ALL the inhabitants of the valley treated me with great kindness; but as to the household of Marheyo, with whom I was now permanently1 domiciled, nothing could surpass their efforts to minister to my comfort. To the gratification of my palate they paid the most unwearied attention. They continually invited me to partake of food, and when after eating heartily2 I declined the viands3 they continued to offer me, they seemed to think that my appetite stood in need of some piquant4 stimulant5 to excite its activity.
In pursuance of this idea, old Marheyo himself would hie him away to the sea-shore by the break of day, for the purpose of collecting various species of rare sea-weed; some of which among these people are considered a great luxury. After a whole day spent in this employment, he would return about nightfall with several cocoanut shells filled with different descriptions of kelp. In preparing these for use he manifested all the ostentation6 of a professed7 cook, although the chief mystery of the affair appeared to consist in pouring water in judicious8 quantities upon the slimy contents of his cocoanut shells.
The first time he submitted one of these saline salads to my critical attention I naturally thought that anything collected at such pains must possess peculiar9 merits; but one mouthful was a complete dose; and great was the consternation10 of the old warrior11 at the rapidity with which I ejected his Epicurean treat.
How true it is, that the rarity of any particular article enhances its value amazingly. In some part of the valley—I know not where, but probably in the neighbourhood of the sea—the girls were sometimes in the habit of procuring12 small quantities of salt, a thimble-full or so being the result of the united labours of a party of five or six employed for the greater part of the day. This precious commodity they brought to the house, enveloped13 in multitudinous folds of leaves; and as a special mark of the esteem14 in which they held me, would spread an immense leaf on the ground, and dropping one by one a few minute particles of the salt upon it, invite me to taste them.
From the extravagant15 value placed upon the article, I verily believe, that with a bushel of common Liverpool salt all the real estate in Typee might have been purchased. With a small pinch of it in one hand, and a quarter section of a bread-fruit in the other, the greatest chief in the valley would have laughed at all luxuries of a Parisian table.
The celebrity16 of the bread-fruit tree, and the conspicuous17 place it occupies in a Typee bill of fare, induces me to give at some length a general description of the tree, and the various modes in which the fruit is prepared.
The bread-fruit tree, in its glorious prime, is a grand and towering object, forming the same feature in a Marquesan landscape that the patriarchal elm does in New England scenery. The latter tree it not a little resembles in height, in the wide spread of its stalwart branches, and in its venerable and imposing18 aspect.
The leaves of the bread-fruit are of great size, and their edges are cut and scolloped as fantastically as those of a lady’s lace collar. As they annually19 tend towards decay, they almost rival in brilliant variety of their gradually changing hues20 the fleeting21 shades of the expiring dolphin. The autumnal tints22 of our American forests, glorious as they are, sink into nothing in comparison with this tree.
The leaf, in one particular stage, when nearly all the prismatic colours are blended on its surface, is often converted by the natives into a superb and striking head-dress. The principal fibre traversing its length being split open a convenient distance, and the elastic23 sides of the aperture24 pressed apart, the head is inserted between them, the leaf drooping25 on one side, with its forward half turned jauntily26 up on the brows, and the remaining part spreading laterally27 behind the ears.
The fruit somewhat resembles in magnitude and general appearance one of our citron melons of ordinary size; but, unlike the citron, it has no sectional lines drawn28 along the outside. Its surface is dotted all over with little conical prominences29, looking not unlike the knobs, on an antiquated30 church door. The rind is perhaps an eighth of an inch in thickness; and denuded31 of this at the time when it is in the greatest perfection, the fruit presents a beautiful globe of white pulp32, the whole of which may be eaten, with the exception of a slender core, which is easily removed.
The bread-fruit, however, is never used, and is indeed altogether unfit to be eaten, until submitted in one form or other to the action of fire.
The most simple manner in which this operation is performed, and I think, the best, consists in placing any number of the freshly plucked fruit, when in a particular state of greenness, among the embers of a fire, in the same way that you would roast a potato. After the lapse33 of ten or fifteen minutes, the green rind embrowns and cracks, showing through the fissures34 in its sides the milk-white interior. As soon as it cools the rind drops off, and you then have the soft round pulp in its purest and most delicious state. Thus eaten, it has a mild and pleasing flavour.
Sometimes after having been roasted in the fire, the natives snatch it briskly from the embers, and permitting it to slip out of the yielding rind into a vessel35 of cold water, stir up the mixture, which they call ‘bo-a-sho’. I never could endure this compound, and indeed the preparation is not greatly in vogue36 among the more polite Typees.
There is one form, however, in which the fruit is occasionally served, that renders it a dish fit for a king. As soon as it is taken from the fire the exterior37 is removed, the core extracted, and the remaining part is placed in a sort of shallow stone mortar38, and briskly worked with a pestle39 of the same substance. While one person is performing this operation, another takes a ripe cocoanut, and breaking it in halves, which they also do very cleverly, proceeds to grate the juicy meat into fine particles. This is done by means of a piece of mother-of-pearl shell, lashed40 firmly to the extreme end of a heavy stick, with its straight side accurately41 notched42 like a saw. The stick is sometimes a grotesquely-formed limb of a tree, with three or four branches twisting from its body like so many shapeless legs, and sustaining it two or three feet from the ground.
The native, first placing a calabash beneath the nose, as it were, of his curious-looking log-steed, for the purpose of receiving the grated fragments as they fall, mounts astride of it as if it were a hobby-horse, and twirling the inside of his hemispheres of cocoanut around the sharp teeth of the mother-of-pearl shell, the pure white meat falls in snowy showers into the receptacle provided. Having obtained a quantity sufficient for his purpose, he places it in a bag made of the net-like fibrous substance attached to all cocoanut trees, and compressing it over the bread-fruit, which being now sufficiently43 pounded, is put into a wooden bowl—extracts a thick creamy milk. The delicious liquid soon bubbles round the fruit, and leaves it at last just peeping above its surface.
This preparation is called ‘kokoo’, and a most luscious44 preparation it is. The hobby-horse and the pestle and mortar were in great requisition during the time I remained in the house of Marheyo, and Kory-Kory had frequent occasion to show his skill in their use.
But the great staple45 articles of food into which the bread-fruit is converted by these natives are known respectively by the names of Amar and Poee-Poee.
At a certain season of the year, when the fruit of the hundred groves46 of the valley has reached its maturity47, and hangs in golden spheres from every branch, the islanders assemble in harvest groups, and garner48 in the abundance which surrounds them.
The trees are stripped of their nodding burdens, which, easily freed from the rind and core, are gathered together in capacious wooden vessels49, where the pulpy50 fruit is soon worked by a stone pestle, vigorously applied51, into a blended mass of a doughy52 consistency53, called by the natives ‘Tutao’. This is then divided into separate parcels, which, after being made up into stout54 packages, enveloped in successive folds of leaves, and bound round with thongs55 of bark, are stored away in large receptacles hollowed in the earth, from whence they are drawn as occasion may require. In this condition the Tutao sometimes remains56 for years, and even is thought to improve by age. Before it is fit to be eaten, however, it has to undergo an additional process. A primitive57 oven is scooped58 in the ground, and its bottom being loosely covered with stones, a large fire is kindled59 within it. As soon as the requisite60 degree of heat is attained61, the embers are removed, and the surface of the stones being covered with thick layers of leaves, one of the large packages of Tutao is deposited upon them and overspread with another layer of leaves. The whole is then quickly heaped up with earth, and forms a sloping mound62.
The Tutao thus baked is called ‘Amar’; the action of the oven having converted it into an amber-coloured caky substance, a little tart63, but not at all disagreeable to the taste.
By another and final process the ‘Amar’ is changed into ‘Poee-Poee’. This transition is rapidly effected. The Amar is placed in a vessel, and mixed with water until it gains a proper pudding-like consistency, when, without further preparation, it is in readiness for use. This is the form in which the ‘Tutao’ is generally consumed. The singular mode of eating it I have already described.
Were it not that the bread-fruit is thus capable of being preserved for a length of time, the natives might be reduced to a state of starvation; for owing to some unknown cause the trees sometimes fail to bear fruit; and on such occasions the islanders chiefly depend upon the supplies they have been enabled to store away.
This stately tree, which is rarely met with upon the Sandwich Islands, and then only of a very inferior quality, and at Tahiti does not abound64 to a degree that renders its fruit the principal article of food, attains65 its greatest excellence66 in the genial67 climate of the Marquesan group, where it grows to an enormous magnitude, and flourishes in the utmost abundance.
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1
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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viands
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| n.食品，食物 | |
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piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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ostentation
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| n.夸耀，卖弄 | |
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7
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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11
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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procuring
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的现在分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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15
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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16
celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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23
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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aperture
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| n.孔，隙，窄的缺口 | |
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25
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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jauntily
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| adv.心满意足地；洋洋得意地；高兴地；活泼地 | |
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laterally
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| ad.横向地；侧面地；旁边地 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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prominences
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| n.织物中凸起的部分；声望( prominence的名词复数 )；突出；重要；要事 | |
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30
antiquated
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| adj.陈旧的，过时的 | |
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31
denuded
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| adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
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pulp
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| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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34
fissures
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| n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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35
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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mortar
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| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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pestle
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| n.杵 | |
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40
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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41
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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42
notched
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| a.有凹口的，有缺口的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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44
luscious
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| adj.美味的；芬芳的；肉感的，引与性欲的 | |
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45
staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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46
groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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47
maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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48
garner
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| v.收藏；取得 | |
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49
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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50
pulpy
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| 果肉状的，多汁的，柔软的； 烂糊； 稀烂 | |
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51
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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52
doughy
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| adj.面团的，苍白的，半熟的；软弱无力 | |
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53
consistency
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| n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度 | |
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thongs
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| 的东西 | |
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56
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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58
scooped
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| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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60
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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62
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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tart
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| adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇 | |
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64
abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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65
attains
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的第三人称单数 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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66
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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