Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-10-12
Cooking I'm pitcairn Island.

| TceluCHJ Ou IIlCdlTu 1blhuu WTlbee
as follows in relation to cooking at that
place:
AS there are no stoves, we know well
how TO do without them, although labor
can be SO much lightened by their use.
Each family has. for baking, an oven
made OF stone, not bricks. The top and
bottom of each oven are made each of a
solid piece o. stone, hewn out of some
huge rock. These ovens are made ac-
cording TO the requirement of each FAM
lily, the largest families having the largest
ovens. In them we bake kind OF sweet
potato cake, made OF grated sweet po-
tato, to which milk is sometimes added;
also cora-cake, bread, pies, etc. Sweet
potatoes form the staple food here, be-
sides, we have Irish potatoes, bananas,
plantains, and yams. Garden vegetables
such as turnips, parsnips, radishes, etc.
we do not haYe. Bread-fruit, In Its
season, forms a considerable part OF the
| food eaten, and taro as well. Flour is q
luxury, rather than a necessity. When
meats are baked, the most general way it
is done is in the primitive style of cooking
underground. This way of cooking meat
renders it very soft and tender, and the
leaves OF the ii plant pronounced tee), in.
which the meat is cooked, impart to it a
most agreeable flavor. Fish Is OF ten
cooked in IL leaves. This is done by
wrapping the fish IN the leaves and laying
1t over the stones of the oven built Ia the
ground. This is favorite mode of cook
ing fish here. When any kind of food ls
cooked In ovens underground, baking-pans
nF sth ho fvn1
OF cakes made from sweet potatoes, yams,
bananas. and bread-fruit are called pIlhI
here, as we still retain Its rahltian name.
After the yams, ETC., are grated on a stone
crater, they are then wrapped in broad
leaves of the young banana tree, aud then
laid on the hot stones in the ground.
Other hot stones are placed over, and then
the whole is covered with leaves, over
which earth is thrown; and in a short time
all within tae oven would be nicely cooked.
The flesh Of the goat supplies us mostly
with meat, and sometimes, but rarely, we
have mutton. AS for poultry, there are
only the common domestic fowl and few
ducks. Turkeys do not thrive at all. Of
birds there are two kinds that are eaten
the noddy, black bird, that livps among
the rocks, and the white bird. Occasion
ally too the tropIc bird and kind of hawk
are killed, their flesh being esteemed as alt
article of food. The shot used In killing
these birds is natural production, being
the seed of the Indian shot plant. Chll
dren are often sent to gather a quantity of
the Indian shot, when required for shoot
ing birds. The white bird frequents
mostly the banian tree, and lays its eggs
on the bare branches of this tree, wher-
ever a niche large enough 10 hold an egg
can be found. This bird is often shot in
great numbers, and taking them with guns
or climbing trees after the young birds
affords much pleasure and sport TO boys
and young men. There are no singing
birds, and the only bird-note that can be
heard is the little brown. sparrow chirping
It's solitary note among the branches OF the
trees. After living on Norfolk Island,
where the air is made vocal with the
sweet music of the feathered songsters, it
seems a great want is felt here, where they
cannot be heard. Fish are not so plenti-
full as may be supposed. Sometimes the
fishermen catch them In great numbers;
but more generally The days fishing would
not be very successful. The depths at
which fishes are caught vary, the greatest
depth being $50 or 140 fathoms and the
least from SIX to fifteen. The usual fish
ing depth Is from twenty-five to forty
fathoms. Canoes are always used in fish
Ing in deep water, as they are so easily
managed. There are several kinds of fish
caught while fishing among the rocks. /
Going on the rocks after fish ls an occupa-
ton much liked by the women, as well as
the men. This Is not considered toll, but
pleasure; as well as taking the small fish
with nets as with the hook and line. Ac-
cidents are so very rare as scarcely to de-
serve mention, and, as all the islanders
learn to SWIM almost from infancy, no case
of drowning has ever occurred except
once, at a shipwreck-