- end_line
- 3580
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 3515
- text
- compromised the matter with him at the word ‘Tommo’; and by that name
I went during the entire period of my stay in the valley. The same
proceeding was gone through with Toby, whose mellifluous appellation was
more easily caught.
An exchange of names is equivalent to a ratification of good will and
amity among these simple people; and as we were aware of this fact, we
were delighted that it had taken place on the present occasion.
Reclining upon our mats, we now held a kind of levee, giving audience
to successive troops of the natives, who introduced themselves to us by
pronouncing their respective names, and retired in high good humour on
receiving ours in return. During this ceremony the greatest merriment
prevailed nearly every announcement on the part of the islanders being
followed by a fresh sally of gaiety, which induced me to believe that
some of them at least were innocently diverting the company at our
expense, by bestowing upon themselves a string of absurd titles, of the
humour of which we were of course entirely ignorant.
All this occupied about an hour, when the throng having a little
diminished, I turned to Mehevi and gave him to understand that we were
in need of food and sleep. Immediately the attentive chief addressed a
few words to one of the crowd, who disappeared, and returned in a few
moments with a calabash of ‘poee-poee’, and two or three young cocoanuts
stripped of their husks, and with their shells partly broken. We both
of us forthwith placed one of these natural goblets to our lips, and
drained it in a moment of the refreshing draught it contained. The
poee-poee was then placed before us, and even famished as I was, I
paused to consider in what manner to convey it to my mouth.
This staple article of food among the Marquese islanders is manufactured
from the produce of the bread-fruit tree. It somewhat resembles in
its plastic nature our bookbinders’ paste, is of a yellow colour, and
somewhat tart to the taste.
Such was the dish, the merits of which I was now eager to discuss. I
eyed it wistfully for a moment, and then, unable any longer to stand on
ceremony, plunged my hand into the yielding mass, and to the boisterous
mirth of the natives drew it forth laden with the poee-poee, which
adhered in lengthy strings to every finger. So stubborn was its
consistency, that in conveying my heavily-weighted hand to my mouth, the
connecting links almost raised the calabash from the mats on which it
had been placed. This display of awkwardness--in which, by-the-bye, Toby
kept me company--convulsed the bystanders with uncontrollable laughter.
As soon as their merriment had somewhat subsided, Mehevi, motioning us
to be attentive, dipped the forefinger of his right hand in the dish,
and giving it a rapid and scientific twirl, drew it out coated smoothly
with the preparation. With a second peculiar flourish he prevented the
poee-poee from dropping to the ground as he raised it to his mouth, into
which the finger was inserted and drawn forth perfectly free from any
adhesive matter.
This performance was evidently intended for our instruction; so I
again essayed the feat on the principles inculcated, but with very ill
success.
A starving man, however, little heeds conventional proprieties,
especially on a South-Sea Island, and accordingly Toby and I partook of
the dish after our own clumsy fashion, beplastering our faces all over
with the glutinous compound, and daubing our hands nearly to the
wrist. This kind of food is by no means disagreeable to the palate of a
European, though at first the mode of eating it may be. For my own
part, after the lapse of a few days I became accustomed to its singular
flavour, and grew remarkably fond of it.
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