17 
crowds of shoppers* We discovered a number of interesting specimens and 
finished our purchases just as the gong rang at 5^30, the signal for the gates 
to open^ permitting the entrance of the hordes of people waiting to make their 
purchases. Back to the ship we went through the crowds of shoppers^ carrying 
«. . . fH - 
^^home” our fish native style by means of fibre looped through gill opening 
and mouth* 
Later the ^aptain came dom to the ship vrith his wife^ daughter^ and 
two grandsons, to show them over the ship* To mark the occasion of 
Easter Sunday they brought with them a native-style luncheon, prepared 
at home. This exceptionally delicious Polynesian repast included raw 
fish pickled in lime juice and served with a sauce of coconut milk, a 
”mess” of large Turbos ^ a hard-shelled coiled sea snail, and an equally 
toothsome shellfish, ^ermetus ^ which live in more or less twisted 
calcareous tubes resemblin those of certain polychaetous marine annelids - 
each of these large South Pacific Vermetuses yields a most tasty morsel 
of mollusk meat, as large around and as D.ong as or longer than one’s 
forefingers. The vegetables were breadfruit, "cook” bananas (plantains), 
sweet potatoes, a dish of shredded fresh coconut to sprinkle over every- 
thing, as the Italians do grated cheese. ^ sweet rice pudding v/as the 
dessert. Raw fish may strike some people as an unsavory dish, but it is 
no more so than pickled herring - raw fish ’’Laid down” in vinegar and 
spices instead of lime juice - the onlj^ noticeable difference being in 
cocoTiut milk which the Polynesians lace with seawater before pouring it 
over. 
