Cook Islands.

Manawatu Herald, 29 June 1899, Page 3

Cook Islands.

(Continued.)

The Raratongians dispense as a rule with knife and fork at meal times. This function, because of the absence of these necessary adjuncts to our own tables, need not suggest a happy abandonment of the strictly conveiv tional. for the manners of other people may be very good manners. As a matter of fact the meals are taken with pleasant ceremonial. A large wooden bowl was brought in containing a mixture of fish, cocoanut and vegetables, suggesting the features of a stew and on a number of leaves piled up like plates was placed the portion for consumption by each individual ; to be replenished at the will of the eater until his wants were satisfied. This mixture of food has of course a peculiar taste, but quickly one's palate is reconciled to it. With the food is presented to you in the section of a cocoanut making a bowl, a quantity of the milk ot the nut, which is simply delicious. I might here say that the people of New Zealand have but the faintest conception of the excellence of this beverage, and this is the case with the delicacy of flavor of most of the products of these fortunate isles. There is a marked deterioration in the fruit imported, and only an approximation of the flavour is attained to when it is taken over the sea. Following the fish and vegetables we were regaled with a course of fruit which in abundance and variety would simply amaze you. With the fruit comes the mild wine or beer made by the natives, and the meal concludes with a kind of pipe of peace. This is a large cigar made by the women. It would be about eight inches long, and each man and woman takes a puff or two and passes it on to the next, and so it circulates round till it is consumed. The repast is then concluded, and with very little variety it is a feature of all meals. The finishing touch to the meal is the occasion for a display of animated talking, and singing is not an unmusical measure. The dregs of the banquet are not preserved for another repast. With the conclusion of the meal all that remains of the food is cast out, and for the next feast freshly cooked food is prepared. There are no cold joints in the Raratongian household. The fruits, as I have said, make up a comprehensive list, and are peculiar to most of the tropical islands of the Pacific. Oranges, pine-apples and bananas abound ; yams, which I saw for the first time, remind me much of the artichoke, then there is food like Indian corn and again bread fruit, which has the appearance of a large potato honey-combed and spongy ; when raw it becomes compact ; when cooked, it is more like bread than anything grown, but it will not keep long. The beverages are cocoanut beer, orange beer, banana and pineapple wines. The orange beer is made by taking the oranges whole and pounding them into a pulp, and left to ferment for twelve hours, then the ferment is skimmed off, and the liquor strained through to another tub, in which it stands for three or four days \ and is then strained again and is ready | for use. It is rather pleasant to the j taste, and like all their beverages, slightly intoxicating. I have mentioned before that the native mind runs very much to color, and plenty of it. The dress of the people is perhaps not distinct from that of the people of any of the islands of the tropics, being simplicity itself. White people find it convenient in a measure to adopt while residing with these people, some of their garments, or rather to dispense with what might be considered indispensable elsewhere. The prevalence of insect pests simply makes it impossible for white people to wear the conventional garb of civilisation. With the arrival of a steamer the inhabitants put on all their clothes, and when going to church a similar infliction is suffered, so that, as a rule, the traveller who simply sojourns whilst the vessel waits gets but an indifferent impression of the ordinary life of the inhabitants.