166 
EATING. 
become quite men, and frequently as grave and staid, except 
in war time; then these youths are the worst, and commit the 
greatest excesses. 
Robertson states, that the American natives were remark¬ 
able for their being small eaters ; this cannot be affirmed of the 
natives of New Zealand. In their natural state they are great 
eaters, and seem to prefer fat and oily substances, such as no 
European, unless pressed with hunger, or from the extreme 
north perhaps, could touch. The natives 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, that he does in an advanced 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 they have roasted 
pigs whole, and the inside was 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 do not 
generally live on animal food, few taste it except on particular 
occasions, when pigs are killed to entertain strangers with ; 
but this is a comparatively recent custom, since the use of 
pork is derived from Europeans, who first introduced pigs 
amongst them. Previously, fish and birds, and especially 
human beings, were all they had, in addition to the taro, 
kumara, and fern-root. We cannot 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 they contain is 
small. The country abounds in eels, which attain an immense 
size, and are very fat. These are considered great delicacies, 
but I have noticed those who freely eat them are generally ill 
afterwards. Egypt is also a country abounding in eels, yet, 
Herodotus states, they were forbidden as food ; so also in the 
Mosaic law, we find the same prohibition. The translator of 
Herodotus states, that the probable reason was their having a 
tendency to produce scrofula; it is very remarkable, that this 
