BATING. 
339 
grave and staid, except in war time ; then these youths are 
the worst, and commit the greatest excesses. 
Eating. 
Robertson states, that the American Indians were remark- 
able for being small eaters ; this could not be affirmed of the 
natives of New Zealand ; in their natural state they were 
great consumers, and seemed to prefer fat and oily sub- 
stances, such as no European, unless pressed by hunger, or 
from the extreme north perhaps, could touch ; the Maori 
fed even on putrid whales, and tainted meat, with apparent 
relish. Man, indeed, in a savage state, does not seem to 
possess the sense of smell to the same extent, as in an ad- 
vanced state of civilization, or else his perceptions are 
different, and the smell of putrid substances is not only not 
offensive, but positively agreeable. 
Uncivilized man appears to prefer fat and oil as food. I 
have frequently seen natives eating their potatoes with 
putrid train oil, plentifully poured over them : also, when 
pigs were roasted whole, and the inside filled with a pool of 
melted fat, they would stoop down and drink it the same as 
water. 
There is one thing, however, to be stated : they did not 
formerly live on animal food, few tasted it except on par- 
ticular occasions, when pigs were killed to entertain stran- 
gers; but this is a comparatively recent custom, since the 
use of pork has been derived from Europeans ; previously, 
fish and birds, and especially human beings, were all they 
had, in addition to the taro, kumara, and fern-root ; we can- 
not wonder, when their diet was so entirely vegetable, that 
they should occasionally eat to excess. The quantity of 
potatoes which a native consumes at a meal is very great, 
but the nourishment derived from them is small. The 
country abounds in eels, which attain an immense size, 
become very fat, and are considered great delicacies, but 
those who freely eat of them generally suffer afterwards ; 
Egypt is also a country abounding in eels, yet, Herodotus 
z 2 
