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POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
they have an almost endless variety of rock-fish^ which 
are remarkably sweet and good. 
In the rivers they find prawns and eels^ and in their 
iakes^ where there is an opening to the sea, multitudes 
of excellent fish are always found; among others is a 
salmon, which, at certain seasons of the year, is taken in 
great abundance. It exactly resembles the northern 
salmon in size, shape, and structure, but the flesh is 
much whiter than that of the salmon of Europe, or those 
taken on the northern coasts of America; the taste is also 
the same, excepting that the Tahitian salmon is rather 
drier than the other. In the sand they find muscles and 
cockles, and on the coral reef a great variety of shell¬ 
fish; among which, the principal are crabs, lobsters, 
welks, a large species' of chain, and several varieties of 
echinis, or sea-egg. Numbers of turtle are also found 
among the reefs and low coralline or sandy islands. 
The turtle was formerly considered sacred; a part of 
every one taken was offered to the gods, and the rest 
dressed with sacred fire, and eaten only by the king and 
chiefs; and then, I think, either within the precincts of 
the temple, or in its immediate vicinity; now they are 
eaten by whomsoever they are caught. Most of their 
fish is very good, and furnishes a dish of which we were 
never tired. 
Formerly, the natives had but two methods of dressing 
their meat, fowl, and fish; these were, by wrapping it in 
leaves, and placing it in an oven of heated stones, or 
broiling it over the fire. Cooking utensils are now, 
however, introduced among them, and are generally 
used, where the natives have the means of purchasing 
them. 
Edible fruits, roots, and vegetables, are found in plenty 
