These delicate creatures were scarcely four inches
long, and surpassed in richness of colour anything I had ever seen.
Many of them were of the purest sky-blue, others a light yellow,
while some, again, that were almost transparent, were brown, green,
etc.
On our arrival at Paya, about 6 in the evening, the young Tati had a
pig, weighing eighteen or twenty pounds, killed and cooked, after
the fashion of Tahiti, in honour of his father. A large fire was
kindled in a shallow pit, in which were a number of stones. A
quantity of bread-fruit (majore), that had been first peeled and
split into two portions with a very sharp wooden axe, was then
brought. When the fire had gone out, and the stones heated to the
requisite degree, the pig and the fruit were laid upon them, a few
other heated stones placed on the top, and the whole covered up with
green branches, dry leaves, and earth.
During the time that the victuals were cooking, the table was laid.
A straw mat was placed upon the ground, and covered with large
leaves. For each guest there was a cocoa-nut shell, half-filled
with miti, a sourish beverage extracted from the cocoa-palm.
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