No Woman Can eat in a house where a Chief has been, unless she is of the same rank and authority with Him and then she may Eat in his presence and if any Woman of Inferior rank should tresspass in eating in any House, Canoe or Ship where a Chief Had been they would not only be severely striped but loose their posessions, for which reason they are Careful how they [infringe] these laws, as they know that few are given to keep a secret for which reason they always refused to eat when invited before Men, but would take the Food offered them and give to their relations; this may also account for a Number of the Chief Weomen who refused to Dine at Table yet eat Hearty with the Servants.

They Eat Fish of all kinds which the sea or rivers Produce, as they hold that nothing unclean Can be the Produce of Water, but from our being so fond of Flesh they at First Conceived that We were Cannibals as they have an account of the Inhabitants of an Island to the East of them who eat each other and it was with some difficulty that [we] were able to perswade them to the Contrary, as they were in some Measure Confirmd in their Oppinion by Brown (the Man left by Captain Cox) who threatend to put a Child into the Oven and the Mother of it Could Never be perswaded to beleive that he was not in earnest and would never Suffer the Child Near him afterwards. They were also further Confirmd as some of our People had said foo[li]shly that they Had eaten part of a Man.

They Make Three regular Meals in a Day when at Home and eat Hearty and nothing can give them more satisfaction then to see a Stranger do the like when they invite them to eat, which they are ever ready to do, always parting what they have Cheerfully, be it little or much, but when they are from home, and Numbers are Met in one District, Provisions grow scarce from the Rahooe before describd and [they] are somtimes whole days without any and when they Get any they Eat so large a quantity as would readily give a Stranger an Idea that they were mere Gluttons and it would Certainly Appear more so to those who were perhaps Sated with the abundance of Good Provisions arround them which these People had most likely stinted themselves to supply them with & which they always do by endeavouring to surpass each other in

Indigenous Histories