PREPARING THEIR FOOD. \\\ 
a beverage, if they possessed the means. They 
are very partial to sweets ; and have long been 
in the habit of purchasing sugar. The old men 
do not at all value European fruits ; but the 
youngsters take great care of their trees, both to 
sell, and to partake of the produce. They make 
up very strange mixtures as a relish : some of 
the ingredients are, at times, highly flavoured: 
any thing that is much tainted, however, they 
always reject. The following melange I have seen 
made ; a piece of hollowed wood being the vessel 
in which the ingredients were mixed : — The stem 
of the before-mentioned parasitical plant, Tawara, 
scraped and beat to a pulp ; a few peaches and 
onions, chopped with a hatchet; a few cooked 
potatoes and kumera (the fruit of the Kohutuhutu, 
Fuchsia excorticata) ^ ; the brains of a pig; a 
little lard or train-oil ; the juice of the Tupakihi 
( Coriaria sarmentosa ), a berry similar in taste to 
that of the elder, whose leaves, branches and seed, 
are highly poisonous ; and a little sugar, if they 
possess it ; — these, all mixed together, are pressed 
to a pulp with the hands, which are often intro- 
duced into the mouth of the cook, who in this way 
manages to satisfy his own appetite, in tasting 
his dish before it is served up. 
The use of tobacco is almost universally adopt- 
ed throughout the island : it is mostly consumed 
* A berry somewhat smaller than the sloe, sweetish, but 
rather insipid, and emitting a delicious perfume. The juice 
of this fruit, when boiled, is of a bright purple. 
