is done before nine o'clock in the mornings; he works, perhaps more sensibly than we, in the early and late hours—the cool hours—and he holds his siesta at mid-day. Work completed by mid-morning, he is free until late in the afternoon for smoking, chatting with his neighbors, swimming, or returning to rest in the comparatively cool retreat of his hut. Only religious services or visits to other islands serve to interrupt the routine of the week.
The Ulithian's diet is largely composed of those herbs, nuts, and fruits which he finds on the self-cultured vineyards of his island. As with almost all islands of the mid Pacific, the coconut is the principal food. The tree bears throughout the year, and a good tree will yield from 100 to 300 coconuts annually. The natives will often use five to ten nuts a day per person.
The coconut may be used in all stages of growth; it provides easily digestable meat, cream, dough, and milk. Flour is sometimes made from imported rice, but shredded coconut will suffice. And to bake bread, the dough is wrapped in a taro leaf and baked over hot stones.
Pork is a delicacy with the natives. To cure pork, it is placed between woven coconut mats and suspended about two feet above smoking coconut husks. Some pork is cooked in kettles, and some is roasted under hot stones.
Breadfruit supplements the diet; banana, papaya, and cooked taro are favorites. A porridge, often used as sauce and festively spread over other dishes, is made from a potpurri of foodstuffs mixed with water, and it always manages to look considerably darker when they are through stirring it with their hands than it did before they started. They
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