eat him Tuesday, I will reply that we, the highest types
of civilization, pet calves and lambs, chickens and rabbits, and find
them not a whit the less toothsome. The Marquesan loves his pig as
we love our dog, cuddles him, calls him fond names, believes that he
goes to heaven,--and nevertheless roasts him for dinner.

The yams, potatoes, breadfruit, and other accompaniments of the dog,
pig, and chicken were all ready at six o'clock, when cries of
delight summoned us idlers. The earth had been cleared from the oven,
the leaves removed, and the pig was lifted into the air, cooked to a
turn, succulent, steaming, delicious. The feast was spread in a
clearing, so that the sun, sinking slowly in the west, might filter
his rays through the lofty trees and leave us brightened by his
presence, but cool in the shadows. For me a Roman couch of mats was
spread, while the natives squatted in the comfort of men whose legs
are natural.

The women waited upon us, passing all the food in leaves, in cleanly
fashion. Pae herself, though hostess, could not eat till all the men
were satisfied, for the _tapu_ still holds, though without authority.
Knives nor forks hindered our free onslaught upon the edibles, and
there were cocoanut-shells beside each of us for washing our hands
between courses, a usual custom.

_Piahi_, the native chestnuts shelled and cooked in cocoanut-milk,
were an appetizer, followed by small fish, which we ate raw after
soaking them in lime juice. There is no dish that the white man so
soon learns to crave and so long remembers when departed. Some of
the guests did not like the sauce, but took their small fish by the
tail, dripping with salt water, and ate it as one might eat celery,
bones, and all.

With the main course were served dried squid and porpoise, and fresh
flying-fish and bonito and shrimp. The feast was complete with
mangoes, oranges, and pineapples, also bananas ripened in the
expeditious way of the Marquesas. They bury them in a deep hole
lined with cracked candlenuts and grass and cover all with earth. In
several days--and they know the right time to an hour--the bananas
are dug up, yellow and sweet.

[Illustration: Sacred banyan tree at Oomoa]

[Illustration: Elephantiasis of the legs]

Pae furnished a limited quantity of rum for the fete, and a
cocoanut-shell filled with _namu_ was passed about. Every one was
already enthusiastic, and after several drinks of the powerful
sugar-distillation