Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/135

 MANNEBS Al^^D CUSTOMS. 109 these are a cord for binding fuel, a skewer for trying cooked food, and; in the better houses, a wooden fork — a luxury which, probably, the Fijian enjoyed when our worthy ancestors were wont to take hot food in their practised fingers. The large oval cooking-pots stand slanting, the angle being altered to suit the quantity of food contained in them. Should there be very little, the pot lies on its side. The small pots, which answer to our saucepans, stand upright. These facilities for boiling food and making hot drinks form one of the advantages almost peculiar to the Fijian as contrasted with the other islanders. His domestic comforts have been stated to be inferior to those of the Tongans ; but the comparison has been unfairly instituted between Christian Tongans and heathen Fijians. If the state of the former before their reformation were taken as the standard, the above erroneous judgment would be reversed; and even now the Tongan owes many of his greatest comforts to Fijian ingenuity. Voyagers notice the superior fare of the Fijians in their daily use of hot boiled food, and various soups — ^luxuries which have recently been introduced from them among those with whom they have been con- trasted. They also have the peculiar distinction of using mosquito cur- tains, of separate sleeping rooms for the young men, and a better style of houses. The use of oil for anointing the body has been stated as a point in which the Tongans are superior. But almost all the Christians of Fiji have now adopted the practice. The natives usually take two meals in the day ; the principal one being in the afternoon or evening. Where ovens are chiefly used, they cook but once a day, but twice where boiling is most in vogue. Their general food is light and plain, fish being highly esteemed. Contrary to the taste of civilized gourmands, these people will have all their meat quite fresh, and some small kinds of fish are eaten alive as a relish. The Fijian bill of fare for usual consumption is somewhat lengthy, and contains many diff*erent vegetables, and shell and other fish in perhaps unequalled variety. Almost everything found living on the sea-reef whether molluscous, articulate, or radiate, is eaten and enjoyed. To these are added a dozen varieties of bread, nearly thirty kinds of pud- dings, and twelve sorts of broths or soups, including — though the dis- tinctions calipash and calipee are unknown — turtle-soup. Several kinds of warm infusions are made from aromatic grasses and leaves. These, however, they sometimes macerate, and eat with the liquid in which they are prepared. Some of the native dishes recommend themselves at once to European taste, and some strongly remind the English vis- itor of what he has been accustomed to see at home. A rich sort of