[All Rights Reserved.] SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 15

[All Rights Reserved.] SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

QUAINT CUSTOMS. - .1 3 - : .TsoM|; A?IXJSI^Q^TOR^. V \ . ~ BY JROSY. FIiEDKKI<JK sSWJBCS. - One of the most am-jtaing things to - a ; European visjtiag the Islands is the quan" titv of food eaten. -by- the nativ^E - In one. -of myi-joaroeys in.- Tonga I- had a j "boy" about 30 years of age, known as "Johnny Mylow." He was a bachelor, and that is a somewhat uncommon distinction in" the' islaVids for a 'Irian' of his age. But his main distinction, so far as my recollection of him goes, was his enormous appetite. My attention was first called to the fact whilst on a journey in the lagoon. We had been to Mua. the ancient capital of Tonga, and on our way b'ick Johnny | stopped to buy a. number of fish. As I j knew that he had no family, I asked my ' host on our return what Johnny would do with such a quantity. "Oh," he 6aid, "he will eat the whole of them this evening, and then roll over and go to sleep.'? On another occasion Johnny ate a 41b tin of compressed beef, and a small boiler full of yams, and thought nothing of it. Mv host knaw two other Tonga ns who consumed 401b of bread between them at a single sitting. If lam asked where' the natives stow such immense quantities of food, I am at a loss to answer ; but one thing T am quite sure of»--that their internal economy must be very "different from mine. One-quarter of what a- native' eats at, a single -meal would give, me 1 indigestion for a week. Nor is this huge storage capacity; -confined to any ,one a-ace., In Samoa t ;£g-7 T'lnet a native paator who lived for several -years' as servant in the house of a missionary. At one period ho accompanied^ the family to \* Sydney" and, bearing that at a certain weD-known restaurant tea and cakes could be had fo>- sixpence, he entered and asked for tea. The usual small pot was brought him, with two large plates of cakes fiom which to select. My Samoan fiieml, delighted Aviththe liberality, of. the proprietors, "ate/the/lot. When* the time foe settlement arrived, however,- he experiei.ced a sudden 'revulsion-; of feeling, .for he found to his amazement and disgust that v he had to pay — not sixpence,.. ae -he anticipated, but half a crown! , . A similar story was told 'me by a missionary's wife concerning one of the high chiefs of Samoa. This gentleman had occasion to call at the house of a European, and, in order to do him honour, the lady of the house brought in afternoon tea, including a good-sized cake cut in the usual fashion. As my readers will be aware, although the cake is cut in several places, a visitor' is only supposed to take a single slice, or at most two. But the native did not understand the' etiquette of afternoon tea, and to his hostess's amuse--ment (and possibly discomfiture) went on eating till the whole cake had disappeared. Whilst I was at 'the Ya-sawra Islands thtie was a great deal of , feasting, during which one of the native's was observed weeping. On being asked what was the matter with him, he replied, as the tears ran down his cheeks, "I* am so full of fish I can't eat any pig!" The principal .articles of diet in the islands are the banana, the taro, the yam, the breadfruit, and fresh fish, with pork, tinned salmon, tinned beef, etc., when the natives can get them. A' curious circumstance connected with tinned foods is that they are called "pulumakau." On asking for an explanation of thie custom, 1 was told that when cattle were first introduced into Samoa a bull and a cow were landed. "What are these?" asked the natives. "A bull and a cow," was the reply ; and ever since then the natives call any bull, bullock, or cow they may see, "pulumakau," and this name extends even to tinned meats, and is common I believe, to all the South Sea Islands. The mode of cooking throughout the islands is to dig a shallow hole in the ground in which a fire is kindled. Thick pieces of wocd are then laid across the opening, and stones on the top of these, j When the stones- are sufficiently heated, the parcels of meat, vegetables, eto. , wrapped in leaves, are placed on the 6tones, and then the v hole covered with layers of thick leaves and loose soil. How the native? know when the fond is properly cooked was always a puzzle to mo, but I mv-'st say the lesult as far as t^e cooking was concerned was always excellent. j In Fiji husband and wife never eat at the same time or fiom the s-am-e dibh. | The men are served first, while the women i wait on them, -and later on the women share what is loft. Brothers and si-tors, ' fiist cousins, fathers and daughters-in-law, | brothel's and fcisters-in-!aw. are also for- j birldsn to fit from the same dish, or to J dwell beneath the samp roof. It is even 1 considered improper for them to converse together. The reasons for these prohibitions 1 hope to give on another occasion. KAVA DRINKIXG IN THE ISLANDS. The tran^tion from the subject of ' eating to that of drinking is a simple and I mtiiral one. With the exception of water, which is drunk at all meals, the principal drink in the irliincL> is kava. II may be of interest if I describe the drinking of ' this famous liquor, as it is drunk accord- ' im; to the anrlent custom on groat ceienioniul occasion?, and a 5a 5 I myself participated in it when tri\ellin;j with a reprc's>atativc of the Go\crnment and the t H:,'h Chief of Fiji. I Kawi (in Fiji oil 1 ad Yagon) is a most J refreu'iinp:. though not into>:u;<ling bever- , ape nii'de from the root of the Pij.oi" Meth\ siicinn. a peprer plant. TMa is sp'ii into "lU'li p:-e-.e!r, or pounded between itones. Every detail of the diinki!U i e icriiliited by rul^s. the manner of [ iiii\-.i'._j. >tiaini'n i. ha'-d'n^ the cup, drink- | in; oat of it. rohnrin<r it, etc. On th<? j occviion to wki^h I iefer. the natives j having gathered in the large Vale ni Bcee, I

or meeting-house, an immense kava-bovl was brought in. The maker of the kava took his place on the ground immediately behind the bowl, and assistants at eachside. The pulverised root was first handed _to the maker, and h# him put into the TSowT. Water" was then 'poured on by one - the ■■ «ndr fTthe thcaooghly mixed by "the kava-maker^aind strained with a large bunch of cocoa-nut "fibre which Avas .brought by" an. attendant, ana emptied v again and again of the sediment it gathered until nothing but the liquid remained. 'At each stage of this st'raiiiJh.g, which occupies in all abo-ut 10_ minutes, the men sitting b.ej^nd and tat" the two sides of the'labwl broke into a low chant, • with drum-beating ,aaid clamping of hands. At length a gfehefal _clap-, ..ping announced that kava was made, upon which the server approached fche frotiWrf the bowl, stopped, took the cocoa-nut cup ■ from the hands of the kava-maker, "find lifting it, while all the time- he kept his i eyes fixed intently .upon it, slowly I rose fo his full height. Then, turning | towards the chief, he gradually sank to the ground, rose once more, solemnly api pioachcd him. and with a peculiar flourish of the right arm offered him the cup amidst loud clapping and shouting. The I chief, having received the cup, made a t peculiar backward' "noiirish. 4 with « it," and j then, having swallowed its contents, threAV I the cup spinning upon the ground. The I rest of the guests and chiefs . were then served- acoordi*^ to their/ rank; in like manner, "' and afterwards'" 1 the common" * people, until the whole was consumed. i I may add -thai as feoon'-ite the preparation; of the kava begins, a rope fastened to the bowl is drawn up the floor -towards tlie chifef, Vud" whilst -^he -Jjope remains — i.e.,* ! uittil tile ceremony is* over— -no man may ; cross tlie floor. The following additional particulars ma'valso prove of jn-^ fsere6t :'-s^nrFiji>«o J .women are allowed. toL be present", though they are invariably so i in Samoa, and, indeed, the -kava in that | country is niade, by them, the nre&jest I -girl in the village being^usuaily selected I for the office; whilst in Fiji' the kava is ! invariably made by men. -_ IffSamou, too. J there is always present (Ijmean, of couxso, at ceremonial drinkings) a man who acts as Master of Ceremonies, who calls out in a loud voice each drinker's name in order of rank, thus: "Le ipu o" (i.e., "the cup ' of") st^and^so^ whereupon the kava is handed to the guest. I also noticed in Samoa, that when the oup was handed to -' tlte drinker, it frequently happened (esTfeeially- in vthe case of, the oioer. men) that, ' b<T would- beftire drinking reach out his hand somewhat behind him and pour a few drops npon the ground. I also did 1 this until I learned the explanation, which is as follows:— In the old pagan days it was the custom tp make a libation to the god, the officer crying as he poined tlie< kava on the ground, "Be it, high chief. partaken of by the god." To this day' the custom of pouring remains, although I the words and heathen meaning have dis1 appeared. I must say, also, a few words about the kava-making. The old native fashion of making the drink was (and' still is to sonic extent) for the young women, or in Fiji, young men, to chew the root instead of pounding it, afterwards spitting it into the bowl, where it was mixed with water in* the usual fashion. When "Europeans are present, it is usual in the*e days, in deference to their absurd sensibilities, to pound the root, though "the natives are^ not always so considerate. For example, after a kava-making in one village, it occurred to me to ask how it had been made, when I learned to my disgust that it had been chewed in native fashion ! When the Teader is informed that 15 per cent, of the kava thus made is composed of saliva he will probably pardon my scruples ; >ai)d, needless to say, I was ev«r afterwards careful to inquire before drinking how it had been made. To be quite fair, however, I must tell that the process of chewing is always done by young men or women with perfect teeth, and even the mouth is often rinsed before the process is begun. After all, it is very much a matter of custom, for whilst we think their way of making kava objectionable, the natives think our practice of drinking the milk of a beast, and giving it to our children, simply disgustin <>■ ! j ° "Tot populi, <tot mores."