There is, however, one plant from the root of which they extract a juice of an intoxicating quality, called Ava, but Cook’s party saw nothing of its effects, probably owing to their considering drunkenness as a disgrace.  This vice of drinking ava is said to be peculiar almost to the chiefs, who vie with each other in drinking the greatest number of draughts, each draught being about a pint.  They keep this intoxicating juice with great care from the women.

As eating is one of the most important concerns of life, here as well as elsewhere, Captain Cook’s description of a meal made by one of the chiefs of the island cannot be considered as uninteresting, and is here given in his own words.

’He sits down under the shade of the next tree, or on the shady side of his house, and a large quantity of leaves, either of the bread-fruit or bananas, are neatly spread before him upon the ground as a table-cloth; a basket is then set by him that contains his provision, which, if fish or flesh, is ready dressed, and wrapped up in leaves, and two cocoa-nut shells, one full of salt water and one of fresh.  His attendants, which are not few, seat themselves round him, and when all is ready, he begins by washing his hands and his mouth thoroughly with the fresh water, and this he repeats almost continually throughout the whole meal.  He then takes part of his provision out of the basket, which generally consists of a small fish or two, two or three bread-fruits, fourteen or fifteen ripe bananas, or six or seven apples.  He first takes half a bread-fruit, peels off the rind, and takes out the core with his nails; of this he puts as much into his mouth as it can hold, and while he chews it, takes the fish out of the leaves and breaks one of them into the salt water, placing the other, and what remains of the bread-fruit, upon the leaves that have been spread before him.  When this is done, he takes up a small piece of the fish that has been broken into the salt-water, with all the fingers of one hand, and sucks it into his mouth, so as to get with it as much of the salt-water as possible.  In the same manner he takes the rest by different morsels, and between each, at least very frequently, takes a small sup of the salt-water, either out of the cocoa-nut shell, or the palm of his hand.  In the meantime one of his attendants has prepared a young cocoa-nut, by peeling off the outer rind with his teeth, an operation which to an European appears very surprising; but it depends so much upon sleight, that many of us were able to do it before we left the island, and some that could scarcely crack a filbert.  The master when he chooses to drink takes the cocoa-nut thus prepared, and boring a hole through the shell with his fingers, or breaking it with a stone, he sucks out the liquor.  When he has eaten his bread-fruit and fish, he begins with his plantains, one of which makes but a mouthful, though it be as big as a black-pudding; if instead