Page:Some Account of New Zealand.pdf/79

60 modes of cooking in most uncivilized countries; they are much in use here: but they have a method of dressing fish that struck me as rather uncommon, and therefore I shall describe it. The fish being cleaned, is enveloped in a quantity of leaves of the cabbage, and bound about with tendrils; it is then laid upon a stone that has been previously heated, upon which it is occasionally turned, so that the steam extricated from the leaves serves the purpose of boiling water. The leaves being taken off, the fish is found to be well cooked and unbroken. I have tasted them cooked in this manner by the natives, and thought them excellent. They probably would not have recourse to this method, had they any way of boiling water among them; but, however, it is an admirable substitute. The greens forming the immediate covering of the fish are eaten with it. Potatoes are also cooked in the same manner.

As salt, or other savory substances, are not in use among the natives, they are not