390 
PUA, OR BREAD. 
plentifully sprinkled over, and upon them is placed a layer 
of flax mats, tapora , or old kete , (baskets,) which have 
been previously soaked, and are carefully tucked in at the 
sides. The cook next, with her fingers or a stick, covers the 
whole with earth, so closely that the steam thus generated 
cannot escape. An hour or less is sufficient to cook a very 
large quantity of food, during which time the operator sits 
down and plaits a number of baskets with green flax, or ti 
leaves. When she opens the oven, she first carefully removes 
the earth in the same manner it was put on; then the mats 
are taken off with a little jerk outwards, so that not a particle 
of earth falls on the oven. The covering of leaves is next 
removed, and the food, deposited in the clean new baskets, is 
placed before the guests, each portion having some of the 
thistle or cabbage leaves laid upon them, with a piece of meat, 
if there be any.* 
They generally leave a small portion of the food, which has 
been rather burnt by the stones at the bottom, and the ladies 
eat it while sitting round the oven. Etiquette does not allow 
any of the hosts to come near their guests when eating; and, 
if previously sitting with them, they remove to a distance. 
When the guests are many and distinguished, all the principal 
ladies, and even the Chiefs, bear the food; each one taking a 
kete, and walking in a long train one after the other, sets the 
food before the guests, and then retires. This is often a very 
pretty sight. 
The process of making bread from the pua, or pollen of the 
raupo (typha angustifolia) is curious, both on account of the 
* 1 he natives of South Australia cook their food in a similar manner. A 
hole, ( kangayajjpa ,) is dug in the ground, and a fire kindled in it, upon which 
stones are laid to be heated. During the time these are being heated, they 
prepare the game or vegetables, and then remove the stones and larger 
remains of wood; and, if they stew a kangaroo, they first fill the inside with 
part of the hot stones, and leaves of the gum tree. The kangaroo is then put 
into the hole, and covered with leaves, the remaining stones, bark, and earth. 
It remains there for an hour and more, until steam escapes from different 
parts ; when this takes place, the meat, or whatever is cooking, is sufficiently 
done. J. P. Gill, Esq.,—Tasmanian Journal, vol. i, p. 112. 
