16 
SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
fowl. They caught and preserved in stews the excellent 
fish of their coasts; and having the art of preparing salt 
from brine pits, by evaporation, they preserved both their 
fish and their pork by salting, nearly as we do. Their 
method of cooking was by baking in fire pits, and with 
heated stones; but it does not appear that they had any 
idea of boiling or indeed of heating water for any domestic 
purpose. 
Although no kind of grain was known to these islanders, 
yet their chief subsistence depended on agriculture. The 
taro (Arum Costatum of Solander) does not grow in the per¬ 
fection required for food without considerable pains, espe¬ 
cially in situations where irrigation cannot be practised: 
where it can, they formed the taro fields after the manner 
of the rice grounds of the East, dividing them into small 
squares which might be easily flooded, and planting the 
roots in rows, keeping the whole carefully weeded. The 
root of the taro is used in various ways: roasted, it re¬ 
sembles the yam ; but the favourite method of preparing it 
is to pound it into a paste, which when used is mixed with 
water, so as to become of the consistence of porridge. The 
tee * was also carefully cultivated at the time of the dis- 
* Dracoena, resembling the dracaena terminalis. The New Zealanders 
called it heti, the Otaheitans ethi. These latter people knew and distinguished 
