mangrove bushes. The higher classes occasionally indulge in fowls 

 and pigs, a luxury the common people cannot afford. 



They make at least twenty different kinds of pudding, each of 

 which has its appropriate name, though all are included under the 

 generic term of oakalolo. That most frequently met with is called 

 saku-saku, and is made of taro or yams, chiefly of the former. 

 The taro is first roasted, and plunged while hot into cold water. 

 This takes off all the hard outer surface, and leaves the mealy inte- 

 rior free. The latter is pounded into paste with cocoa-nut milk, and 

 wrapped in a banana-leaf to be cooked. When thoroughly done, this 

 dish resembles a sweetened pudding of coarse Indian meal. 



Their feasts are attended with much ceremony and form, and evince 

 a degree of politeness and good breeding that was unexpected, and 

 cannot but surprise all who witness it. These ceremonies and atten- 

 tions to minute punctilios are more evident in their turtle-feasts than 

 on other occasions. These may be given either by the king or by 

 high chiefs. Those given by the king are held in the mbure, on 

 which occasion it is spread with new mats, and the perpetual fire, 

 which is usually only smouldering, is excited to a blaze. The king 

 stretches himself out near the fire at full length, the guests are seated 

 in rows opposite to him, and the dishes are placed between him and 

 them. As they are extremely punctilious in relation to rank, there 

 are rarely on such occasions more than about fifteen guests. Among 

 these are always the councillor of state, a priest, and a distinguished 

 visiter or two. The rest are matanivanua (landholders). The other 

 guests, and particularly the strangers, are received by the priest, 

 who does the honours of the mbure, and makes them a speech of wel- 

 come, which is closed by a clapping of hands from the rest of the 

 company. 



