They eat it raw; scales, bones, gills, and all the inside.
The fish is held by the tail, and the head being introduced into the mouth, the animal disappears with a rapidity that would at first nearly lead one to imagine it had been launched bodily down the throat.
Raw fish! Shall I ever forget my sensations when I first saw my island beauty devour one.

Oh, heavens! Fayaway, how could you ever have contracted so vile a habit?
However, after the first shock had subsided, the custom grew less odious in my eyes, and I soon accustomed myself to the sight.

Let no one imagine, however, that the lovely Fayaway was in the habit of swallowing great vulgar-looking fishes: oh, no; with her beautiful small hand she would clasp a delicate, little, golden-hued love of a fish and eat it as elegantly and as innocently as though it were a Naples biscuit.

But alas! it was after all a raw fish; and all I can say is, that Fayaway ate it in a more ladylike manner than any other girl of the valley.
When at Rome do as the Romans do, I held to be so good a proverb, that being in Typee I made a point of doing as the Typees did.

Thus I ate poee-poee as they did; I walked about in a garb striking for its simplicity; and I reposed on a community of couches; besides doing many other things in conformity with their peculiar habits; but the farthest I ever went in the way of conformity, was on several occasions to regale myself with raw fish.