disgrace. This vice of drinking ava is said to be peculiar almost to the
chiefs, who vie with each other in drinking the greatest number of
draughts, each draught being about a pint. They keep this intoxicating
juice with great care from the women.

As eating is one of the most important concerns of life, here as well as
elsewhere, Captain Cook's description of a meal made by one of the
chiefs of the island cannot be considered as uninteresting, and is here
given in his own words.

'He sits down under the shade of the next tree, or on the shady side of
his house, and a large quantity of leaves, either of the bread-fruit or
bananas, are neatly spread before him upon the ground as a table-cloth;
a basket is then set by him that contains his provision, which, if fish
or flesh, is ready dressed, and wrapped up in leaves, and two cocoa-nut
shells, one full of salt water and one of fresh. His attendants, which
are not few, seat themselves round him, and when all is ready, he begins
by washing his hands and his mouth thoroughly with the fresh water, and
this he repeats almost continually throughout the whole meal. He then
takes part of his provision out of the basket, which generally consists
of a small fish or two, two or three bread-fruits, fourteen or fifteen
ripe bananas, or six or seven apples. He first takes half a bread-fruit,
peels off the rind, and takes out the core with his nails; of this he
puts as much into his mouth as it can hold, and while he chews it, takes
the fish out of the leaves and breaks one of them into the salt water,
placing the other, and what remains of the bread-fruit, upon the leaves
that have been spread before him. When this is done, he takes up a small
piece of the fish that has been broken into the salt-water, with all the
fingers of one hand, and sucks it into his mouth, so as to get with it
as much of the salt-water as possible. In the same manner he takes the