New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-16

glass and fine china formed pretty picture
Pretty enough, yet with one element in>ongrnous
20 the stranger for by the side OF each dainty cut.
glass fin ger-bowl. filed with perfumcd water. stood
a heavy, cark. bat highly polished wooden Gala
bash, filled to the brim with pol 10 was be nrss
were used before the meal began Each Datned
and dried the right hand, and proceeded to mp tho
index finger of that hand into poi. Everyone-thas
Is. except myself-and the young lady who was TO
share my casabash, observing that used nay fork,
she did likewise | had only eaten mouthfnl or
two however, when the jolly host cried OUT
Shame at me for danng to eat poi with fork.
l had only attempted before that time to finger
POI furtively and chiefly in the dark during our
night suppers the Likeliks and similar occasions.
! had not made a very brilliant 90 Of the opera
ton. and so felt little nervous when my host
spoke: but, rather than be guyed. determined TO
try turned % my companion IN poi 50 10 say, aud
said would eat Ia native IL she would teach zoe.
She would he charmed We bathed our right
hands and without another word dipped in. tell
YOU il Is novel sensa Oh to plunge your hand. in
the presence OF q table full OF civilized beings into
a dish OF food Of a consistency which generally
demands a spoon. The sensation " made moro
queer when, as did, you lind your hand swimming
about in the dish in company with the hand ~ .
beautiful woman. who Is looking at you the wDise
The occasion of the reproof she explained taus;
There is No absolute need Of your moving your
whole body not even your shoulder nor arm-Just
a simple wrist movement thus"
We removed our fingers together. On the end OF
hers was a pear-shape ball OF poi. by niger was
whats wrong with me ~ / asked, looking hun
grily at r1y meagrely supplied digit;
She explained that / had held my finger too
straight " Crook your finger little, like this.D
she SAID as both dabbed back into the poi, aud
turn your hand, not too fast, with wrist move
/ did as instructed, and soon the surface Of the
caIabash was disturbed by the movement of two
wheels OF poi cifcling about cur respective fingers.
We withdrew our hDgers and each was well sup
Piled. We carried our fingers TO our mouths,
licked them ciean and again dabbed into the Gala
IL doesn't souEd pretty. does iti But. upon my
woId when comes to try it. old preJudlces al.d
this force of life long training rapidly disappear ior
poi from q fork loses half its flavor anu merit.
When one takes finger from tue caaDash, the
finger is carried 10 the mouth IN a sort OF spiral
movement otherwise ones shirt-frOnt gets the pol.
Nv instructress spoke TO me Just as was abons
halfway between calabash and mouth, on the up
trip. once and naturally; l stopped my h ian las IS
black eyes-glorious eyes. by the way--aughmg
at me. Then looked for my poi lt had grace
fully dropped from my hnger-part OF II divided on
my shirt cuff and ornamented the end of my I'M
dershirt sleeve and MY coat cuff. When damages
were repaired she said: If you want to converse,
and happen 10 have poi on your hnger, 40 IKE this
As she spoke she gracefully waved her poI-laden
hand back ward and forward, with slow, graceful
turn at the end of each beat. and the motion kepg
the poi in place on her lnger-end.
OF course with the pol there was hsh. raw,
cooked and dried. The dried and raw hsh IS easily
enough eaten with the fingers. The cooked hsh
was the only dish partaken of with forks. Tho
raw tsh is served descoated with tomatoes or IN
.cr,a Kind Of pickIe Sometimes perfectly plain. l
and kumu, delicious. They were baked un-
der ground in Xxi leaves. which gave them a nayor
new and novel to But she dish which fingered
by most afecti0nately. which created happiness IN
this lite for me, the chicken. cooked IN lua1
style-a luau is a native feast and dance. but tbs
dance / concluded. had nothing to do with the
style OF cooking. The chicken was boned ana
stewed with taro tops. Taro. or kalO is the eseu-
lent from which poi is made and the tops and
sprouts are tOtn excellent articles of food
| have been, by the way, two months trying 70
find out whether this national vegetable is taro or
kao. | conclude. chiefly from my own inner con-
scOnsness that it Is, native, "kalo, foreign cor
JuptIOn tarO," the foreigners have altered the
pronunciation of X and l. in the native words 10
+ and r. neither of which latter letters occur ia tho
naive alphabet. Well, tins taro then, Is big.
coarse dark-sknued esculent, grown under water
on most parts of the islands, the size and shape OF
very large sweet potato, which, boiled or BAKED,
has a rich sweet flavor, and Is far superior 10
poLato Then it be fried, or made into cakes.
Taro cakes are a revelation II it is not tc be used
fresh it is pounded up into a coarse, moist mass.
called pa,a and packed in XII leaves for use OK
market. More pounding and moisture and strain
ing. and a slight fermentation, makes IL into pol
The stalk Immediately above the roots somewnas
resembles asparagus and Is eaten as that yegotaoe
is. The leaves-not particle of root, stem nor
leaf is wasted-made an excellent spinach, or nav
oring accompaniment for a uau dish.