Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-03-14
FIJIAN FOODS:
SOME OF THE EATA BLEs PopUz
LAR AMONG THE ISLANDERS.
The Home of tho Yam and Sweet
PotatO--A Bread Fruit Silo-
An Annual Feast OF
Worms.


New York Herakt, w. Churchill says:
Nowhere is n kind Nature SO bouuteous
to her children as in these tropical isles.
Food comes ready to hand, needing
scarcely more than the reaching out to
pluck it, and seasons of harvest are al
most unknown in the lavish profusion.
The staple is the yam, which grows wild
on the slopes of the mountains or in neat
patches is cultivated by the upturning of
the earth with sharpened slaves of iron
wood. The tubcrs are huge in size, the
larger, indeed the better, and are COW
cred with tough bark-lle rind which
insures their keeping sweet for many
months. Boiled or baked they are never
mcaly like the potato, but there is al
ways crispncss and Il crackle rs the
teeth crush through the cream tinted
food. 1t is somewhat astonishing to
note what Il pile of yams will vanish
from Fijian dinner; three pounds is
not an unusual allowance for each ill.,
dividual.
Next the yam stands the sweet potato,
of which some ten varieties are carefully
cultivated. The history of the westward
migration of this plant, indigenous to
America, is lost in the mists which, close
at hand, shut in the history of the say
age people who dwell upon the Pacific
Islands. Everywhere its planting and its
harvest are marked by peculiar cercmon-
les, showing that ut some past time Il
peculiar interest attached to its cultiva-
tion which was found worthy of special
religious observance. The sweet potato
is one Of the staple foods of the Fijans.
Baked or boiled, the breadfruit is a
starchy, somewhat sticky vegetable, with
no earthly resemblance to bread. 1t diff
fcrs from the yam in that it may not be
preserved for further use, but in its
natural state must be eaten once. Yet,
preserved it is, after peculiarly distress
ing fashion, not Mt all pleasant to the
civilized taste, which makes position
to lccward of II village at dinner time, II
position not ut all to he desired. The
ripe fruit is stripped of its sticky rind
and is grated on blocks of coral, and
when reduced to Il shapcless mass is
vigorously pounded with II pcstlc i'll Il
mortar. While some are thus preparing
the pulp others are engaged digging
pits on the pcbbly beach about half tide
level, each pit of about a bushcl capacity
and lined with banana leaves. Each of
these pits is then filled with the pulpcd
brcadfruit packed hard, the stones arc
thrown back upon it and little heap
marks the spot where the dainty is pre-
served. Twice every day the tides come
i'll and salty saturate the buried food,
fNvirn tsy-ar I.,v fnr ~ r.,
for short of the expiration of that time the
preserve is not considered at its best, the
limit in the other direction is certainly
not less than Il year. AS need for the
food arises the pits are opened, and then
the reek OF rottenncss spreads down the
wind. The process of preserving is but
that of decay aided by the sea water, and
1t naturally results that the preserve
smells to the skies when its rcpose is dis
turbcd. Little do the Fijians care for
this smell, on which they have been
nourishcd, though to the last man their
gorge would rise at caviarc or high
cheese, such rs is in favor with us. The
fruit that went into the pit as pulp
comes out a thick custard and is nodded
into little cakes of the size of Il mans
hand and, each wrapped in banana
leaves, is put into pot and steamed
After cooking the distinctive odor ap-
pears to be redoublcd, but the cake is
sweet and extremely pleasant to the taste
If only the nose can be coerced into Civ
ing over its lively rcpugnance to that
which goes beneath it to the mouth.
This is the Fijian bread, which is every
where eaten aud relished.
If the sense of smell is offended by
the Fijian bread it is the sight which
rebels against the balolo, that mysterious
meal that rises from the sea but one day
in each year, and marks feast of yor-
mandizing for every Fijian who can
make his way to the beach. The prob
lem Of the balolo is little too much for
the naturalists, end they can give no en-
planation for the remarkable appearance
OF this marine worm on but one day in
all the year. At the third quarter of the
November moon, just when the tide be-
gins to make flood, the sea- within the
reefs is thick with mass Of worms Il
foot or so in length, of the girth OF II
pack thread, and each composed of scores
"No'i S"Sh SIA'pl'SN WIFI INo
splnes and two legs. For months the FL
jams have looked forward to this day, and
as the turn OF the ebbing tide approaches
they have taken up positions on canoes
and RATS and anything that will float.
The cventful moment arrives, some sharD
and watchful eye catches sight of Il darl,
green worm outlined in the clear water
against the glistcning coral below. 4
Shout is raised, but soon all are too busy
Tor shouting, the water is writhing mass
OF wrigging worms and every Fijian is
intent upon filling all the vessels in his
canoe. When the harvest OF the sea is
reapcd, and i'll few hours the balolo has
disappeared rs mystcriously us it came,
the shore is lined with little knots of
feastcrs. The worm will not keep for
more than Il few hours 1t must be cooked
and eaten ut once or it will spoil. Hence
balolo feast is scene OF ungoyerncd
stuiing and examining, each eater strives
to crowd rs much into his stomach rs it
will probably hold and only dcsists when
the sleep of rcplction comes upon him. If
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