Soot-ball

What was true at first becomes a vile untruth before it has run its race; and the person who started the snow-ball, or, rather, the soot-ball, to rolling is responsible, in no small measure, for what it accumulates before it has reached the bottom of the hill.

The soot-balls were then placed on a layer of poroporo leaves in an umu, or earth-oven, and steamed for about three hours, when they were taken out and set to dry.