Part 6 (2/2)
[52] ”A Year in Fiji,” by John Horne, F.L.S. London, 1881, p. 68.
[53] Although this palm, when full grown, has the appearance of great age and durability, it does not live for more than 20 years, when it flowers, bears, and dies.
In the extraction and preparation of the sago, the natives of Bougainville Straits employ the following method. After the palm has been felled and all the pith removed, either by scooping it out or splitting the trunk, the pith is then torn up into small pieces and placed in a trough extemporised from the broad sheathing base of one of the branches of the felled tree. The trough is then tilted up and is kept filled with water, which running away at the lower end pa.s.ses through a kind of strainer, made of a fold of the vegetable matting that invests the bases of the branches of the cocoa-nut tree, and is then received in another trough of similar material. The fibrous portion of the pith is thus left behind, and the sago is deposited as a sediment in the lower trough. When this trough is full of sago, the superfluous water is poured off, and the whole is placed over a fire so as to get rid of the remaining moisture. This method of sago-was.h.i.+ng is similar to that which is employed in the islands of the Malay Archipelago. The sago is now fit for consumption, and is wrapped up in the leaves in the form of cylindrical packages 1 to 2 feet in length. For the convenience of the water-supply, sago-was.h.i.+ng is carried out usually on the side of a stream. The refuse is afterwards allowed to decay on the banks, and the water of the stream is contaminated for a long time after, whilst the air in the vicinity is impregnated with the unpleasant sour odour of the decaying debris.
The diet of these islanders is essentially a vegetable one, and most of the common articles of food have already been referred to. Yams, sweet potatoes, two kinds of taro,[54] cocoa-nuts, plantains, and sugar-cane form the staple substances of their diet. In St. Christoval and the adjacent islands the yam is more extensively cultivated; whilst in the islands of Bougainville Straits the taro and the sago-palm are more usually grown and the yam is less preferred. The bread-fruit appears to be but an occasional article of food; and it was only now and then, as in the vicinity of the village of Toma in Fauro Island, that I observed the tree in any numbers. In Bougainville Straits there appears to be but one variety of the bread-fruit tree (_Artocarpus incisa_) which ripens in August. Its leaves are deeply lobed (_pinnatisect_) and have an even surface; and the fruit are stalked, seedless, rough, and of a somewhat oval shape. In Santa Anna there is another variety of the _Artocarpus incisa_, the fruit of which has seeds and ripens in October. In the plantations of Treasury Island I came upon a tree which is apparently a variety of the Jack-fruit tree (_Artocarpus integrifolia_); it is known to the natives as the ”tafati,” whilst the bread-fruit tree is known in this part of the group as the ”balia.” Two cucurbitaceous fruits are commonly grown in the islands of Bougainville Straits. One is a large pumpkin, and the other is an oval ”pepo,” about six inches long, known to the natives as the ”kusiwura;” it is a variety of _Cuc.u.mis melo_, and is a very good subst.i.tute for the ordinary cuc.u.mber. Amongst other vegetables grown in the cultivated patches of this region are two varieties of a species of _Solanum_, probably _repandum_, which are known to the natives as ”kobureki” and ”kirkami;” and a second species of yam, _Dioscorea sativa_ (”alapa”).[55]
[54] The small taro, which also grows wild on the sides of the streams and is called ”koko” in Bougainville Straits, is apparently _Colocasia esculenta_. The large taro, which grows to a height of 7 or 8 feet, and is known as the ”kalafai,” may be the same as the ”via kana” of Fiji (_Cyrtosperma edulis_). I cannot, however, speak with any authority on this subject, as I collected no specimens.
[55] Traders occasionally introduce foreign vegetables. Gorai, the Shortland chief, grows a little maize in one of his plantations.
Amongst the fruit-trees grown by the natives of Bougainville Straits in their plantations are the Papaw-tree (_Carica Papaya_): a species of Lime which the Alu chief grows in his extensive cultivated patches; a Mango, probably _Mangifera indica_ (”faise”); the ”borolong,” a species of _Barringtonia_ (probably _B. edulis_) which, when in flower, is at once known by its handsome pendent yellow spikes 2 feet in length; the kernel of the fruit is eaten, but it is not equal in flavour to the similar kernels of the ”saori” (_Terminalia catappa_) and the ”ka-i”
(_Canarium_ sp.); the ”sioko,” is apparently another species of _Barringtonia_, the fruit of which ripens in May; the ”usi,” a tall tree 60 or 70 feet high (not determined), the fruits of which are juicy, seedless, and have a pleasant flavour; the leaves have an acid taste and are eaten by the natives.
Such are the princ.i.p.al fruits and vegetables cultivated by the natives of this part of the group; but before proceeding to the methods of cooking and of serving them up, I should refer to the white kernels of the ”ka-i,” a species of _Canarium_, which form one of the staple articles of vegetable food throughout the Solomon Group. My specimens sent to Kew were only sufficient for generic identification. It is, however, probable that this tree is identical with, or closely allied to, _Canarium commune_, which is the familiar ”kanarie” of the Malay Archipelago, and the ”kengar” of the Maclay-Coast, New Guinea.[56] This tree is mainly indebted to the fruit pigeon for its wide dispersal. The fruit is of a dark purple colour, oval in shape, and 2 to 2 inches in length. Its fleshy covering, which is also eaten by the natives, invests a triangular stony nut inclosing the white kernel which sometimes rivals the almond in delicacy of flavour. It requires a little practice to crack the nut readily. For this purpose the natives employ a rounded stone of the size of a cricket ball, the nut being placed in a little hollow on the surface of a flat stone. The fruit-pigeons are very fond of the fleshy covering of this fruit; and it is their disgorgement of the hard nuts which collect at the foot of the trees, that often saves the native the necessity of climbing up and picking the fruit for himself. This nut, which is familiarly known in this group as the Solomon Island Almond, and in the Malay Archipelago as the Kanary Nut, is in fact an article of considerable importance in the dietary of the inhabitants of these regions, and it is often stored up in large quant.i.ties. In order to keep them, the natives of Treasury Island hang the nuts up in leaf-packages from the branches of the cocoa-nut palms.
The Spanish discoverers of the Solomon Islands under Mendana, seized and carried off to their s.h.i.+ps the stores of these almonds, as they called them, which they found in the houses of the unfortunate natives.
According to Miklouho-Maclay, the inhabitants of the Maclay Coast of New Guinea store up the nuts of the _Canarium commune_ between May and July.[57] Labillardiere, writing at the end of last century, tells us that the natives of Amboina lay in a large stock of the kernels of the _Canarium_ for their voyages.[58]
[56] ”Proceedings, Linnean Society, N.S.W.” Vol. x., p. 349.
[57] ”Proc. Lin. Soc. N.S.W.,” Vol. x., p. 349.
[58] ”Account of a Voyage in Search of La Perouse.” London. 1800 (Vol. i., p. 377).
With reference to the mode of cooking employed, I should remark that it varies in different parts of the group. In St. Christoval and the adjacent islands very palatable cakes are produced by mas.h.i.+ng together the taro, cocoa-nut, plantain, and kanary-nut. Portions of the paste are placed between leaves in a pit in the ground in the midst of hot ashes and heated cooking-stones, and the whole is covered over with earth and left undisturbed for some time. The vegetables may be also cooked entire in this manner. Stone-boiling is also employed in this part of the group in cooking vegetables and fish. A large wooden bowl, about two feet long and containing water, is filled with yams, breadfruit, and other vegetables. Red hot cooking-stones of the size of the two fists are then taken out of the fire and dropped into the bowl until the water begins to boil. The top is then covered over with several layers of large leaves which are weighed down by stones placed on them. The heat is thus retained in the bowl, and after an hour the leaves are removed when the contents are found to be daintily cooked.[59] In volcanic islands, such as Simbo, the natives utilise the steam-holes or fumaroles for cooking their food. Whilst I was examining a solfatara in this island, I found that I had unconsciously trespa.s.sed within the precincts of a public cooking-place; and in order to silence the clamour of the native women, I had to distribute necklaces to all.
[59] This method of cooking, aptly termed ”stone-boiling” by Dr.
Tylor (”Early History of Mankind:” 3rd edit., p. 263), which is often employed by savage races unacquainted with the art of pottery, is represented in our own day by the old-fas.h.i.+oned tea-urn. As late as 1600, the wild Irish are said to have warmed their milk with a stone first cast into the fire. (”Tylor's Primitive Culture:” vol.
i., p. 40.)
In the islands of Bougainville Straits, where the art of pottery is known, the vegetables are usually boiled in the cooking-pots which are not cleaned out after use. The leaves of the small taro are thus cooked and make an excellent subst.i.tute for spinach. The plantains are boiled in their skins, and are to the European palate when thus cooked most insipid. The sago, which is a common article of food in this part of the group, is not sufficiently dried during its preparation and it soon turns sour; but this is no objection with the native who devours it with the same eagerness whether it is rancid or sweet. It is usually only half-cooked in a little packet of leaves; but when required for keeping, it is well baked, and in the form of cakes is a favourite food with children. The Solomon Islander, however, has not the forethought of the inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago in laying by a store of sago for future use. When a sago palm is felled, there is usually no lack of friends to a.s.sist the owner in consuming the sago. The native of Bougainville Straits serves up the cooked vegetables in trays made of plaited palm leaves or of the sheathing base of the branch of the ”kisu”
palm. A pleasantly flavoured dish is made of mashed taro,[60] covered with cocoa-nut sc.r.a.pings; and in such mixed dishes the kanary-nut (”ka-i”) often occurs.
[60] The taro and other vegetables are often pounded in a mortar made from the hollowed trunk of a small tree and pointed at its lower end so that it can be implanted in the ground.
Although the native of Bougainville Straits to a great extent subsists on the produce of his plantations, there are a great number of edible wild fruits and vegetables which he also employs as food, and which in times of scarcity would supply him with ample sustenance. I have already referred to the kanary-nut, the fruit of the _Canarium_, as forming a staple article in his diet. The nuts of the ”saori” (_Terminalia catappa_) have a small edible kernel which has an almond-like flavour and is much appreciated by the natives. It is the ”country almond” of India and, as Mr. Horne tells us, it is extensively eaten in Fiji where the tree is known as the Fijian almond tree.[61] In Tanna in the New Hebrides, as we learn from Mr. Forster, it is also eaten.[62] The fruit of the common littoral tree _Ochrosia parviflora_ (”pokosola”) contains an edible flat kernel. The three common littoral species of _Panda.n.u.s_ also furnish sustenance in times of dearth; the seeds of the drupes of the ”sararang” and the ”pota” contain small edible kernels, and the pulpy base of the ”daras.h.i.+” is also eaten. The pulpy kernels of the fruit of _Nipa fruticans_ are occasionally eaten as in the Malay Archipelago; but the natives of Bougainville Straits do not seem to be acquainted with the alcoholic liquor which this palm yields to the inhabitants of the Philippines. The fruit of the ”aligesi”
(_Aleurites ?_), a stout climber common in the woods of Treasury, has a pleasantly flavoured kernel like that of the kanary-nut; and on one occasion my party and I lunched on these kernels; the outer pulp of the fruit has a dry scented but by no means unpleasant flavour. The kernels of the fruit of a stout tree that grows on the verge of the mangrove-swamps in Fauro Island, and which is probably _Sapium indic.u.m_, are said to be edible by the natives; my natives and I partook of them on one occasion when one man became very sick for some time, and I afterwards found that it was an euphorbiaceous tree, a circ.u.mstance which explained his illness; I should therefore doubt the edibility of these nuts. This tree is known by the same native name (”aligesi”) as the preceding, which apparently belongs to the same order. The white kernels of the ”kunuka,” a species of _Gnetum_, are cooked and eaten by the inhabitants of Fauro; this tree grows to a height of sixty feet and has a cylindrical prominently ringed trunk.
[61] ”A Year in Fiji.” London, 1881: (p. 88).
[62] ”Observations made during a Voyage round the World.” London, 1778.
The growing tops of several species of palms are much appreciated by the natives of Bougainville Straits; and on several occasions I have largely made my lunch off them. They are usually eaten uncooked. The top of the common _Caryota_ palm (”eala”) is often preferred. Mr. Marsden[63] and Mr. Crawfurd[64] inform us that in the Malay Archipelago the growing top of the same or of an allied species of _Caryota_ (_C. urens_) is a favourite article of food. It is there known as the true ”mountain cabbage,” and Mr. Marsden tells us that in Sumatra it is preferred to the cocoa-nut. Amongst other palms which in Bougainville Straits supply in their growing tops the so-called cabbage are the ”momo,” a species of _Areca_, the ”sensisi,” a species of _Cyrtostachys_, and the ”kisu.”
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