The native constabulary took keenly to Rugby football for a time, but as they wore no boots the sick-list after every match was unduly swelled with men suffering from injured toes, and the game was not encouraged. In a temperature of 80 degrees in the shade, where passions are apt to rise with the thermometer, football is unlikely to become a national game. English athletic sports are held occasionally at native meetings, but so strong does tribal feeling still run, that it is unsafe to encourage wrestling matches and tugs-of-war between rival tribes, such contests being apt to degenerate into free fights. The instinct of the weaker side is to run for a club with which to wipe out the disgrace. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 104: _The Indiscretions of Lady Asenath._] CHAPTER XXVIII FOOD Famine, in the European sense of the word, is unknown in Fiji. Even in times of scarcity every native can find sufficient food to satisfy his hunger, but, though the quantity is sufficient, the quality is not. Ample in amount and in variety, it is lacking in nitrogenous constituents, and it is unsuitable for young children and for women during the periods of gestation and suckling. The staple foods of the Fijians are Yams, Taro (_Arum esculentum_), Plantains and Bread-fruit. Next to these in point of order are Kumala, or Sweet Potatoes (_Ipomæa batatas_), Kawai (_Dioscorea aculeata_), Kaile (_Dioscorea bulbifera_), Tivoli (_Dioscorea nummularia_), Arrowroot, Kassava, Via (_Alocasia Indica_ and _Cyrtosperma edulis_), China Bananas, Cocoanuts, Ivi Nuts (_Inocarpus edulis_), Sugar-cane, and a number of other vegetables and fruits. Meat and fish are not reckoned as "real food" (_kakana ndina_). They are eaten rather as a luxury or zest (_thoi_). [Pageheader: METHOD OF PRESERVING FOOD]