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FIJIAN SOCIETY
MACM1LLAN AND CO., Limited
LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA . MADRAS
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO
DALLAS . SAN FRANCISCO
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
FIJIAN SOCIETY
OR THE
SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY
OF THE FIJIANS
BY
Rev. W. DEANE, M.A. (Syd.), B.D. (Lond.)
Late Principal of the Teachers' Training College,
Ndavuilevu, Fiji.
MACMILLA'N AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
i 921
Goo
t»Mr
COPYRIGHT
1 o a 6 4 5 8
TO MY WIFE
AUTHOR'S NOTE
The work entitled " Fijian Society " was undertaken
in the first place at the instance of Professor Anderson
of Sydney University, in whose Philosophy class the
author was a student. When the latter went as a
Missionary to the Fiji Group, the Professor was good
enough to take an interest in his preparation for the
Master of Arts' examination, and suggested as a
thesis an anthropological study of the Fijian people.
That thesis formed the foundation of the following
chapters. The necessity for such a study is great .
because the old men who have an intelligent knowledge
of the past are dying out. Very few remain with
sufficient vigour of memory to relate accurately what
they have seen.
In his examination of Fijian Society the author was
aided by a knowledge of the vernacular, and by
experiences which brought him into daily contact with
the Fijians. But he recognises that the present work
is very incomplete, and that there is much information
still in Fiji to be collected and recorded.
It is the wish of the author to recognise the valuable
advice received from the late C. Etheridge, Esq., Curator
of the Sydney Museum, and the Rev. B. Danks,
viii AUTHOR'S NOTE
Honorary Secretary of the Methodist Missionary
Society of Australasia, also his debt to the staff of the
Mitchell Library for their courtesy in placing at his
disposal the resources of the Library, and to Mr.
P. S. Allen for allowing the inclusion in this volume
of the very valuable Bibliography on Fiji prepared
by him for the " Handbook of the Pacific ."
M.vthurst, N.S.W.,
October, 1920.
Note on Spelling and Pronunciation.
In the spelling of Fijian words the Author has used the Anglicised
form adopted by Mr. Basil Thomson, Dr. Rivers, and others. The
reader will pronounce a as in path, e as in net, i as ee, 0 as in not,
u as 00, au as ow in cow, oil as oh. ai as i in sight. e'< as ay in way,
oi as oy in boy.
The author is under obligation, for comparative and corroborative
references, to the following works, which are arranged as nearly as
possible according to date of publication: —
William I. Thomas, " Social Origins," 1916.
A. M. Hocart. Several papers in Man, 1913, 1914, 1915.
A. M. Hocart. Several papers in American Anthropologist, 1913,
1915-
A. M. Hocart. Several papers in Journal of the Anthropological
J 'nstitntt of Great Britain, 1912, 1913.
W. If. R. River-,, F.R.S., "The History of Melanesian Society,"
...i.,
cal Journal of Australia, 19] \
Transactions oj the Fijian Society, 191 1.
I lorence Coombe. " [glands of Enchantment," 191 1.
i 1 ■ . actions of K.Z. Institution, 1911.
I >r. G. Brown, " Melanesians and Polynesians," 1910.
R*^ B Danks, in Journal of Anthropological Institute, 1910.
Su. J (.. 1 r.i/.er, " Totemism and Exogamy," 1910.
Basal Thomson, "The Fijians," 1908.
J- E Harrison, " Prolegomena to Greek Religion," 1908.
Prof. M;u inillun Brown, " Maori and Polynesian," 1907.
L. T. Hobhouse, " Morals in Evolution," 1906.
AUTHOR'S NOTE ix
Edward Westerrnarck, " Origin of the Moral Ideas," 1906.
F. B. Jevons, " Introduction to Religion," 1904.
Dr. L. Fison, " Tales of Old Fiji," 1904.
E. B. Tylor, D.C.L., " Primitive Culture," 1903.
R. H. Nassau, " Fetishism in West Africa," 1904.
" Science of Man," 1898.
Journal of Polynesian Society, 1894.
Dr. R. H. Codrington, " Melanesian Anthropology and Folklore,"
1891.
Rev. A. J. Webb, ,: Hill Tribes of Viti Levu." In Australian
Association for the Advancement of Science, 1890.
Rev. Thos. Williams, " Fiji, and the Fijians," 1884.
E. B. Tylor, D.C.L., " Anthropology," 1881.
Dr. L. Fison, " Land Tenure in Fiji," Journal of Anthropological
Institute, 1881.
Government Reports of Meetings of Chiefs in Fiji, 1874, 1879, 1880.
W. T. Pritchard, " Polynesian Reminiscences," 1866.
Rev. J. Waterhouse, " Kings and People of Fiji," 1866.
Mrs. Smythe, " Ten Months in Fiji," 1864.
Dr. Seemann, " Viti," 1862.
W. Ellis, " Polynesian Researches," 1853.
J. R. Erskine, " Western Pacific Islands," 1853.
W. Mariner, " Tonga Islands," 1827.
Dr. G. Brown, " East and West."
Alexander, " Islands of the Pacific."
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
PRELIMINARY REMARKS . . v I
CHAPTER II
CHILD-LIFE — GAMES — INITIATION CEREMONIES .... 10
CHAPTER III
RELIGION 24
CHAPTER IV
ANCESTOR-WORSHIP 39
CHAPTER V
ancestor-worship — continued. tan6vu, the kalou vu
OF ONO, KANDAVU 47
CHAPTER VI
the kalou vu — continued 58
CHAPTER VII
sacred stones and images 65
CHAPTER VIII
symbolism 72
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER IX
PAGE
symbolism— continued, the r^^^.OR whale's tooth . 77
CHAPTER X
SYMBOLISM AND CHIEFTAINSHIP 9°
CHAPTER XI
i m. clan versus individualism x. 98
CHAPTER XII
INDIVIDUALISM versus THE CLAN I09
CHAPTER XIII
MORAL CHARACTER — THE " K&REKERE." Il6
CHAPTER XIV
moral character — continued. TABOO, AND THE GROWTH
OS CONSCIENCE 125
CHAPTER XV
LTIQUETTE 130
CHAPTER XVI
TRUTH. CONS) II N< I AND CRIME I40
CHAPTER XVII
SUPERSTITION SIGNS AND OMENS 149
CHAPTER XVIII
FISHING AND II- -I PERSTITIONS 166
CONTENTS xiii
CHAPTER XIX
PAGE
NET-MAKING 182
CHAPTER XX
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 191
CHAPTER XXI
FOODS AND FOOD-PROHIBITIONS 207
CHAPTER XXII
cannibalism 223
bibliography of fiji 243
Index 249
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A Fijian Frontispiece
Facing- page
A Fijian Woman n
A Village Scene 73
Drying MAsi 73
Fijian Girls 80
Turtle Fishers 176
Rock Fish Fence 176
Girl with Virgin Plaits 195
Beating a Small Lali 199
A Warrior with Necklace 227
Map of the Fiji Group End of Volume
FIJIAN SOCIETY
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
It is generally accepted that Fiji is the meeting-place of
the Polynesian and Melanesian races.1 If, in earlier
times, any section of the Aryan megalithic peoples
arrived by way of Japan, no traces of their workmanship
can be found, nor is there any tradition which refers
to them.2 That the dominant elements of Fijian life
and character are Polynesian3 and Melanesian, is
supported by the observations of all who have studied
the question.
Every shade of colour, from light brown passing
through copper colour to dark brown, appears among
the people. Judging from the variations in their
complexion, it would seem that the union of the two
races is not fully completed.
The foregoing statement is borne out by the many
1 Vid. Mr. Basil Thomson's " The Fijians," pp. 6, 15, 70.
2 Except, perhaps, the Nangga stones as described by Dr. L. Fison.
3 The very name " Viti " (Anglicised as Fiji) is purely Polynesian.
Vid. a paper by Horatius Hale, F.R.S.C, Journal of the Polynesian
Society, Sept., 1894, P- J46. The name appears constantly in
Maori poetry and in Eastern Polynesian nomenclature.
B
2 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
types of faces to be seen in the Group. One is
curiously aware of features among the Fijians which
correspond to the Aryan, Mongolian, Egyptian, Negroid
and Papuan physiognomies. It might be true also that
the races which met in Fiji had, before they arrived
in their island home, blended at divers times with
divers peoples. The racial strains thus taken up by the
Fijians in their progress to the Pacific Ocean reappear
in these later days.
The admixture has produced in the Fijian a certain
ingenuity which distinguishes him, in some respects,
from most of the Pacific islanders. These people
became great house and canoe-builders. It is said
that, in former days, they supplied Tonga with war-
vessels. They were also adept potters, net-makers, and
fishermen.
The character of the people of the Fijian Group is
simple ; yet, owing to their natural reserve, it is
difficult to understand. No people could be more
complete masters of their emotions when occasion
requires self-control. They will reveal their minds only
to those whom they know well, or who, by some means,
have ingratiated themselves into their favour.
Fijian legends respecting the immigration of the
race vary considerably, but they have two things in
common, viz., a general vagueness as to the land
from which they originally came, and a definite belief
that they arrived from the north-west.
The inhabitants of the island called Vanua LeVu
have no traditions of the kind above-mentioned. To
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
them their land is " ke'ndra vanua " — their very own
land. The absence of a story describing immigration
to Vanua Levu is important when compared with the
general absence of such tradition amongst the Melane-
sian peoples.1 The fact indicates an exceedingly long
settlement in the islands, and brings the people of
Vanua Levu into line with the Melanesian aborigines
of the Pacific.2
Another point of interest should be noted. Vanua
Levu has many distinct signs of the matriarchate.
Descent is through the mother, and the natives can
trace their pedigree back for thirteen generations.
Women also have land in their own right. They take
a certain precedence, and may even become heads of
phratries. Thus, while degraded enough in many
ways, the feminine portion of the population have
rights to which the women on Viti Levu are strangers.3
In the latter island the patriarchate is dominant.
The power of the father is not much inferior to the
" potestas patria " of the Romans, except that, in some
cases, when there has been a plurality of wives, descent
was traced through the mother. This variation has
been known to occur in Mbau.
1 Dr. R. H. Codrington, " Melanesian Anthropology and Folklore,"
1891, p. 47. Vid. also Dr. G. Brown, " Melanesians and Polynesians,"
regarding New Britain, p. 353.
2 Dr. Brown believes in a Negrito substratum throughout Melanesia
ibid., pp. 16-17. Dr. Rivers hints at an ancient Melanesian sub-
stratum in Fiji. " Hist, of Melan. Soc," vol. ii, p. 232. Prof.
Macmillan Brown argues for a fundamental negroid race throughout
the Pacific. Transactions of New Zealand Inst., 191 1, p. 192.
3 On the general subject, A. M. Hocart's paper is most important.
Man, 1915, p. 5 ff.
B 2
FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Vanua Levu is apparently linked, therefore, to
Melanesia, since the latter is distinctly matriarchate.
Viti Levu, on the other hand, is connected with
Polynesia, for the Polynesians are strongly patri-
archate.1
Viti Levu is the scene of the landing of the Fijian
" Pilgrim Fathers," the descendants of whom, judging
from their marriage customs, and the extraordinary
respect in which many of their chiefs are held,
became strongly Polynesian in their ideas.2
Vanua Levu, as will be shown later, is also the home
of spirit-veneration, as distinct from ancestor-worship.
The worship of multitudinous spirits is the correlative
of the matriarchate, while ancestor- worship is th
offspring of the patriarchate. A parallel to the spirit-
worship on Vanua Levu is found in the New Hebrides
where spirit cults are strong, and everything that has
11 mdna " (potens) is worthy of respect and worship.
There is one institution which is more or less preva-
lent throughout Fiji, viz., the " Vdsu." The " Vdsu "
appears to point to the influence of the matriarchate
society even upon the more distinctly Polynesian
section of the community. When a woman marries
out of her tribe, her child has the privilege of returning
to her people and assuming ownership of anything
1 Dr. G. Brown, " Melanesians and Polynesians," 1910, p. 39.
Macmillan Brown, " Maori and Polynesian," 1907, p. 37.
* Mr. Basil Thomson's " marriage " theory (" The Fijians," p. 15)
is hardly a complete explanation of this strong Polynesian tendency
in Viti Levu. I see no objection to the theory of direct immigration
from the east.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
portable which he may desire. A young boy will lead
a party of his friends to his mother's native town for
the purpose of making good his Vdsu right. Upon
such an occasion, if the lad were to lay his hands
on an article, his companions would immediately
take possession of it and transport it to the Vdsu's
village.
In earlier days the custom was regularly observed ;
and it was so deeply rooted that, when certain white
men visited the islands and took women to sin, their
crime was condoned on the plea that they were " Vdsu
of Heaven,"1 — that is, they were the children of
Heaven. It was, therefore, almost impossible to
withhold the women from them.
The ceremonies of the " Vdsu/' however, were not
all on one side. For when the child (the Vdsu) was
three or four days old the father made presents to his
wife's relations, which took the form of tambuas
(whales' teeth), sulus (clothing), and kumi (printed
native cloth). The gift was called in some parts the
! Vakambutumbutui ni ngone." A similar offering is
made on the tenth day after birth in Araga, Pentecost
Island, with the difference that it is the relatives of
the father, who, as substitutes for him, are the donors.
Dr. R. H. Codrington says, with regard to this
Melanesian custom, that the relatives of the father
11 lay upon the infant's head mats, and the strings
with which pigs are tied, and the father tells them
xMrs. Smythe, "Ten Months in Fiji," 1864, p. 68. Also Dr.
Seemann, " Viti," p. 305.
FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
that he accepts this as a sign that, hereafter, they will
feed and help his son. There is clearly in this a
movement towards the patriarchal system." 1
The latter statement might very well be applied to the
" Vdsu " of Fiji. The institution is probably the result
of the clash between the patriarchate and the matri-
archate. Dr. L. Fison incidentally shows that the
conflict between the two systems did take place even
in modern times in the history of the Wainimala
tribes and those called Kai Muaira.2 With regard to
the "Vdsu" any Melanesian portion of the community
would have held, like the people of Araga, that the
children of a woman were the heirs of their maternal
uncle's property. The right does not seem to be
drastic in Fiji owing, probably, to a compromise with the
Polynesian immigrants, which took place as the two
races intermingled in marriage. The consequence was
that the mother's children retained only a right to
1 Codrington, " Melanesian Anth. and Folklore," p. 230 /.
2 Fison, "The Nanga," 1884, p. 4.
Mr. Hocart's well-reasoned article, p. 631, American Anthrop.,
Oct. -Dec, 1915, does not seem to disprove this. If the food offered
to " the deceased kinsmen of his mother " can only be taken by the
" sister's son," the explanation given that he is the only one that
can take it without harm from his kinsman's spirit leads one still to
think a remnant of matriarchal dignity and influence to be present.
Why did the sister's son claim this as his right, as against any other
man of his mother's clan ?
My theory that the Vdsu right is a clash between the matriarchate
and patriarchate as a corollary of marriage between two clans
representing these two types explains the features of the custom
of " Vdsu" as given by Mr. Hocart in the American Anthropologist,
pp. 641-2. Nevertheless, the emphasis laid by this authority on
B probable religious association accounts for the persistence of the
practice.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
commandeer goods in the manner above-mentioned,
while the father maintained his position by sending
a present to compensate any supposed loss sustained
by the maternal relatives of his son.
As further proof we may quote a tradition on Viti
Levu of a time when the first Vdsu was known in
Verata. If the story be true, then the nephew-
right was non-existent before, and was really an
accommodation to the matriarchal sentiment of the
aborigines.1
Other indications of the union of Polynesian and
Melanesian in Fiji are to be found in the language of
the country. It is not proposed to deal at length with
this branch of the question. There are some very
common words, however, used in Fiji which are
distinctly Melanesian, while others equally common
are Polynesian, and clearly recognisable in varying forms
of orthography. Of the former we may mention a
few : — mdna, Una, tdma, lima, wdngga, meaning magical
power, mother, father, hand, and boat, respectively ;
while rongo, kumdla, nddlo, rardma, are Polynesian,
meaning report, sweet potato, taro, light, respectively.
The high hereditary standing of the chiefs in parts
of Fiji demands notice in this connection. As we shall
need to go fully into this subject later, we only
treat it briefly here. The chiefly class have in Mbau,
Rewa, and Dhakaundrove, attained such a position
that they are accustomed to treat their underlings and
1 Dr. G. Brown thinks Vdsu rights to be a remnant of the
matriarchate. " Melanesians and Polynesians," pp. 40-42, 96.
8 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
men of no importance with contempt. Such a manifest
sense of superiority attaches to their bearing that it
would be difficult to mistake them.
In these days, the attitude of chiefs towards their
people has been considerably modified by the inter-
position of the British Government. But the pride of
descent is still plainly in evidence.
I myself had a novel experience in which I had a
good opportunity of observing the inflated pride to
which reference has just been made. A high chief
was sitting in his house with some inferiors near him.
Being new in the country, I inquired of him the
meaning of the term " kaisi " (common herd). The
old man almost screamed his answer. " There," he
cried, at the same time raising his bony old finger
and pointing in scorn at the commoners beside him.
They in their subservience did their utmost to bear
the insulting action with composure, but it was evident
that they felt the public humiliation keenly.
It is remarkable that the people on the coast, as a
class, likewise despise the people of the interior,
especially those of darker skin, holding themselves to
be of more chiefly origin. It is common for a man with
a dark skin to be called by the humiliating name of
" Kai Dholo."1 Students of this question generally
1 Inhabitant of the interior.
In his book quoted above, Dr. Brown says the inhabitants of
interior Samoa are darker than those on the coast, p. 56. The
difference between the coastal and the inland natives in respect to
family usages (terms of address) is noted by W. H. R. Rivers. " Hist.
of Melan. Soc," vol. ii, p. 10. Also p. 488. This anthropologist
sees, likewise, in the grating of yanggdna (instead of the Polynesian
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
agree that the darker people of the interior have in
them the blood of a lower type of humanity, viz., the
Melanesians ; while the lighter class have in their
veins the blood of the superior Polynesians. And when
a more intelligent class of people are thus placed by
circumstances over their inferiors, we have just the
soil in which the pride of the Fijian chieftain could
thrive and flourish.
method) in Dh61o an indication of an ancient Melanesian culture,
vol. ii, p. 247.
Generally, coastal natives in Oceania are lighter than the interior
people, and of a superior race. G. A. Peat quoted in Sci. of Man,
March, 1898, p. 41. Pritchard, in his " Polynesian Reminiscences,"
1866, Appendix, p. 418.
CHAPTER II
CHILD-LIFE — GAMES — INITIATION CEREMONIES
The advent of a child in Fijian Society is a fairly
important occurrence, especially if the new arrival be
a boy. There is a strong desire in the native mind
for male offspring, which is a direct result of the
despised position of women in the barbarous days of
old. Happily, under the influence of Christianity,
the status of the girl and woman is being made more
tolerable. For example, the inveterate opposition to
the better education of the girls is gradually giving
way before the efforts of the missionaries and the
advancing light of Christian civilisation.
The first ten days are the most important period of
infantile life, and the greatest care, especially of the
children of chiefs, was taken by the nurse. If the
mortality is great amongst the Fijian children, it is
largely due to ignorance of proper method rather than
to dilator iness on the part of the nurses. The children
of the Mbauan chiefs were nursed day and night during
the period mentioned, the nurses taking over their
tiresome duty in turns. The nursing is done with the
aid of a stiff wicker mat, and the infant is never held in
the arms as is a European child. Further, the Fijian
ch. ii CHILD-LIFE, GAMES, ETC. n
baby is placed on its back, and it stays there till it
finds strength sufficient to turn itself — an occa-
sion of great rejoicing on the part of parents and
relatives.
An old woman of the tribe, often the grandmother,
is usually requisitioned as midwife. Such an old
woman follows strictly all the customs of her people,
and, incidentally, refuses to allow a man near the house
at the time of birth.1
The mother is well cared for in the sense that she
is not expected to do any work for a long period after
confinement, an advantage of which every Fijian
woman avails herself, if circumstances permit. For
the full space of those months a Kandavuan woman
will not wash her hair, a filthy habit which European
and other missionary workers oppose most strongly.
In the feeding of the children during the first two and
a half years there is no rule. Whenever the child cries,
the natural sustenance is forthcoming, a practice which
cannot promote the well-being of the baby. If the
natural sustenance fail, water from boiled taro and
other vegetables is given as a substitute. The use of
condensed milk is rapidly growing, as the article is
becoming easily procurable and better appreciated.
Old Fijians abominated the milk of the cow in every
shape or form.
The most highly-valued birthday gift for a child is
1 So in New Georgia and New Britain, Vid. Dr. G. Brown,
" Melanesians and Polynesians," pp. 34, 36.
This is in harmony with the general rule throughout the world.
William I. Thomas in his " Social Origins," 1916, p. 526.
12 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
the lambua.1 Other articles were, and are, gladly
accepted. In Mba, when a new-born baby is taken for
the first time to a house, a present is expected from the
occupants.
A relic of the matriarchate is to be found in the
island of Kandavu. The maternal grandmother has,
in some clans, the privilege of adopting the first off-
spring of her daughter — a kind of compensation for the
loss incurred by the clan when the mother of the
child was given away in marriage.
As on all other important occasions of native society,
the progress of the infant-life is marked by feasts.
The two most important festivities are the " Mbon-
gitini " (ten nights), and that which celebrates the self-
turning of the child upon its mat.
A detailed account of the feasts attendant upon the
birth of a child has been written by a Fijian.
" On the day of the birth, the father makes a feast
for the relatives of the woman. The name of that
feast is the ' Tunundrd.' After the feast certain women
are appointed from among the relatives of the child's
father and mother to carry the child in their arms
constantly for ten days, that it may not be put down.
This custom is called the ' Kevekeve* {i.e., the
carrying in arms). Some are appointed also to boil
taro-tops for the mother. Then all the old women,
and adult women in general, go to the house where
the child is born, to sleep there until the tenth day ;
the name of this custom is the ■ Modhemodhe ' {i.e.
1 See Chapter IX.
II CHILD-LIFE, GAMES, ETC. 13
the sleeping). After the child is born, he is given to
drink the juice of candle-nut fruit that he may
vomit. . . . After vomiting, fully ripe cocoanut is
chewed and the milk squeezed out of it, then a piece of
mast {i.e., fine native cloth) is soaked in this and given
to the child to suck. After this, a wet-nurse is sent
for to suckle the child for four days, then it is put to
drink to its mother ; if, at four days, the mother's
breasts are still dry, the other will continue to suckle
it till they are supplied.
" After two days from the birth of the child, a dish
of water is brought and a stone to be put in the water
to warm it, to wash the flesh of the child ; a feast is
then made for his washing, and it is called the
1 Tdvundeki.' On the day the child is born, the
relations begin preparing food by day and night, to
be brought to the house where the child was born, as
food for the ' modhemodhe' and the * kevekeve' until
ten days and then the food-making ceases. ... By
day and night, the house is crowded with the sleeping
women, and they sing songs and play games of throwing
water over each other or other comicalities, during the
ten days, a rejoicing for the new child which has been
born. First-born children like this are called generally
new children.
" The women appointed to nurse are prohibited from
taking up their own food. Another person puts their
food into their mouths up to the end of the ten days.
The mother of the child remains lying down and is
wrapped up in a ' Ngdtu ' {i.e., a large kind of native
i4 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
cloth) during the ten days. Her food must not be
prepared with sea-water, but simply boiled in fresh-
water, and the relish with it is taro-tops (that is, the
stems of the taro leaves cut up and wrapped in the
flower sheath of the banana and then boiled). It falls
to the share of the taro-top-boiling women to make the
food for the mother. She continues to ' drink ' taro-
tops for eight days, and then fish is baked for her. No
man may enter at random into the house where the
child has been born until after the ten days. If a man
should enter carelessly, he will be fined, he will have to
go and make a feast for the sleepers, to be his fine, or
his totongi. . . . When the tenth day arrives, the
relations of both the father and mother prepare a
feast called a feast of the tenth night. Some food is
also prepared for the mother, the relish of which is
fish. The relatives then spread mats and ngdtu on
the couch of the mother and spread others in the place
for her to eat in. Then a ngdtu is opened up tent
fashion for the mother to be ornamented privately
within. When she is dressed all the doors are opened,
and all the food of the tenth day feast is taken into the
house. When the relations are all inside the house,
that is, the women, the ngdtu is raised up and the mother
of the child comes forth, and those in the house salute
her, calling ' A sesevura' The mother then repai
to the place for her to eat in. When she has eaten, the
food of the feast is apportioned out, and the sleepers,
the nurses, and the taro-top boilers then take their
departure. Then some of the relatives remain to sleep
II CHILD-LIFE, GAMES, ETC. 15
till the full hundredth day. A reed is stuck in the wall
each day, or a knot tied in a string, to keep count of the
days, so that there be no mistake in the count. When
the hundredth day arrives, the father of the child
prepares another feast called the feast of the hundred
days. The mother then goes to bathe in the river,
and when she returns from bathing, the feast is dis-
tributed and the relatives who have been sleeping in
the house of the child take their departure. It is then
permissible for the mother to stroll and go about, and to
do light work about her house. The child is also
allowed to be carried outside. And if a new child like
this is taken into another house, the owner of that
house will present a whale's tooth as his present on
entering, as it has entered for the first time into the
house. If he has not a whale's tooth he will promise
a piece of land or a house site to be the property of
the child. . . . The birth customs which I have told
are only done for a new child, that is a first-born. If
a brother is born the customs I have told will not be
done, nor the feasts made, nor the property ; he will
be attended to by his father and mother and his
grandmother." 1
Games.
Veitingga.
The great national game of Fiji was the casting of
the reed spear. Undoubtedly, the original idea of
the game was to develop the muscles necessary to
1 Transactions of the Fijian Society, 191 1.
16 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
drive with force the spear when the Fijians were
fighting or fishing. Both acquisitions were equally
indispensable in former days. The spear (tingga or sat)
is a reed three or four feet long, on the end of which
is attached a rounded piece of hard wood called the
toa, which is shaped somewhat like a thick cigar,
and polished. A specially-cleared thro wing-ground is
usually to be found near any large town, and is perhaps
one hundred and fifty yards long. The amount of
accuracy required to make the improvised dart cover
a hundred yards is amazing. Novices cause it to drop
a dozen yards away at best, and then athwart the
course, the reason being that the spear-head is greatly
heavier than the reed to which it is attached, so that
the slightest deviation from the right direction will
cause failure. An expert holds the spear in his
right hand with the index finger firmly pressed
on the end of the reed. It is the index finger which
gives the final impetus in the direction required. He
who drives the sai farthest wins the game.1
Ldvo.
I have seen a game played on a mat folded length-
wise. Each player has a number of the fruit of the
Wdldi (Entada Scandens, Bth), which are like round
bean seeds with flattened sides. In the game these
1 Pahe, a Sandwich Island game, is very similar to Veitingga.
Vid. Ellis, " Polynesian Researches," vol. iv, 197.
Mr. Hocart states that the clans or tribes were pitted against one
another, Man, 1914, p. 6.
ii CHILD-LIFE, GAMES, ETC. 17
are called "At dhimbi" and the object of the game
seems to be to knock the opponent's at dhimbi off the
mat while keeping your own. Each time this is done
counts one. The game requires more skill than at
first appears, as one only of the bean seeds is placed
at a time on the mat. For a good description of the
Lafdnga tupe\ the Samoan facsimile, see Dr. G. Brown,
" Melanesians and Polynesians," p. 341. There,
polished pieces of cocoanut shell were used as at dhimbi.
Drawing the Reed.
An interesting game is played at Kandavu, with a
large number of reeds about a foot long. These are
heaped promiscuously, and, as all the leaves are care-
fully taken off, it is most difficult to draw the pieces
separately from the heap without causing a rattle or a
collapse. Two players sit one on either side of the
heap, and each has his turn when the other by clumsi-
ness makes a noise, or brings about a fall of the reeds.
The player who has most reeds wins the game. Much
hilarity accompanies any careful attempt which results
in the reeds tumbling down like a house of cards.
Hiding the Shell.
This pastime is often the amusement of the girls.
Two girls will sit on the sand of the beach. Between
them seven small holes are scooped with the hand.
The player takes up a double handful of sand, in which
is hidden a tiny shell chosen beforehand, and throws
c
18 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
a little into each hole consecutively. At the same time
her task is to cover the shell from view as it falls into
one of the holes. Shrieks of laughter are heard if
through bad play or bad luck the shell appears on top
of the falling sand.
If the shell be properly hidden in one of the holes,
the opponent must guess in which it has been
placed. Should she guess aright, it then becomes her
turn to throw.
A Dhe're.
When a new boat visits a village for the first time,
it is the custom in Kandavu for the children (usually
the boys) to tie gifts to the ends of long poles. With the
gifts, streamers are attached. As the new boat ap-
proaches the shore, one of their number comes to meet
it and blows a conch shell as if in defiance. With
that the crew shout, "A dhe're, a dhe're," and leaping
out, give chase. Everything tied to the end of the
poles is their property when they capture it.
Initiation Ceremonies.
The initiation ceremonies of the Fijian youth,
given in this chapter, are those of the Waimarou clan,
which is said to be the parent stock of the Fijian tribal
tree. The ceremonies are now discontinued, but in
former days they were a most important part of the
life of the Waimarou clan. A male was not reckoned
a man until he passed through them ; a woman,
ii CHILD-LIFE, GAMES, ETC. 19
similarly, was nothing more than a young thing running
about in the village until she had complied with the
requirements of her people.
The " Vdkamdsi"
This ceremony is the occasion on which the youth
is clothed in mdsi, or native cloth. As a boy he was
quite nude, and therefore of no consequence in the clan.
The ceremony of Vdkamdsi took place at the age of
puberty, the parents, with the help of the members of
the tribe, deciding the day. At the appointed time, the
relations of the mother came into the village-square.
Then the relations of the father, clothed in mdsi in
lengths of ten fathoms apiece, appeared leading the
youth (also clothed) to his maternal relatives. The
process of " Luva mdsi " (taking off the mast) was then
proceeded with, which meant to unwind the cloth from
their waists, and piling it up as a present before the
maternal relatives. As the unwinding continued, the
long piece of native cloth on each man was cut at a
section which left sufficient decent covering for the
body. Then, in the case of chiefs, a gift of a feast,
with presents of pigs, was made, continuing for ten
days. In pre-Christian days a high chief would
initiate a war, in order to get a dead man as " Kenai
Dhoi " (relish).
The Circumcision.
Two or three months after the mdsi had been
assumed, a personage in the tribe, called the " Vuni-
c 2
20 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
kalou" whose duty it was, took several boys to a stream,
or to the sea, and after cleansing, performed the
operation of circumcision with a piece of sharpened
bamboo. Then the incision was bound with the
soft bast of the " Lolo " (native fig), and mast.
The boys were taken afterwards to a " Mbure " (boys'
native house)1 specially set apart, and the word was
passed round the village that the boys were " in mbure."
The message was immediately understood, and on the
fourth night the parents set about offering presents to
the Vunikalou, who made quite a good living out of the
business. Every day, until they healed, the wounds
were dressed by him.
It was a great day of rejoicing when the boys were
released, for then they could do many things which
were taboo before. For instance, they were not
allowed previously to chew yanggona for the chiefs'
drink, or to make " Vdkalolo " (Fijian pudding), or to
marry. It was a custom, if an uncircumcised youth
was called on to chew yanggona, for him to say, " Au
sa se'nga ni vuluvidu" which means, " I have not washed
my hands." This statement would at once be recognised
in its hidden meaning by the chiefs, and he would be
driven from their presence.
On the day of rejoicing the boys first bathed, and
a feast was prepared, called the " Mangiti ni yavdu "
(the feast of renewal ?). Games were indulged in,
1 In Malekula (N. Hebrides) the boys were secluded in the " amil "
for ten days after the operation. W. H. R. Rivers, " Hist, of Melan.
Soc," vol. ii, p. 435."
ii CHILD-LIFE, GAMES, ETC. 21
much like tournaments, between the old and the young
warriors. They were called the games of men, for
spears were used freely in the combats, and sometimes
caused the death of one or more of the new-made
clansmen. This, it is said, was done in order to try
the mettle of the initiated.
The Vdkatokayddha. (The giving of the name).
At night, when the new clansmen were to receive
their names, an exchange of gifts was made, and the
Vunikaldu arranged the gathering in which the cere-
mony was to take place. Before this auspicious time
they had each borne a sobriquet by which they were
known and called. The meeting for the giving of the
true name was held in a house. The proceedings
were as follow : —
Towards the end farthest from the door, two
Vunikaldu took up their stations on either side of the
main post of the house, and with their backs against
it, one looking in the direction of the door, and the
other squeezed into the small space between the post
and the wall-thatching. From them was spread a
long piece of native cloth reaching as far as the
doorway ; and, on the other side of this, the clan-
members sat in their places, a man and a woman
alternately.
In the meantime, the youths who were to receive
their names had gone out into the woods, where they
passed the time chanting some wild refrain. When
22 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
everything was ready in the house, the occupants loudly
chanted the following : —
" Ndrau ni ngasdu, nda vesavesdu.
A (long-drawn Ah).
Ndrau ni lolo, nda tiko lo."
Leaves of the reeds, vesavesdu,
Leaves of the fig-tree, we keep silent.1
With that, all bowed down and lights were put out.
A youth approached and was reported. He was told
by all to finish the task before him. He thereupon
walked down between the two rows of people, and
according to the custom, struck the chest of the first
Vunikalou. The latter asked —
" Who is there ? "
Am.— " I."
" What is your name ? "
Am.— " Ko Ravula."
The first Vunikalou called to his companion who
was standing behind the post — ■
" He says his name is Ravula."
Second Vunikalou. — " Let his name be Ravula."
The Company. — " His name is Ravula.
His name is Ravula."
Each youth passed through the ceremony until the
whole party of them had received their names. The
1 The couplet was commonly used by the young people of Fiji in
a certain game. Two parties of children would call to one another.
The first would chant, " Ndrau ni ngasdu, nda visavesdu," imitating
in the last word the sound of the reed when rustling. Then the other
party would respond, at the same time pointing to the native fig-tree,
" Ndrau ni lolo, nda tiko lo," referring to the fact that those leaves
make little noise in the wind.
ii CHILD-LIFE, GAMES, ETC. 23
young men were allowed to marry within a few months
of this initiation.1
Initiation of Women.
The corresponding ceremonies amongst the women
were tattooing and the giving of the name.
At the age of puberty the fleshy parts of the thighs
were tattooed by old female nurses. For this painful
operation a thorn of the orange tree was used to
puncture the skin,2 and powdered charcoal moistened
with water was rubbed into the wounds. A female
was not considered a woman until she was tattooed.
At the same time she began to wear the " Liku "
(native loin-covering) fastened at the waist.
The name of the woman was given in exactly the
same way as in the case of the young men, except that
the two Vunikalou were replaced by two old female
nurses.
The curious part about the ceremony of name-
giving was that the recipient chose his or her own
name.
1 On entry to the secret society " Igiet," in New Britain, a new
name is given. Dr. G. Brown, " Melanesians and Polynesians,"
P- 77-
1 In San Cristoval the operation is performed with the sharpened
bone of a bat's wing. Florence Coombe, " Islands of Enchantment,"
p. 232. "Tattooing of women is Melanesian." Rivers, "Hist, of
Melan. Soc," vol. ii, p. 437.
CHAPTER III
RELIGION
In " Sartor Resartus," Carlyle makes Teufelsdrockh
to say — ■" Wonder is the basis of Worship : the reign
of Wonder is perennial, indestructible in man."
Carlyle himself would be astonished, if he were
alive, at the great lack of wonder in the Fijian mind.
" Of admiring emotion, produced by the contemplation
of beauty, these people seem incapable."1 On a
certain beautiful moonlight night I made reference to
the sublimity of the scene to a native. His laconic
reply was : " In what respect is it beautiful ? " If one
were to go into raptures over the glories of the unsur-
passed Fijian sunset as seen from some of the outlying
islets, the Fijians would look with an amused and half-
pitying expression upon their faces at such a curious
specimen of humanity. The native will indeed admire
cleverness and will click his tongue with surprise if he
sees anything unusual or abnormal. His curiosity, too, is
unbounded. He will notice, for instance, an uncommon
species of butterfly if it happens to cross his path. But
when all this is said of him, it is still true that the
1 Rev. Thos. Williams, " Fiji and the Fijians," Ed. 1884, p. 97.
ch. in RELIGION 25
Fijian is sadly deficient in the more complex emotion
of wonder.
What particular emotion, then, became predominant
in the religion of the Fijian people ? To quote the
Rev. Thomas Williams again : "A principle of fear
seems the only motive to religious observances."1 His
beautiful land, set like an emerald in the Pacific, has
been and is a land teeming with spirits, with evil
powers capable of withholding good and doing harm.
But why should the Fijian thus develop along the
line of fear ? The answer is to be found in his history
and past social life. If we follow Professor Macmillan
Brown's theory of his origin, the Fijian's departure for
his island home was compulsory. He knew what
invasion meant, and he was a victim to the war- terror
by night and day. Not mere love of adventure drove
him in his canoe to seek new lands ; but rather the
advance of hostile and conquering hosts. That was
long ago. Since then he has scarcely ever rested.
Compelled by enemies, and daring and risking all, he
came from island to island till he settled in these
dangerous coasts. Fear was " bred in his bone." It
is not wonderful, therefore, that fear came out in his
religious life.
His social life, likewise, was never truly safe or happy.
The raising of his chief's hand was death to him. The
will of his lord might mean the ruin of his family, and
he never knew when he was safe from assassination.
Scenes of the most horrible nature were daily enacted
1 " Fiji and the Fijians," Ed. 1884, p. 97.
26 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
before his eyes ; in many such he took a prominent
part. Similarly, the tribe to which he belonged could
not know what rest or security was, and every sense
was constantly on the alert to detect treachery on the
part of hostile or even friendly tribes. The whole
environment in which he moved, the whole system
which governed his career, gave little guarantee foi
the preservation of either life or property.
All the circumstances which have been described,
and others besides, have so acted upon the nervous
constitution of the Fiji Islander that it has irresistibl]
developed along the line of fear. An old resident oi
these islands showed me a list of the different kinds oi
fear which was prepared for him by an intelligent native.
There were no fewer than eleven kinds in all. Clearly,
fear bulks largely in the Fijian life and character.
To satisfy myself I prepared some small statistics
which vividly prove the true nature of the Fijian ii
this respect. I requested a body of native converts t(
Christianity, twenty-eight in number, to write down
on paper the reason of their conversion. The following
was the result. One was converted through reading
Matth. xxv, 46, " These shall go away into everlasting
punishment." One was changed by the influence of
a fearsome dream ; three through being put in jail ;
another was frightened by a policeman ; eleven gave
as their reason a serious illness ; one was shipwrecked ;
eight became Christians under the preaching of the
Gospel. Five of the latter heard sermons preached
from the above-quoted text, Matth. xxv, 46. One of
in RELIGION 27
them listened to a discourse on the text, " The wrath
of God abideth on him." Yet another was converted
by the passage, " Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate." Only two grew up in the calmer knowledge
of Christianity, and even they were largely under the
dominion of fear in their religious experience. Since
that inquiry made about ten years ago, I have come upon
innumerable cases of a similar kind. One of the pro-
blems of Christian work amongst the people is to induce
them to be governed by the higher motives and
impulses of Christianity.
From these facts it should be clear that, at the present
time, fear is inseparable from the Fijian nature, and
that this fear is the result of his history and past
social environment.
It is but natural, therefore, that he should project
the same emotion into the unseen world. He cannot
possibly conceive it (apart from tuition) as being
peopled with spirits less terrible in their acts than his
own chiefs. Indeed, they must, from the very mystery
that enshrouds them, be even more terrible than the
Fijian's earthly superiors. In addition, the constant
attitude of his subliminal self towards the unknown
causes the unseen to be filled with vague terrors that
are the more fearful because they are undefined.
Professor W. M. Davis speaks of an old plateau in
British Guiana, two thousand feet high. The natives
of the forested sides have never ascended the mountain,
and they believe it to be peopled with fearful spirits.1
1 Prof . W. M. Davis, " Physical Geography," 1901, p. 152.
28 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
So it is in Fiji. Unfrequented spots are filled with
denizens of a spiritual nature. They are all objects
of dread to the native.
If a twig crackled in the woods, the Fijian would
cast a leaf over his shoulder as an offering to placate
the unearthly being which was supposed to be the un-
seen cause of the sound. On a voyage, omens were
carefully noted, and nothing was trivial. " Their
food is not more important," says the Rev. J. Carey.
One man informed me that if he met a friendly spirit,
his hair would stand up on end,1 but if he met an
unfriendly one he was sure that he would die of fright.
It has been shown that the Fijians are a mixture of
the Melanesian and Polynesian races. We might
expect, therefore that the peculiarities of the worship of
either class would be found in the group. At the same
time we should not anticipate that, after intermingling
so long, the boundary lines of the two classes of religion
would be very clearly marked. On a closer study of
the Fijians, we shall find that our prognostications are
correct.
But first, let us notice that there is no solar cult,
except such as survives in myth. The Oceanic World
is one in this respect.2 It is even less so in Fiji than
in the eastern Polynesian groups. Neither the sun
1 Also referred to in A. M. Hocart's article, Journ. Anthrop. Inst.,
1912, p. 439.
•Prof. Macm. Brown, "Maori and Polynesian," p. 127. This
author refers to " relics " of sun-worship as continuing obscurely in
" unobserved corners of Polynesia."
Dr. Rivers connects the megaliths of Oceania with a sun-cult,
" Hist, of Melan. Soc," vol. ii, pp. 540, 579.
in RELIGION 29
nor the moon strongly appeals to the Fijians. The
starry heavens attract their attention to the extent that
the principal constellations are noted, because of their
likeness to familiar native objects. For instance,
Orion's Belt and the adjacent stars of the same con-
stellation are called " Na In (the fan). The likeness
to a four-cornered Fijian fan is certainly striking. The
Southern Cross is " Na Nga " (the duck), flying away
from two hunters, the similarity being again clear.
The Pleiades are likened to the fruit of the tree called
the " Tdrawdu " (Dracontomelon sylvestre), which
hangs in clusters. The name of the Pleiades with some
is the " Sosotdrawdu" in which word the name of the
tree is embodied. Another group of stars, the Hyades,
is called " Na Lddha " (the sail) owing to its exact
similarity to a Fijian canoe-sail. Aldebaran would
shine in the right upper corner of such a sail. What
is commonly called the " Lovo " (the oven) corresponds
to Corona Australis. The Fijian oven is a hole in the
ground in which hot stones are laid with the food, on
top of which a mound of earth is raised to keep in the
heat.
There is nothing in all this of a religious character.
The constellations were simply the chief guides to
the ancient Fijian mariner when out of sight of land.
The Rev. T. Williams, in his book already quoted,
says that large shooting stars are thought to be gods,
and the smaller ones are the departing souls of men.1
But it is probable that the idea is merely fanciful, and
l" Fiji and the Fijians," p. 74.
3o FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
that no principle of worship or religion is involved
therein. For the same reason, the Milky Way is
sometimes called the " Pathway of the Spirits."
Similarly, North-European myths treat it as the
pathway of souls to Valhalla.
Connection with sun-worship may possibly be traced
through another source, viz., the titles of the chiefs ;
but this will be mentioned later in another place.
Of totem-worship there is also little trace. Several
animals are looked upon with superstition, as among
the natives of the New Hebrides. The shark, the
turtle, and many of the larger fish were believed to be
the homes of gods. The chief god of Mbengga is a
shark. In common with many other peoples, the
Fijians give a good deal of superstitious reverence to
the snake, and many spirits of the departed are sup-
posed to appear as serpents. The men of Madhuata
(Vanua Levu) have been known even in the present
day when drinking yanggona (kava drink), to take a bowl
of the liquid and walk towards the end of the building,
and there pour out a libation, at the same time uttering
these words of address to a sacred shark — " This for
thee." It is quite like a recrudescence of some old
Greek libation of 500 B.C.
The names of some animals and fish as " Nggio "
(shark) are favourite surnames for children ; also, when
a child is born, in some places, a fowl or a pig is given
to him to be his property, and to grow up with him.
Clans, however, were not always distinguished by
totem names, as they were often formed on another
in RELIGION 31
principle.1 Men were known as belonging to a certain
clan without being possessed of a clan surname.
The owl is a very sacred bird at Mbatiki. The
inhabitants believe that, if an owl comes into the
village and alights on a house, it is a sure sign of the
approaching death of a chief.
On Tailevu, all young men about twenty or twenty-
five years of age used to be called in some tribes
" Vudka ni Veikdu" meaning " pigs of the woods,"
but not from any totemistic tendency. It was a term
given to them in warlike days exactly in the same sense
as when we speak of " lions in the fray."
Taking the evidence on the whole, we see that the
totem was never developed in Fiji as, for example, in
Australia or North America. Traces only of tote-
mistic worship can be found in Fiji at the present time.
The religious life of the Fijian people is thus narrowed
down to two departments, viz., Spirit- worship and
Ancestor- worship. Of these two, let us first take
Spirit- worship.
Fiji literally swarms with miscellaneous spirits. The
tops of the hills, the gloom of the forests, the running
streams and waterfalls, stones, capes, bays, and the
ocean are crowded with them. The Fijian has perfect
belief in Spirit-land, and he is in more or less constant
rapport with it.
Some of the spirits believed in by the natives are
1 De Marzan is quoted by Rivers as giving two groups of totems,
one consisting of trees, and the other of animals, "Hist, of Melan.
Soc," vol. ii, p. 341. Dr. Rivers himself looks on totemism in Fiji as
"greatly modified," "Hist, of Melanesian Society," vol. ii., p. 369.
32 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
tiny, e.g., the " Luve ni wai" or " Children of the
Waters " (water kelpies). They are supposed to be
good dancers, which belief is probably a poetic refer-
ence to the long lines of breakers that move forward
and recede as Fijian men do in a native dance. The
music of the breaking waves on reef or shore would
add to the reality of the conception.
Other spirits are so large that, when they stand in the
forests, they overlook the tops of the trees ; or, if they
tread on the bed of the ocean, are head and shoulders
above the waves, like Orion the mighty hunter of
Aryan mythology.
Then there are others again, like Nddkuwdngga the
god of Mbengga, who can change themselves into any
shape imaginable.
Ndaudhina is a generic name, possibly for the Will-o'-
the Wisp, who appears as a fiery face, after the manner
of the Afiti witches or fire-carriers in Central Africa.
This spirit is generally known throughout Fiji and has
been classed by the Rev. J. Waterhouse as a god.1
There is a similar belief in fiery spirits at Santa Cruz,
New Hebrides, where men say they see ghosts like
fire in the woods. The number of Ndaudhina is legion,
and the name means " always shining."
Winds are called princesses in some parts, and they
are given the title of a Fijian woman of rank. In
other localities they are looked upon as caused by
large birds flying through the air. For instance, the
east wind (dhdngi tokaldu) is supposed in Kandavu to be
1 " Kings and People of Fiji," 1866, p. 362.
in RELIGION 33
the pulsing of the air as the great " Mdnumdnu ni
Singalevu " (creature of the midday) passes by. In
these days this belief has become a poetical personifica-
tion of nature powers, but formerly had a superstitious
belief in wind spirits as its basis.
Some of the spirits in Fiji are widely known, others
are parochial. Some are male and some female.
Crude, horrible stories are told of some, whilst of
others we hear pretty, romantic tales, as for instance of a
goddess, who with her retinue of maidens bathes daily
in the waterfall at Vuya.1 Or it may be that a tree or
a rock is the usual abiding place of the spirit, and woe
be to him who should desecrate the sacred spot. One
of my boys dared to cut off a branch of a haunted tree
some time ago. On the following morning two of his
fowls lay dead near by. The boy is not to be convinced
that the spirit inhabiting the tree had nothing to do
with the death of the poultry.
It is most important to note that in few cases has
this spirit-cult developed into anything like a fixed
ritual, and seldom has there arisen a priest who should
regularly mediate between spirit and people. The
cult is consequently intermittent, and is suggested to
the individual by danger or some other special
circumstance.
One class of spirits deserves careful notice, viz., the
Luve ni wai, because the cult (if we may call it so) is
somewhat better organised than the others. We have
incidentally noticed the numerous Luve ni wai on
JMbiia. The name of the goddess is " Uwatangau."
D
34 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
page 32. They have, in addition to their dancing
powers, the special property of making a man in-
vincible in battle, besides being able to bestow many
other advantages. The Vutu, the man whose duty
it is to carry on the ceremony, generally comes from
Madhuata, which is a province of Vanua Levu, the
stronghold of spirit-worship in Fiji.
The Vutu received gifts as a reward for causing a
man to be invulnerable in battle. He was also the
chief figure in connection with the Luve ni zuai guild,
or secret society, whose members met together for
mutual help and advantage.1 The society assembled
at night, a fact which suggests the remnants of
an old cult that was relegated to the lower regions
in the days of Polynesian immigration. The fol-
lowing is a description of one of their meetings
told to me by an old Fijian. It is the nearest
approach to ordinary spirit-rapping that one could
well find.
First an offering of yanggona, the national drink,
is made to the Vutu ; after which the whole company
sit down in perfect darkness. The Vutu beats here
and there upon the floor or wall with a native axe.
A voice is heard saying " The spirit is coming," and
then another voice, presumably that of the approaching
spirit, says, " I have your knives and money." The
company ask, " Where ? " The place being indicated,
1 Apparently the organisation is less complex, and less beneficial
to Society in general, than either the Tamate or the Sukwe societies
of Banks'Isl. River;, "Hist, oi Melan. Soc," 1914, vol. i, p. 128.
It is a parasite society.
in RELIGION 35
an edge of a mat is lifted, and lo ! there lies the money
or the knife.
If one is being initiated into the guild a hand is
stretched out in the darkness and grasps the candidate.
It is supposed to be the hand of the spirit appearing.
Variations of the above ceremony are, of course, to be
found in the group. It may be said that detailed
information of the inner organisation of the society is
most difficult to obtain. Secrecy is one of its most
characteristic features.
The innocent are beguiled into the society of the
Liim ni wai in hope of wealth ; but often they are
disappointed, for the leader uses the organisation to
promote his own personal ambitions. Still, the osten-
sible object of the craft is mutual and material progress,
the imparting of knowledge, etc. Of late it has
developed into a secret patriotic society which opposes
the presence of all foreigners in Fiji. The guild is not
so highly organised as the Duk Duk society1 of New
Britain, neither does it use intimidation to so great
an extent to gain its ends. Priestcraft and super-
stition form the two main weapons of its devotees.
Members are said to be " Tamdta ndina " (true
men). A curious fact should be noted that members
guilty of lying are punished by the society which
is itself the very mother of lies.
When a man is obsessed, or rather possessed, by the
Luve ni wai, he can, so it is said, be struck in the
1 An interesting account of this is given by Dr. Brown,
" Melanesians and Polynesians.' pp. 60 ff.
D 2
36 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
abdomen with an axe and yet remain invulnerable.
I myself have spoken to a man who, in his heathen
days, was believed to have been proof against the
bullets of the Government troops.
In the Banks' Island, men possessed of spirits eat
fire, lift enormous weights, and execute feats of agility.1
Similarly in Fiji, so complete is the belief that it is
necessary to have the aid of water kelpies to do won-
derful things, that, even at the present time, numbers
of the natives think, and actually assert, that circus
acrobats2 in European countries are in league with the
spirits of the waters.
In respect of spirit- land in Melanesia, Dr. Codrington
states in his book that " there does not appear to be
anywhere in Melanesia a belief which animates any
natural object, a tree, a waterfall, stone, or rock, so as to
be to it what the soul is believed to be to the body of
man."3 Fiji and Melanesia are alike on this point.
Spirit-land is in a continual state of change, and definite
features are hard to delineate. Spirits wander, fly,
frequent, or haunt, as their caprice suggests, or rather
as the imagination or superstitions of men run riot.
Altogether we should probably do right to couple,
as being related, the belief in multitudinous spirits
in Fiji with the spirit-cult of Melanesia. The difference
is that, in the latter, the whole religious life of the people
1 Codrington, " Melanesian Anth. and Folklore," p. 219.
1 Since writing this I find that Mr. A. M. Hocart has made the
same observation. Paper on " Kaldu," Journ. Anth. Inst., 1912,
p. 447.
8 Codrington, ibid., p. 123.
in RELIGION 37
is practically confined to spirit-worship,1 whereas, in
Fiji, as we shall find, another cult has been super-
imposed by immigration, viz., that of organised
ancestor- worship .
The origin of the great mass of spirit-life is difficult
to trace, but two sources may be safely suggested, (i)
The effect of the animistic tendency of the native mind
towards nature is a very real source. Dr. L. Fison is
quoted by Dr. R. H. Codrington as saying that all
Fijian gods are ghosts, that is, spirits of the dead. But
there are whole classes of spiritual beings, such as
water kelpies, for instance, which are generally under-
stood to be nature-spirits throughout the world ; and
there are likewise in Fiji legions of woodland beings
and tree-spirits which could not possibly come under
the category of ghosts. They are the offspring of the
native imagination. (2) Also we may safely say that
many spirits owe their existence to the unusual appear-
ance of rock or tree. Sir A. Lyail's words are important
in this connection. He says that the primitive worship
of stones in India is due to that " simple awe of the
unusual which belongs to no particular region." The
emotion indicated by him has not reached the point
of wonder. Many cases of this branch of animism
might be cited in Fiji. The following illustrations will
suffice. Two large rocks standing together at Lakemba,
1 " It is thoroughly in accordance with my scheme of Melanesian
history that in Southern Melanesia it should be the cult of ghosts
which requires looking for, while the cult of spirits is the prominent
and obvious feature of the magical and religious rites." — Rivers,
"Hist, of Melan. Soc," vol. ii, p. 419.
38 FIJIAN SOCIETY ch. hi
are said to be a god and goddess who have done wrong
and are, therefore, changed to stone. At Kandavu,
there is a huge mushroom-shaped rock called Soloremba
which is said to be the home of a spirit.
Nature-worship, however, does not account for all
spirits. There are regular additions to the spirit-
throng by deterioration of ancestor- worship. When a
man dies leaving children behind him, they remember
him and make him offerings. If there are no children
the clan cannot take up the children's duty, but it
recognises the place of burial. The sanction of
" Tdmbu " (taboo) keeps it inviolate. No man will
wantonly desecrate the place, nor cut down trees
growing there. If anyone were to intrude carelessly,
and his child, for example, were to become ill soon
after, the Fijians would argue concerning his mis-
fortune according to the logic of post hoc,
propter hoc, and say that the child sickened because
of his father's sacrilege. The only course open to the
father would be to " Sdro " or make amends by giving
yanggdna to the elders of the tribe. Gradually the
remembrance of the dead would fade as his immediate
friends passed away, but the sanctity of the spot would,
to some extent, cling to it. It would be a haunted
place. Thus the soul of a man may tend to deteriorate
into an ordinary spirit frequenting a woodland copse.
This was a retribution all too terrible for a Fijian to
contemplate ; hence his dread lest he should leave no
family behind him to save his name from passing into
swift oblivion.
CHAPTER IV
ANCESTOR- WORSHIP
In turning to ancestor worship we must refer to the
classification of gods made by the Rev. Thos. Williams.
He says there are two classes — the Kalou Vu (real
gods) and Kalou (ghosts). But, in truth, there is no
difference of kind between the two classes mentioned
by him. There is a difference only of degree. Let
us take, for instance, Ndengei, the so-called chief god
of Fiji. He is a real god in the sense in which
Mr. Williams uses the term. Yet there is nothing
surer, if we may follow tradition, than that he is a
" Ydlo " or ghost ; and that he was once a chief,
who, in company with Lutunasombusombu, was an
early immigrant to Fiji. This is stated definitely and
generally in the legends of the people.
As another illustration let us refer to Tanovu, the
god of Ono. Tanovu is expressly asserted by his own
devotees to have been a man1 ; and at the same time
1 So A. M. Hocart with respect to all Kalou Vu. Journ. Anthrop.
Inst. 1912, p. 445. I heartily agree with Mr. Hocart that Kalou
in general are the " dead." Vid. ibid., p. 448. That nature spirits
have coalesced with them is the result of the weakness of the native
mind in discrimination.
39
4o FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
they call him their " Kalou Vu " (lit., God-Origin).
The name Kalou Vu gives the clue to the solution of
the question, and this will be made clearer in a later
chapter.
But it should be well noted here that, in Fijian
ancestor- worship, there is a general and special aspect,
which latter becomes a cult of particular and superior
ghosts. (For the latter see below, p. 25 ff-)
With regard to the ordinary nature-spirits, offerings
made to them were widespread, yet were only presented
by individual men, or parties of men, on special
occasions. The usage, therefore, depended upon whim
or caprice, and consequently was desultory. This
does not mean that the offerings were seldom made.
On the contrary, gifts were fairly frequent. One writer
informs us that, in a certain place, a large heap of leaves
had collected, being thrown there by travellers who
feared the spirits residing in the place. There was
no fixed rule, however, by which the offering
was determined.
In ancestor-worship, on the other hand, there is
rather more order maintained. It is the bounden
duty of the children to supply the departed relative
with food and to present him with offerings of various
kinds. In former days, food was placed in the grave
itself ; and, even at the present time, so I am informed,
a grave has been supplied with biscuits, as at Yauravu,
or with cooked bananas, as at Ngau. Amongst the
Wainimala tribes (Viti Levu), a special enclosure, called
" The Nangga," was often used for presenting these
iv ANCESTOR-WORSHIP 41
gifts to the ancestral ghosts.1 Wives considered it
their right and duty to visit the grave and commune
there with the spirit of the departed husband, weeping
and appealing to him to reveal the cause of death.
Witchcraft was supposed to be detected in this manner.
Ancestor-worship of this simple type is also found in
Melanesia.2
As to the origin of ancestor-worship, it is usually
contended that dreams are the cause of the belief in
the future existence of relatives. A man who sees
the form of the dead in a dream is said to be prepared
to accept the existence and reality of the departed soul.
And again, he who himself travels in his dream is
quite ready to believe the statement that he actually
left his body, and experienced, for the time being,
the life of the spirit. This is true of the Fijian.
Further, every Fijian has come to think that he will
live beyond the grave. A very human custom has
arisen therefrom and is practised constantly among
the islanders when a man is about to die ; it is the
" Tatdu " or bidding farewell.3 To omit this solemn
little ceremony in olden days was considered a calamity.
During the procedure the dying man gave directions
as to what should be done with his personal effects ;
he then usually added as a kind of warning to his
relatives the words : " And I will be with you."
Since the Fijians have become Christianised they still
1 Dr. L. Fison, " The Nanga," p. 13.
* Codrington, " Melanesian Anth. and Folklore," p. 121.
'The same farewell is customary in Tahiti, and was known as
the " tutu " Ellis, " Polynesian Researches," vol. iii, 115.
42 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
think it a bad sign if a person dies without a proper
farewell.
It is narrated of Ndengei, the chief god, that when
he was about to die, he turned the farewell phrase
into a threat of oppression. " I will be with you to
trouble you," said he. Threats and curses were
common enough on death-beds. A comparatively
recent case of cursing occurred to my knowledge at
Nambukelevu, Kandavu.
All this tended to confirm in the religious practices
of the natives what is known to us as ancestor- worship.
The memory of a solemn vow, request, or curse
would be exceedingly vivid in the Fijians' imagination,
and, indeed, would become almost a voice to intimidate
them, sounding from the other world. A very real
conviction sprang up in their minds that, if they did
not attend to the will of the dead man, the latter would
assuredly be able to make the survivors suffer for their
negligence.
Gradually the system of ancestor-worship became
elaborate. To-day there are mysterious paths along
the tops of the highest ranges in Fiji, all leading
backwards to the place from which, according to legend,
the people drifted in days gone by. The Fijian of the
present period believes that the spirits made the
paths. It is patent, however, that the larger trees
were cut down in ancient times for the benefit of the
dead, and, perhaps, for the more practical purposes
of warfare. Thus the home-sickness of the Fijian
" Pilgrim Fathers " has wrought itself into the super-
iv ANCESTOR-WORSHIP 43
stition of the race. The pathway is called the "Sdla
ni Ydlo" that is, the pathway of the spirits.1
The ghosts of men climb from their villages along
the nearest spur until they reach the top of the range,
whence they speed away to the place from which they
leap into the sea. At one point in Kandavu, called in
Fijian Nainggoro, there is a rock which is supposed
to be the canoe that ferries the dead on their way.
In former times it was a custom for young cocoa-
nuts to be placed two and two for chiefly souls to
drink while en route. Food also was prepared for
them as they passed to the lands of the blessed.
But here we meet with a difficulty. The souls
speed away to the blessed abode, yet they remain.
The problem is not to be solved by saying the native
believed that the reflection of the man goes to heaven
and that his shadow remains. Such an explanation
would be an afterthought in primitive philosophy.
We must go further back in the mental experience of
the natives and discover more simple elements in their
ideas. The true explanation is to be found in the law
of association. After the body has been buried, the
mental make-up of the survivor forces him to believe
that the dead man is still there. Hence, as we have
seen, the spot becomes sacred. But, again, the
survivor sits in his house and hears the tropical hurri-
cane raging without,2 he sees his house rocking with the
1 For a good account vid. Thomson's, " The Fijians," p. 119.
* The thought of the weather as affecting the dead caused the
natives to build houses over the graves. A. M. Hocart, Journ. Anth.
Inst. (1912), p. 448.
44 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
force of the tempest, and he cannot believe that the
soul of his father is out there near the grave, exposed
to the fury of the elements. He, therefore, almost
unconsciously, constructs a heavenly home for him
where he will be safe and at ease. Thus probably
arose a belief in the two souls. The barbarian then
explains this conception of two souls by saying that the
reflection of the dead has gone to the spirit-land, and
the shadow remains at the place of burial. A similar
idea is to be found in Santa Cruz, where the souls go
to the great volcano Tamami, are burnt, renewed, and
stay there ; yet they are most certainly seen in the
bush at Santa Cruz by night.1
Souls liberated from the bondage of the body are
not the same as they were in life ; for they are endued
with higher powers. They come to have a special
capacity for doing either good or evil. Thus, if relatives
wanted a favour from their dead, they were accustomed
to visit the grave, and, after proffering gifts in Fijian
fashion, make the request.
Likewise, it was customary for a man to go to the
place of burial and sit there for a time offering presents,
after which he would return to the village obsessed
by his sire, and would challenge anyone to slash him
with a knife or an axe. He believed himself invulner-
able. After such an exhibition, it was generally easy
to get from his fellow-natives what he coveted in the
way of food, clothes, etc. In this case, spirit-worship
and ghost-worship are not far from one another.
1 Codrington, " Melanesian Anth. and Folklore," p. 264
iv ANCESTOR-WORSHIP 45
From the foregoing, we infer that filial affection is
not the root principle of ancestor-worship in Fiji.
There is more of "Do ut des " in religious devotion
paid to dead forbears, just as " Do ut abeas " is more
dominant in ordinary spirit-worship. Whatever of
filial affection may linger in the heart of the survivor,
it tends to be submerged in the fear of a supernatural
being who is looked upon as being more and more
potent to wield supernatural instruments. Departed
souls become more and more identified with that
fearful other world, and they take on the character of
dispensers of evil to all who thwart their wishes. In
short, they become gods ; and, as a clue to the general
conception in Fiji of their character as gods, it may
be cited that the chiefs in Dhakaundrove were deified
before they were dead, their principal claim to
apotheosis being their most inhuman cruelty. The
cruel man was the prospective god.
The key-stone of Fijian ancestor- worship is found in
the Kalou Vu. The Kalou Vu is the Abraham of the
clan or tribe, and tends to become its official deity.1
The Kalou Vu, being the originator of the clan, was
always a chief. When he died, he was revered as the
Vu or beginning of the clan, and corresponded very
closely to the Semitic patriarch. Later, his memory
became so reverenced that he was constituted the
patron god of the clan. His deeds were lauded and
1 Compare Thomson, " The Fijians," p. 5, also A. M. Hocart,
American Anthropologist, Oct.-Dec., 1915, p. 638. Also Journ.
Antk. Inst. (1913), p. 102
46 FIJIAN SOCIETY . ch. iv
magnified, and recorded in song, and the fear of his
power daily increased. Men gathered in after years
on the village green or on the war canoes, to talk of days
when the clan-hero lived. Myths and legends clustered
around his name until he became a true culture-
champion. New material was found and readily
fitted into the story. The Kaldu Vu gradually became
the central figure of a world of myth, legend, and
miracle, which position an ordinary spirit of the woods
or sea could never achieve.
When the clans became too numerous to live in
one place, new clans formed and broke off the parent
stock, each with its own chiefly leader. This leader,
in his turn, might become the deity of his people.
But in the creation of many such minor Vu, the
honour of the original Kaldu Vu increased, and he
was raised in dignity (if the separate clans cohered in
policy and interest) to be the god of a composite
tribe. As an excellent illustration of this development
from cfan-Vu to tribe- Vu we quote the case of Tanovu
at Ono, whose story we give in the next chapter.
CHAPTER V
ancestor-worship — continued
Tanovu, the Kalou Vu of Ono, Kandavu
On the face of a cliff in the Island of Ono, there is
a gigantic footprint four feet long and more than a
foot wide. The indent of the great toe is almost
perfect, and the whole appearance is suspiciously like
the handiwork of man.
On the face of a cliff upon the opposite shore in
Kandavu there is another footprint, also gigantic in
scale.
These two marks were said in olden times to have
been made by Tanovu, a clan-leader in the days of
immigration. The legend goes that the strait between
the islands of Ono and Kandavu was not wide enough
to suit Tanovu, for it was too narrow to allow of his
dipping the great " Kitu " (water-pot) into the sea.
He, therefore, placed one foot on Ono and another on
Kandavu, pushing them apart till the passage became
three or four miles in width. The object of Tanovu 's
herculean task was that he might with ease dip his
enormous " Kitu " into the water. As was his custom,
one day he was filling his water- vessel, and so mighty
was the stream which rushed in that a huge canoe
48 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
filled with warriors from Naidhombodhombo in Vanua
Levu, was sucked in. But, strange to say, the god
knew not that anything untoward had happened until
the owner of the canoe, anxious on account of its long
absence, came searching for his property. Then the
giant was fain to confess that he had seen some little
rubbish floating into his kitu when he went to dip
water. In a most accommodating fashion, he opened
the bottle or pot, and lo ! there was heard the hum
of voices, there too was seen the canoe tacking back-
wards and forwards on the surface of the water.
The foregoing is a story which the natives of Ono
never tire of telling. It is like " Jack and the Bean-
stalk " to their vivid imagination. While they delight
in these fantastic legends, they pride themselves that
Tanovu was not only big and wonderful, but that he
was able also to do, and actually accomplished, some
very useful public works.
The old story has it that the central part of Ono
was too low, much lower by contrast than Nambukelevu
(Mt. Washington), which was situated on the opposite
island of Kandavu. There dwelt on Nambukelevu a
veritable spirit of Vesuvius, called Tautaumolau.
Tanovu, being jealous of the high mountain in which
the rival spirit resided, resolved to build up a mountain
fort in the centre of his own island. He did so, and
the mountain is now named " Nggilai Tangane." The
manner in which he accomplished this tremendous
task is as follows : —
Tan6vu had two wives who, in a spirit ot rivalry,
v ANCESTOR-WORSHIP 49
dug great masses of earth from deep gullies (still to be
seen near Nambouwalu), and raised their fort called
" Nggilai Yalewa " to a height somewhat above
" Nggilai Tangane." The pride displayed on this
occasion by his own wives was very humiliating to
the stern old Kalou Vu, and roused his anger to such
an extent that, with one kick of his mighty foot, he
knocked the top off the mountain which his wives
had been raising. He, thereupon, set himself to build
up his own mountain at the expense of the rival
spirit in Nambukelevu. So then, having placed his
warriors on a hill thirty minutes' walk from Vambea
to watch for his return, he made a furtive descent upon
his enemy's mountain. Once there, he began to dig
out the earth from the crest of it, and to fill his
huge wicker basket.
While thus engaged, Tautaumolau saw him and
made all haste to save his ancient home. Upon which
Tanovu muttered : " Sa vura mai ko ka," in the
dialect of Ono, which being interpreted means,
11 Here he comes." Now this saying was highly taboo
in Ono until recent times. He was counted an evil
character who should report a coming visitor by the
words " Here he comes."
The god, having taken the alarm, snatched his basket
of earth and fled before his foe. The chase went
sometimes along . the great southern reef, and some-
times along the spirit path of Kandavu.
Tautaumolau was joined in the pursuit of Tanovu
by the god of Tavuki, and also by the god of Yale.
£
50 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
And in the zigzag running which resulted from such an
unequal struggle much earth fell out of Tanovu 's
basket, forming the many islands now to be seen
dotting the lagoon within the reef on the ocean side
of Kandavu.
The chase continued even unto Nainggoro. Tanovu
had, perforce, to speed thence as far as Solo. From
Nainggoro, there was only one pursuer, however, for
the spirits of Yale and Tavuki grew aweary in the
race, and desisted.
The dropping of earth continued as Tanovu fran-
tically jerked his basket along. Hence we have the
pretty island of Ndravuni, and the rest of those
romantic little islets to the north-east of Ono, celebrated
amongst the Fijians as the home of the turtle.
But there must come an end to all things, and
Tanovu arrived at last at the end of the reef. At
Solo he began to descend into the deep, and terror
of the Kandavu Channel gat hold of him. He be-
thought himself that it was time to change his tactics.
Therefore, retaliating upon the pursuing deity, he
cried out in stentorian tones : " Turn, ye sons of Ono.'
And the battle turned once more towards Kandavu,
Tanovu this time being the pursuer, but not before
Tanovu had dropped his basket at Solo ; and so we
have the circular reef and the rock in that place to
this day.
It is at this juncture that the Ono minstrel waxes
warm and enthusiastic as he tells the story ; for does
not their champion show himself true flint at the
ANCESTOR- WORSHIP 51
crisis of the conflict ? The battle having turned to
Kandavu, Tautaumolau was there brought to bay
below Tiliva and above Nakasaleka. It must have
been an awesome sight when the giant of the extinct
volcano actually hid himself behind the headland
from his unrelenting foe. The latter stood on a
ledge of rock which the writer has visited. There
are to be seen distinctly the footprints of Tanovu 's
feet (much smaller than those on the cliffs) and
the mark of his spear, as he held it on end
before him in challenge to Tautaumolau. Tanovu
then made his great and renowned thrust, and the
proof of his godlike prowess is, that the headland
behind which Tautaumolau lay hid was pierced
through by the spear of Ono's hero. The denouement
of the duel seems to be that Tanovu was victorious,
and a " Mangiti " (gift of food) was sent to him from
Nambukelevu in token of the fact. The mangiti
took the form of " Mandrdi vundi " (plantain bread)
and a pig. This particular kind of native bread was
made exceptionally well by the people of Nambukelevu,
and, when ready, was cut up into large pieces almost
the size of kerosene cases. When presented to a
chief it was the custom to pile it up in heaps like
stacks of boxes. Part of the mangiti in question never
reached Ono, but was delayed half-way up near
Malowai, where it now stands petrified. On top may
be seen the pig in the form of a rounded rock of larger
size. The place is called "Sdlomandrdi Vundi " (rock
alantain bread). From this circumstance there is a
e 2
52 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Fijian joke. For, when no " Kenai dhoi " (flesh food)
is forthcoming at a feast the youths gibe each other by
saying : " Go to Solomandrai Vundi for the ' Kenai
dhoi.1 " One portion of the gift actually arrived at
Ono, and it may be seen in the shape of rocky strata
near Nukuloa.
Such then is the story of Tanovu in which
s recorded the many serviceable acts rendered
by him on behalf of posterity. If we now turn to
more local legends we may find other traces of this
grand old personality of Ono. His army is still to
be seen and wondered at, as it crowns the height
thirty minutes' walk from Vambea. The men-at-arms
are rocks like the boulders in glacial deposits. From
a distance they look somewhat like an army on watch.
Until ten years ago, a single boulder was caught in
the fork of a " Nokonoko " (Casuarina equisetifolid)
tree on the summit of the ridge. It was the sentinel
who was set to look for the approaching battle between
Tanovu and Tautaumolau. At the time already
mentioned, the tree was blown down by a strong wind.
But the adamantine watchman has not perished with
the lapse of years. He lies amongst his fellows.
Near to the army, are two conical mounds. I
climbed to the top of one and found that, though very
large, it was of a symmetrical shape ; and the
other was flattened somewhat on one side. These
are the ground-ovens which were in the process of
baking while the army kept watch. The legend is
that one had been opened ; for, in that oven which
v ANCESTOR-WORSHIP 53
was flat on one side, the food was properly cooked.
But, before the second was ready, the fight came swiftly
and intercepted the culinary operations. There is an
interesting addition to the story. It is asserted by
* some that the oven in which the food was cooked was
filled with " Uvi " (yams), " Nddlo " (taro), and the
rest of the edible roots and fruits of Kandavu and Ono.
Wherefore they are edible at the present time. The
other " Ldvo " (ground-oven) was filled with many
kinds of roots and fruits which, being uncooked, have
become the poisonous roots and fruits in the island
unto this day. In the locality of the ovens, is a large
leafed plant called " At tutuvi i Tanovu " (oven cover).
It grows in no other place in Ono and is supposed to
be the shrub, the leaf of which was used in the packing
of the ovens before mentioned.
There is the oven, and there is the shrub used in
the oven. Where is the " Sanggd" (pot) of Tanovu ?
It is a rock near Leweti, and is peculiarly like a Fijian
sanggd. It was intact until recently, when some
Ndravuni women broke off the mouth of it. Where-
fore the Ndravuni women are much to be blamed.
But a more wonderful stone lies in the bay not far
from Narikoso. It is a rock with a curious hole in it,
and the legend is that if you point at this hole, Tanovu
will send fierce storms upon the land. Consequently,
if any town in Ono had an especially welcome visitor,
the inhabitants were accustomed to point at this rock
in order to bring a strong wind and so prevent the
visitor's departure. I have undoubted proof that there
54 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
are men in Ono to-day who very much respect this
potent stone.1
Proceeding inland, we find that Tanovu was not always
surefooted, for at Ndawani do we not find his slide ?
It is an unusual formation. A deep mark is scored
in the side of a ridge, and, passing down the slope,
cuts through the top of the adjacent ridge. I find
no evidence that Tanovu was playful, so I presume that
he accidentally stumbled and fell. The name of the
slide is " Ai titinddra net Tanovu " (the slide of
Tanovu).
While we are inland, we notice that part of the island
is bare of forest trees. Now who else could have caused
the phenomenon but Tanovu ? And, according to
the native version, it is very clear that he was the cause
of it. If anyone disbelieves this, the very place is
pointed out, called " Re'vu ni masdwi" where Tanovu
had been baking " Vasili," a kind of colouring for
native puddings. Tanovu went to bathe, carelessly
1 The following observation made by Mr. A. M. Hocart in the
Revue Internationale d'Ethnologie, 191 1, p. 727, describes a very
similar practice of the natives of Lakemba with regard to a stone
situated between Yanrana and Vakano.
" Emosi n'est qu'un homme d'age mur, mais il est dote d'une
memoire formidable, ou sont accumulees une masse de traditions.
II accuse le seigneur de Tumbou d 'ignorance crasse et raconte ce
qui suit : Cette pierre a deux esprits (tevoro), l'un nomme Tui
Tarukua (Seigneur de Tarukua) est male et hante le recif au passage
de Vunikau ; l'esprit femelle, Dhakausunggeva, habite au passage
de Lotoi de l'autre cot6 de Tumbou. Si des jeunes filles venaient
en visite de l'etranger, et que les jeunes gens voulaient prolonger
leur sejour, ils allaient f rapper la pierre et prier l'esprit femelle de
produire une crue qui retarda leur depart ; si d'autre part des jeunes
hommes venaient passer quelque temps a Lakemba et plaisaient aux
jeunes filles, celles-ci allaient faire la m6me requete a l'esprit male.
v ANCESTOR-WORSHIP 55
leaving the " Revu " (word for ground-oven in Ono).
Some of the " Nggildiso " (coals) started a fire which
spread far and wide, and was only stopped by the hero
himself. Wherever the fire went, there did the forest
trees cease to grow.
The most interesting relic of all remains to be dis-
cussed. Tanovu was an ancient axe-grinder. That is,
he was in the habit of grinding stone-axes, many of
which can still be found in the villages. And we have
Tanovu 's sharpening-stone with which he did his work.
I have seen it for myself, and can vouch for the implicit
belief of the natives that it is actually the sharpening
stone of their tribal god. It is a huge rock, several
tons in weight, lying overturned near a stream in a
gully ten minutes' walk from Vambea. As one
approaches it, one finds nothing remarkable in its
appearance. But, on looking underneath, one sees that
it was a veritable sharpening-stone, ground out in huge
scallops, defying a master mason to do them better.
The spaces between the scallops were grooved very
nicely, and the whole surface appeared as if it were
the work of one man. In earlier days, great " Mangiti "
(feasts) used to be brought to the stone, especially in
war-time, in order that the help of the great spirit of
Tanovu might be invoked on behalf of his posterity.
Religious axe-grinders in very truth !
Tanovu also was a slinger, and his slingstone, most
beautifully rounded, still lies in the town of Vambea
to be admired by lovers of anthropology.
And now, before I introduce Tanovu himself, I will
56 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
relate how he acted towards the " Kakd " (a parrot),
and the tree called the " Nddlinddli." x
The parrot named above annoyed the god with his
raucous screech. In a fit of rage the latter took upon
him his mighty strength, and, tearing up a nddlinddli
tree, flung it after the kakd. Consequently Tanovu
did for Ono in respect of the nddlinddli trees what
St. Patrick did for Ireland in respect of the snakes •
he exterminated them. And if you take kakd or
nddlinddli to Ono to-day, they will without exception
die away.
On the ocean-side of Ono, high upon a mountain,
stands a hoary rock. It is Tanovu. In some way or
other the ancient Kalou Vu had come to be identified
with the rock. In days of war he had often been
propitiated in his rock-form by plentiful feasts and
offerings. Beneath, in the water of the ocean, lie
submerged two other rocks. They are the wives of
the male god. Legend asserts that, between him and
them, shall grow no tree so high as to intercept Tanovu 's
watchful, stony gaze. But his time has gone by. Also
the power he once wielded over his wives is waning ;
and the proof is that some trees are at last beginning
to grow up between him and them.
The influence of Tanovu has been very great.
First he appeared as clan-hero, and gradually, as the
original clan broke up into others, its clan-god evolved
into a tribal god honoured by most of the people in
1 This tree is named " Nddninddm " in the Mbauan dialect.
There arc several kinds.
v ANCESTOR-WORSHIP 57
One The stories concerning him gradually increased
in number ' and incredibility. The deeds of an
ordinary man were magnified again and again by his
ardent followers. Nothing was denied him. Peculi-
arities of the fauna and flora, and of geology, even
to the formation of the islands themselves, were
readily believed to have been caused by him.1 The fogs
of the ages made him loom in fantastic greatness ;
and so the belief grew that " there were giants in those
days."
1 Oat of Banks' Islands is another hero who has the same powers
in Melanesian mythology. He, however, is more like a sprite than
a giant such as Tanovu. Maui and his brothers of New Zealand
folk-lore are Maori culture heroes, who are responsible for curious
geological formation. Vid. Sir George Grey, " Polynesian Myth-
ology," p. 11 ff.
CHAPTER VI
the KALdu vu — continued
We have seen that spirit-worship and general
ancestor- worship differ in that the former was less
orderly than the latter, and yet, in Fiji, neither was
looked upon as official. But the reverence and ser-
vice paid to the Kalou Vu (which is a special form of
ancestor- worship) were official, as will be readily
perceived from the following considerations : —
(i) A priest was appointed as soon as the cult of the
clan was established, and his business was to see that
the tribal devotions and offerings were carried out
properly.
(2) The gradual development of a priestly family in
the clan shows that the official character of the cult
had a tendency to become firm. In some cases, the
hereditary nature of the priestly office was so strong
that even a woman might succeed to it.
(3) Land disputes are occasionally settled at the
present time and boundaries adjusted by appeal to the
residence of the Kalou Vu ; this is not only a proof
of the official nature of the cult, but also of the
fact that the Vu was the first to claim ownership of
land.
58
ch. vi THE KALdU VU
59
(4) Tribes and clans far distant from each other
often claim relationship, upon the ground that they are
" Kalou Vu Vdta" that is, recognising the same
Kalou Vu.
(5) The claim which the descendants of the Kalou
Vu had upon each other clearly confirms the view we
are now taking. If a stranger had the same Vu as
the residents of a particular town, he had the privilege,
when passing through, of taking anything of which
he had need. The understanding was, in most cases,
that his friends might return the compliment at some
future time.
In illustration of the above custom, there is an
account given in the Government Report 1 of the
meeting of chiefs at Mbau, of a difficulty created by
the practice referred to. Some people from Ngau,
under cover of this custom, killed and ate a pig which
they found at Mbatiki, with which place they were
" Kalou vu vdta." In the discussion which followed
on the case, Ratu Osea, one of the chiefs, said that the
custom was a right and good thing.
As examples of No. (4), we might put on record
innumerable instances of common origin. The system
has spread like a network all over Fiji, until scarcely
a town is without its " common origin " relatives.
The following instances will suffice : —
The residents of Nasavu (Vanua Levu) and of Ono
(Lau) are " Tduvu vdta." The same is true of Mbau,
Namiika (Madhuata) and Navatu (Dhakaundrove) : —
1 Official Report, 17th Dec, 1879.
60 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Yanudha (Dhakaundrove), Mbenau (Taviune), Dhau-
tata (Mbau), Levuka (Ngau), Somosomo (Ngau),
and Ngasau (Koro) : — Soso (Kandavu) and Muaira
(Yasawa) : — Vutia (Rewa) and Tavuki (Kandavu) : —
Lasakau (Clan Nambou at Mbau) and Nawaisomo
(Mbengga) : — Nawaisomo (clan Vatuvia) and Mokani
(Mbau) : — Malambi (Mbengga) and Namboualu
(Ono) : — Ndakuni (Mbengga, clan Vangandra) and
Lakemba : — Natauloa (Nairai) and Somosomo : —
Nadhiila (Yasawa) and Wailevu (Dhakaundrove) : —
Yanawai (Wailevu) and Vatulele (Koro) : — Nodho and
Nayau (Lau) : — Muanaidhake (Lau) and Ketei : —
Mundu (Koro) and Ketei (Totoya) : — Viiniwaiwai
(Dholo), Nakumbuna (Ngau), Ravitaki (Kandavu),
Nasoki (Moala) and Ndravuni (Kandavu) — The list
of towns thus linked up might be lengthened inter-
minably.
There are three convertible terms by which the
" common origin " of the clan might be described,
viz. : — Tduvu vdta (same origin), Veitduvii (mutual
origin), and Kalou Vu vdta (same god-origin). The
first two relate only to similar origin. The last indicates
that the origin was looked upon as divine, or that the
progenitor had been raised, by the course of circum-
stances, to the state of divinity. The case of the four
towns, Navuniwaiwai, Ravitaki, Nakumbuna and
Nasoki, which have the same Kalou Vu, shows this
very clearly. The Kalou Vu in those towns is
Ngauniika, and the god had a " Ydvu " or sacred
foundation in each of them. Hence, the four villages
VI
THE KALdU VU 61
are connected by a divine pedigree, and the god
himself is honoured by religious worship.1
The story in connection with the relationship
between the districts of Nodho and Nayau (Lau) is
one which includes both the human and the divine
elements. It runs as follows : — The fishermen of
Nodho went to Nasilai (Rewa) to fish, and discovered
1 On the whole subject of Kalou Vu vdta, Mr. A. M. Hocart has a
most informative article in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute
of Great Britain, 1913, p. 102. He points out that he has found
no instance where the Kalou Vu is identical in clans which are
Kalou Vu vdta. With rare insight, he suggests that Kalou Vu vdta
refers to the Kalou Vu of various tribes being associated together by
marriage, at the same time keeping their individual identity. In
the face of the evidence he adduces, we are compelled to widen
at least the accepted meaning of the phrase. That we need not
give up entirely the old translation is supported by the example
I give above of Navuniwaiwai, Ravitaki, Nakumbuna, and Nasoki,
all of which were Kalou Vu vdta, and the Kalou Vu through whom
they were connected was Ngauniika. Further, this god had a ydvu
or sacred foundation in each town. All the clans paid him religious
worship.
In such cases where the Kalou Vu are not identical, there is a
subtle meaning of the word vdta which should not be overlooked,
that is, the reference to an equality of status. The word excludes
superiority in the one or the other, and also the possibility of serfdom
in either clan. " Tauvu may not meet in battle : so at least in
Namuka, Vanua Levu." (A. M. Hocart, Man, p. 6, note.)
When two clans are united by the marriage tie, it may be said
further, though the Kalou Vu may be associated only, and not
identical, it will follow of course that the associated Kalou Vu
will be held in mutual respect. The fact that the clan-members
have " common ghosts " (as Mr. Hocart calls them), amongst their
forefathers would be a religious tie of first-rate importance, and
the outstanding feature of this kind of clan-connection. Mr.
Hocart says in another article that the tie between tauvu and tauvu
is religious. (Man, 1914, p. 193.)
Kalou Vu vdta may have a further meaning. The clans con-
cerned may retain their own individual Kalou Vu, and, at the same
time, come by marriage to give to a third origin ghost a respect and
reverence which raise it to the position of a real Kalou Vu.
62 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
there a shark stranded on the beach. When they
opened the fish they found a girl still alive. Full of
astonishment, they asked the maiden whence she came.
T.o which she answered, " from Nayau," but the
whereabouts of the town she did not know. The
chief herald of Nodho claimed her as his wife and
subsequently she bore him a son whose name was Viivu.
This son became the Kalou Vu of Nodho. From the
foregoing circumstances Nodho and Nayau have
become related.1
It is remarkable that the majority of these clan-
relationships are based on marriages. Either a woman
flies to another town and is married there, or
she has been stolen, or has been wrecked at
the place, and subsequently has become the mother
of a chiefly race. The fact is important when we
consider carefully the case of No. (4) mentioned
above. The relationship of clan with clan is nothing
more than a development of the Vdsn right.2
And, although the connection usually takes place far
back in the history of the people, the clan considers
itself, like the Vdsii-chiXd, to be at liberty to commandeer
property belonging to the related clans. As stated by
Governor Thurston in Commodore Goodenough's
report,3 " Veitauvu are descended from the same
1 Mr. Basil Thomson records independently this story.
2 It was a source of gratification to me after having made these
observations to find that Mr. A. M. Hocart had taken the same
aspect of the tduvii relationship on which to build his theory that
tduvu originated in exogamy. Journ. Anth. Inst., 1913, p. 104.
The whole tendency of the inquiry is to support his theory.
3 July, 1874.
vi THE KALdU VU 63
communal family ; they have the same fathers, or in
other words, the same gods ; they may take each
other's property," etc.1 In confirmation of the close
likeness between the individual Vdsu and the clan
which is tduvu vdta with another clan, it is definitely
asserted that Vuvu, the Kaldu Vu of Nodho, was Vdsu
to Nayau, and his mother (the girl who came from the
shark) was Vdsu to Vanua Levu because her mother
had gone from the latter place in former times to
Nayau, and had married there. Thus, there were
amongst the Kaldu Vu individuals who were Vdsu,
just as, at the present time, we find them amongst the
ordinary people. It is more than likely, however, that
the Vdsu right, as found amongst the Kalous, is really
a modern development of their mythical history.
Passing from the subject of Ve'itauvii, the question
now arises, was there ever an Olympus in Fiji ? The
answer may be given very simply — There were tribal
gods because there were tribes ; but there were no
national gods because there was no nation. The
Rev. J. Waterhouse's division of " gods most widely
known " means just what it says and no more. A
" god most widely known " was not necessarily a god
higher in the scale of divinity. There was no hierarchy
of gods or spirits in Fiji.
The truth is that the Fijian never got beyond the
tribal god. Ndengei is said to be the chief god of
Fiji, but the Rev. Thos. Williams admits that only a
1 Dhakaundr6ve must first present a whale's tooth before taking
goods from Namuka or Moala. A. M. Hocart, Man, (1914), p. 194.
64 FIJIAN SOCIETY ch. vi
very small number paid any worship or reverence to
him. His priests have no power whatever over priests
of other gods. The inhabitants of the Group (other
than those living around Kauvandra, Viti Levu) made
no offerings to him, and his power is nothing to them
as compared with their own Kalou Vu or their
parochial spirits
How then does Ndengei come to be classed as the
chief god of Fiji ? Simply and only because he was
first in time amongst Kalou Vu, and because he was
nearest to the root of the dominant race in Fiji. As
the various new tribes were formed, they slowly broke
away from their interest in the parent tribe, and made
new interests often antagonistic to it ; and so Ndengei
correspondingly lost his power over them.
Ndengei might have been the Zeus of a Fijian
Olympiad if further integration had taken place under
some Fijian Napoleon. No such personality had
arisen up to the time of the introduction of Christianity.
Dhakombau was the nearest approach to such a
conqueror, and even he exercised a merely nominal
authority over those tribes that were immediately
near him.
In some respects, Ndengei was like Zeus, for he was
the god of thunder and earthquake ; also he was
embodied in a snake like the Greek divinity. He had,
however, none of the strong activity or force of Zeus.
If he had been the chief god in a hierarchy, his character
would, doubtless, have become more virile.
CHAPTER VII
SACRED STONES AND IMAGES
By sacred stones, I mean those which have been
regarded by the natives, at some time or other, as gods.
There are no true idols in Fiji.1 Nor did the Fijian
attempt to carve his god to any form. It was sufficient
for him if something mysterious were to happen in
connection with a rock or tree in order to constitute
it as divine.
Of such sacred stones there are not a few in the
various islands of the Group.2 At Mbau, for instance,
there is lying near the Mission House a rounded stone
which was once a fish-god. I have already men-
tioned a rock of the kind in the story of Tanovu,
p. 55. The prominent rock on the brow of a hill in
Ono overlooking the broad Pacific is supposed to be
intimately connected with that august deity. Though
he himself was easily thought of as dwelling in other
places, he was regarded as being particularly present
in the stone referred to. We easily recognise here the
incipient idea of omnipresence.
1 Erskine, " Western Pacific Islands," p. 252.
2 Rev. A. J. Webb mentions water-worn stones as being gods
in the hill -country. They were called Nakalouvdtu. A list. Assoc,
for Adv. of Sci. (1890), p. 622.
65 p
66 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
There is a remarkable stone in Soso, Kandavu, which
is very ancient, and still commands the fearful awe of
the people in the village. It is called the " Vdtu
Vuka " (flying stone), and is probably meteoric in its
origin. It is closely related to the Kalou Vu of the
place, in so much as they say that it is the god himself,
and that it flew from the Yasawa Islands to Soso.
In former times nothing of importance would have
been undertaken by the tribe without consulting this
oracle, and the people were in the habit of bringing
large feasts to it.
At present the stone lies half-buried at the rear of a
disused house-foundation belonging to the old line of
chiefs. Christianity has shorn off much of its ancient
power. But the residue of its potency is by no means
despicable. The spirits of the ancient line of chiefly
personages are still supposed to be its faithful guardians,
and to be engaged on its behalf.
Hoping to acquire it, I asked that I might take it
away. One would think that a mere stone, disused at
that, would be given at once. But, though it lay
neglected and overgrown with grass, I suddenly found
myself resisted. " Not so," said the head man of the
town, " I cannot give it. Some time ago I gave away
a club belonging to our chiefly ancestors, and I was
subsequently brought to the edge of the grave, where
I lay for the space of three months. I know that I
should die if I were to give you the stone. Take it
away yourself, sir." But I knew enough of native
character to refuse such an offer. For, assuredly, if
vii SACRED STONES AND IMAGES 67
any evil or affliction were to follow my appropriation
of the stone, I would be directly blamed for it.
The following extract from Mrs. Smythe's book is
interesting, referring as it does to the Rewa god,
Wairiia : —
" In the afternoon we left Namusi, and ascended the
secluded and lovely valley in which it lies. On
reaching the sacred place whence the Rewa god,
Wairua, was said to have drifted, we stopped to
examine it more carefully, and asked the guides to
point out the exact spot. They indicated a hole in a
small tree by the side of the stream, a few yards from
the path. Manoah put his hand into the hole and
brought out an oval stone of very regular form, about
the size of a swan's egg. The guide said that was the
god. Manoah again put in his hand and brought out
some small stones of a similar shape, which they said
were the god's children. We then began to question
them about the god, on which they looked very grave,
and pressed us to move on. Manoah wanted to throw
the stones away, but as the act would only have irritated
the natives, without doing any good, we desired him
to restore them as he had found them." 1
In the town of Nakorosule in Dholo, Viti Levu, lies
another noteworthy stone-god, called Mboseyawa. I
was fortunate enough to see and photograph it. The
rock stands in the thick bush near the town, half-
buried in the earth. The story of the god is unique
in every way. Fijian deities are almost invariably cruel
1 Mrs. Smythe, " Ten Months in Fiji " (1864), pp. 77, 78.
F 2
68 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
and fierce, and such gods are the embodiment of what
might be termed the most characteristic feature of the
Fijian race in ancient days. But the god of which
I speak is an expression of another marked trait of
the native mind, viz., that of delaying matters of
business and policy as long as possible. There is
with the Fijian, as all those who are acquainted with
him know, a decided objection to haste, especially in
decision. He was not accustomed to be guided so
much by his judgment as by his feelings. Usually,
judgment issues in a conclusion less quickly than feeling,
and the Fijian mind was largely under the domination
of his emotions. In any crises, his mental experience
was like a racecourse where all the feelings inherited
from the clan ran riot. Consequently, he himself felt
implicitly the danger that threatened him of making
hasty decisions. This was often his salvation. It was
his custom to let the feelings and impressions of his
mind come to the bursting point before he could be
persuaded to action, and to postpone definite decision
as long as he could.
Now the name of the god at Nakorosule is Mboseyawa
which in the local dialect means " to delay final
decisions." The people of the town think very highly
of him still for this trait, and also for his potency
during former times in bringing peace between opposing
clans. Since they learned the tenets of Christianity
they have endeavoured to find some parallel between
Christian love and the peace-promoting nature and
efforts of their ancient god.
vii SACRED STONES AND IMAGES 69
The chief man of the village told me of various ways
in which the god's influence tended to peace and good-
will. If the clansmen were discussing in council
how they should slay a certain man, it was the special
prerogative of Mboseyawa to prevent the execution,
by moving their minds for a postponement, with a
view to promoting mercy. Or, should the enemy be
meditating mischief, or conspiring for war against them,
anyone might take a bowl of yanggona to Mboseyawa,
and ask his aid. That good divinity would im-
mediately confound the evil counsels of the adversaries
by unconsciously influencing them towards delay.
When the Rev. Fred. Langham first took the Gospel
to this town, the chief, whose name was Rotavisoro,
was living up on the hill-fort. Mr. Langham sent a
message to him, therefore, requesting that he should
come down and hear the story of Christianity. The
chief answered, " Maliia" or " Wait, I will come down
in the morning." This answer was attributed by the
people to the wise influence of the god Mboseyawa.
Sometimes the work of the village proceeded very
slowly, and it was customary for the natives to use the
proverbial saying, " Mboseyawa has entered into the
work."
At the present time, no worship is tendered to the
rock, and, unlike the god at Soso, he exerts no malign
or fearsome power over his quondam worshippers.
We noticed at the beginning of this chapter that the
Fijians, though ingenious in many ways, did not
employ their skill in the making of images. Hence we
7o FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
have no worship of idols, as such. I happened to
discover, however, one very curious exception to the
rule. There are, at the present time, in the keeping
of the Waimarou tribe in Dholo, Viti Levu, two ivory
images, male and female. They are about nine inches
in height, and are made of carved whale's teeth, no
fewer than six teeth being used in the construction of
each. It is doubtful whether the Fijians made them.
They were probably executed by sailors from the
whalers which used to ply in these waters, for the
pieces of ivory are held together by pins of lead very
carefully inserted. The figures are exquisitely polished,
and, though grotesque, are wonderfully well carved.
The expression on the woman's face is almost tragic.
These figures are not so much in the category of the
idol as in that of the mascot. For they are believed
at the present time to hold in themselves the welfare
of the clan, and especially of the high-born line.
Visitors are not welcomed who wish to see the
curious little ivory chief and chieftainess of the
Waimarou tribe, as the couple are ostentatiously called.
Whether this reticence on the part of the owners is
due to the fear that the presence of strangers detracts
from the virtue of the mascot, or whether it arises
from an inordinate desire to extort money from the
inquisitive, I cannot say. Probably, both these
reasons are in the native mind. At any rate, ordinary
folk are not allowed to view the ivory pair unless some
gift is made to the chiefs.
A friend and I were fortunate in being allowed
vii SACRED STONES AND IMAGES 71
to see, and actually photograph, the female. We
entered the house where it was kept, and the doors
were carefully closed behind us. The chief then
went to a hiding-place near the mat-bed, and, after a
little rummaging, he drew the image forth. But, before
he showed it to us, he anointed it gently and tenderly
with the oil of the cocoa-nut tree, as if it were alive,
and decorously bound a silk handkerchief about its
loins. Then we were allowed to examine it at our
leisure.
The chief told us that it had been brought from
Rewa to Soloira, and thence to the chiefs of Waimarou,
who had retained it ever since. The custom sub-
sequently grew up of eating some chiefly food before
viewing it. He also informed us (and the man evinced
every sign of credence in his statement) that, if a stranger
touches the image, he will have no more children, and,
if a boy as much as looks upon it, he forfeits his power
to propagate offspring.
The Audi ni Waimarou (Chieftainess of Waimarou),
as the image is called, is still preserved as a sacred thing.
A gift of twenty pounds was offered some time ago
for it, but the chief would not hear of selling his
treasure. The figure appeared to be a godlet, fetish,
and symbol combined. (See photo.)
CHAPTER VIII
SYMBOLISM
The people of the Fiji Islands, though they have no
system of idol- worship, have a large number of symbols.
The Fijians are a most ceremonious race, and no
important function takes place without its corresponding
sign. Nothing informal seems to have any weight
with them.
If one tribe were conquered by another, the van-
quished usually brought to the victors a basketful of
earth, with the addition perhaps of a bunch of cocoa-
nuts. The meaning of this symbol was, that the land
in which they dwelt and the produce of the land were
surrendered to the victorious tribe. When Mba was
worsted in battle by Mbau on one occasion, the
inhabitants of the former district brought to the latter
a basket of earth stuck with reeds.
Native cloth, or " Mdsi" to give the native name,
was also a regular symbol. Three different uses may
be mentioned : —
(a) When a young man assumed the full status of a
clansman he was dressed in mdsi. It was a sign, to
him and to others, that he had attained his majority,
^ii\
A Village Scene.
Drying Masi.
( To Jn. .
ch. viii SYMBOLISM
73
and it corresponds almost exactly to the toga virilis
of the Romans.
(b) The material was used as a turban, and so became
the symbol of chieftainship. No ordinary man dare
wear a masi-turhzn in the presence of a chief. The
chiefs themselves wore it with studious dignity ; they
never, for instance, doffed it to anyone except to the
representative of the British Crown.
Roko Tui Mba, in the meeting of chiefs, at Lau1
said, " When the Governor comes to open a meeting,
it would be much more respectful and becoming of
us chiefs if everyone present had turbans on, and as
soon as the yanggona is ready, then for every chief to
uncover, as a mark of the very highest respect that can be
possibly paid to the Queen and her representative."
(c) Mdsi was employed by some tribes in a very
important way during the investiture of chiefs. When
a head chief died, the virtue of his chieftainship was
supposed to remain some time in his body. The
11 Mdta ni vanua " (face of the land), the clan-herald,
an official whose duty it was, took a long piece of mdsi,
and waved it in a ceremonious fashion over the corpse.
After this, it was wound around a piece of wood and
hung up in the house of the mdta ni vanua. On the
day of installation, it was taken down, placed on the
head of the succeeding chief, or around his waist, until
the function was* completed. Then it was thrown
away as being of no further value. Thus the virtue
of the chieftain's office was effectually transmitted.
x Government Blue Book, 20th Nov., 1880.
74 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
The foregoing custom was frequent more especially in
Kandavu during earlier times.
Certain shells had recognised symbolic meaning
and value in the Fijian marriage ceremony. The
" Sduwdngga " (Javan Murex) is very much used for
this purpose in Madhuata. The same shell was often
given as a " Koroi " or decoration to the brave in
battle. Cowries, both large and small, were highly
prized. Another shell, called the Vitro (Conus tnar-
morens), takes the place of the Victoria Cross in the
estimation of the Fijian warrior.1
The Vuro is the shell which was much in demand
for scraping away the bark of the paper-mulberry, in
order to lay bare the fibrous substance used in making
the chiefly mdsi. The mode of decoration of a valiant
fighter was as follows : If a man had been conspicuously
valorous in battle, and had slain ten men, the reward
was one Viiro, which he wore upon his arm ; it was called
his first " Tora." If he slew twenty men he received
two tora ; if he accounted for thirty, he was decorated
with a third tora, and so on. A brave man indeed
would that Fijian be who had slain his thirty foes in
war. The standard of courage is thus very different in
Fiji from what it is in European countries. The
slaughter of men is not a necessary proof of the bravery
of the man who wins, for instance, the Victoria Cross.
The " Rot " (mosquito-swisher) is considered a
1 It is interesting to contrast this symbolic use of shells with the
very practical shell-money in New Britain. Danks, Journ. Anth.
Inst. (1888), p. 305.
vin SYMBOLISM 75
most aristocratic thing, and it is still a high honour to
receive one of them as a gift from a chief. In early
days no one but the chief was allowed to make use of
the roi in public ; and the gift of one implied the
recognition of a noble rank in the person to whom it
was presented. A peculiar custom is said to exist in
Vanua Levu. If a man of high rank died in a certain
portion of that district, a roi was sent to a clan in the
west of the island, who took charge of it and sent it by
courier to the island of Dhikombia. The tribe living in
Dhikombia appropriated the swisher as their property.
No one seems to know the meaning of the usage.
Clubs enclosed in various ways were ominous
symbols. The symbolic virtue of clubs varied accord-
ing to their age and history. Some of these heavy
wooden weapons have been quite celebrated ; many
of them are notched, the signification being that a man
of high rank had been slain by the club in previous
times. It was also thought that a certain amount of
the chiefly virtue of the dead man entered the club.
Most of these clubs received names, and were almost
personified. It is easy to see, therefore, how one such
weapon of war might thus become a very powerful
symbol of challenge, or of request for help, in times of
difficulty or tribal conflict. Other weapons, as spears,
for instance, may be used in like manner, though on
account of their length they are not so convenient.
Another well-known honoured symbol was, and still
is, the Kdva root (Macropiper methysticum), from which
the drink known as Kdva or Yanggona is prepared.
76 FIJIAN SOCIETY ch. viii
The root takes rank with the sacred Soma of India,
and the Haoma of Persia. In ceremonies and feasts,
the plant is placed on top of a heap of food about to
be presented ; and the man who officiates, taking hold
of it, pushes it a little towards the recipient, at the
same time uttering some accepted formula. All the
food goes with the Kdva root. In passing, one might
add that the liquid made from the Kdva plant is
sometimes devoted to the gods as a libation,1 and it is
also used as a lustration 2 when a youth is initiated
into the clan called Wainimala.
In times of extremity, ashes often had great signi-
ficance. They betokened that the person who offered
them was reduced to despair.
The " Dhiva " is perhaps more of a charm than a
symbol. It is composed of the pearl-oyster shell with
the rough back thereof cleaned away so as to reveal
the mother of pearl. Around this are affixed carved
pieces of ivory, the whole being of a circular shape
about six or eight inches in diameter. The Dhiva
is not unfrequently seen hanging on the breasts of
male dancers in Fijian " Meke" (dance) entertainments.
In former days, the Dhiva was highly valued by warriors,
who declared that the ornament made its wearer
invulnerable.
But the symbol par excellence is the whale's tooth
or " Tambua," and all other Fijian symbols and signs
will be thoroughly explained in it. The next chapter
will deal with the tambua.
1 Dr. L. Fison, " The Nanga," p. 4. : Ibid., p. 5.
CHAPTER IX
symbolism — continued
The Tambua or Whale's Tooth
As to the origin of the name " Tambua'' the follow-
ing will be interesting, since it is an extract from a
paper written by an intelligent Fijian named Pita E.
Talawangga, and read before the Fijian Society in
Suva : —
" Our people, who lived right away up in the
middle of the land (the hill country) such as at Navosa,
and the tribes near to them used to cut down a certain
tree to be their precious property : the name of that
tree was the ' Mbiia ' (prob. Fagraea berteriana) -,1
they pared it down well so as to be narrow-pointed
at both ends, and curved somewhat like a banana
branch (or leaf stalk) ; after that, it was thoroughly
rubbed till the surface was well polished, and then
it was anointed with candle-nuts to become reddish
coloured, and then they attached a string to it, as is
done to whale's teeth, and it was then taken care
of as their valuable property. It is very truly
this, the name of which was the ' Mbua-ta ' (cut
Mbiia) or ' Ta-mMa,' from which originated that
1 Dr. B. Seemann, " Viti " (1862), p. 439.
78 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
name ' Tambua.'' The ' Mbiia-ta ' or ' Ta-mbiia '
was used by those living in the hill country for every-
thing for which the ' Tambua ' (whale's tooth) is
used ; as, the ' Tambua ' of war, the ' Tambua - of
feasts, or the ' Tambua ' for obtaining a girl in
marriage, etc." x
The tambua is essentially a Fijian symbol. The
Tongans never used it except for the purpose of
getting canoes, or timber for canoes, from Fiji, and
it was manifestly borrowed from the latter place.
Nothing quite like it can be found in Melanesia. In
the New Hebrides, sharks' teeth are used as money.
The whale's tooth is much in demand as an ornament
in Tahiti, Hawaii, and Tonga.2 Sharks' teeth, again,
are ornaments in the Marquesas Islands. In no case
does either the shark's tooth or the whale's tooth
approach the Fijian tambua for power or meaning. It
has reached the zenith of its potency in the Fiji Group.
There are symbols in other lands which embody
some of its virtues, such as the Fiery Cross of Scotland,
and the powerful talismanic ring of Persia.
But a tambua includes the virtues of these and
much more besides. Its value extends from the
ordinary medium of exchange to the highest and
most effective symbol of the fiercest feelings of the
human race. The truth of the foregoing statement
will be recognised after some of its uses are described.
To that description we now proceed.
1 Fijian Society Records, Aug. nth, 1913.
'Mariner's " Tonga Islands " (1827), vol. i, p. 250.
ix SYMBOLISM 79
(1) It is effectual as the means of acquiring property,
as, for instance, a pig. With a good tambua it is
quite easy to buy a monster porker from £5 up to
£10 in value. The curious point about it is, that the
very same whale's tooth may be purchased for 155.
or £1 in the stores, and then may be used in a cere-
monious way to acquire an article or animal ten times
its own price. Thus, we must infer that, while it is
used as a means of barter or exchange, it is evidently
something more. A few other instances will make this
fact still more vivid. About five years ago 4,500
large yams were bought with the aid of only three
whales' teeth valued at £1 apiece. A fine area
of land was sold to white men about fifty years ago
for a few teeth and the sum of £10. It is related
that a chief in Mbengga some few years since, not
knowing the value of money, gave freely £300 when
asked for it by a man who brought with him some
tambuas to enforce his request.
There is no fixed value for the whale's tooth ; its
purchasing power varies according to circumstances.
It may be said that its worth depends in any given
instance upon the tacit understanding that the privilege
of making a request is thereby transferred to the
recipient of it. The status of the individual presenting
it also affects it considerably. Likewise, the im-
portance of the tambua is enhanced according to the
chiefliness of the ceremony of presentation. As a
Fijian says, a tambua is a " Ka vdkaturdnga " (a
chiefly thing).
80 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
(2) To win the hand of a pretty bride of high birth,
twenty or thirty of these pieces of ivory are deemed
necessary. They are not looked upon as the price
of the bride in the sense of a commercial consideration,
yet such a number would generally soften the heart
of the most obdurate parent. It would be certainly a
most difficult thing for a Fijian father to withhold his
daughter from a suitor who could display such a
magnificent bride-price. A show of treasure so large
would be sufficient in the old days to constitute an
elite wedding. In the case where a young man could
not find a respectable number of whales' teeth, he
would beg from his relatives and fellow clansmen the
required wealth, and the tambua were usually forth-
coming at once. On the day of the wedding the
collection of tambua is distributed amongst the friends
of the bride, her father receiving the lion's share of
the offering.
(3) At the birth of a child a similar present of a
whale's tooth is made to the friends of the mother, and
it is then called " At rdnggoronggo," literally, " the
taking in arms."
(4) Upon the death of a woman, the husband proffers
a tambua to the father-in-law. This tambua bears
the name of " Ai rengurengu " (the kissing). When a
high chief dies, large quantities of teeth are brought
as a token of respect, and given to the bereaved rela-
tives ; in this custom the tambua does duty for the
wreath used at funerals in European countries. The
reception of so fine a gift is not only a mark of respect,
ix SYMBOLISM
but also tends by its value to moderate the grief of
the mourners.
(5) If a clan build a house for a man, it is customary
for him to offer as a sign of his gratitude a whale's
tooth, which is presented with a particular ceremony
to the chief or leader of the workmen. Roko Tui
Mbua is reported to have said in a council of chiefs 1
that the tambua was the only property which exchanges
hands in house-building.
(6) No diplomat ever goes to another person with
any large request without a whale's tooth ; and this
was especially the case in time of war. No sooner
were hostile proceedings likely to begin than messengers
were sent with the symbol here and there to the various
villages, as a means by which wavering peoples might
be strengthened in their allegiance, and enemies
conciliated.
(7) When a man is discovered in some crime or
misdeed he will take a tambua as an atoning symbol
to his chief, and will make an earnest request that the
crime shall be " covered." A significant case, and
one well worthy to be remembered, is that of Navosa.
About five years ago the people of that district
brought and presented to the head of the Methodist
Mission three teeth to cover the crime of their fathers,
who had slain the Rev. Thos. Baker some decades
previously.
The name of this particular tambua is " At
mbulu-mbulu " (the burial). The effort to obtain
1 Government Blue Book, 1879.
G
82 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
forgiveness in the foregoing manner is often success-
ful, to the detriment of ethical practice, and so of
society.
(8) A higher honour could not be shown to a
visiting official or notability than by presenting him
with a number of tambua. On such an occasion the
address uttered in the ceremony is always studiously
meek and self-humbling, is generally eulogistic of the
visitor, and concludes, as a rule, with a petition for
favours, or for mutual goodwill.
Under this head comes the ancient custom of the
" Nggdlofiggalovi." Mr. H. Berkeley, who is recognised
as an authority upon this point, wrote on one occasion
to the Fiji Times giving the following description and
explanation : —
" The Nggdlonggalovi (literally ' the swimming across
to the canoe ') is one of the oldest ceremonies in Fiji,
and was performed when the High Chief or his
immediate representative visited one of his depen-
dencies or provinces. It was performed by the Mdta ni
vanua of the dependency or province visited, accom-
panied, by some of his followers, who presented to the
chief a tambua (in latter days, a whale's tooth). He
was then requested in most ceremonious terms to land.
If the chief accepted the tambua, all was well. The
tambua as a rule was accepted on board, but on other
occasions the chief decided to accept it on shore.
The tambua might be refused when presented by a
province or dependency for several reasons, e.g., on
account of disloyalty, in which event, as the chief was
ix SYMBOLISM 83
generally accompanied by several hundreds of warriors,
the effect was as a rule disastrous.
" The primary idea of Nggdlonggalovi is clear ; it was
an act of propitiation made by the inhabitants of a State
who owed suzerainty to their High Chief. ... At
the present moment the only persons entitled as of
right to the Nggdlonggalovi are (1) the Sovereign ; (2)
the Admiral of the Fleet on duty in Fiji ; (3) possibly
one delegated by the Governor or Admiral for the
performance of special work."
(9) The same sign is a most excellent gift to assuage
the fiery temper of an irate Fijian chief. It is some-
times quite amusing to see how swiftly the fury of a
man of rank dissolves before the magical action of the
tambua.
(10) The tooth was often sent on a mission of death.
The Rev. Thos. Baker, mentioned above, lost his life
through the fateful power of the whale's tooth. The
Rev. Thos. Williams gives in his book on " Fiji and
the Fijians " an account of the dispatching of a tambua
to purchase the death of a Fijian named Koroi Tamana.
The dt2Xh.-tam.bua might be placed in a pudding or
in a native basket, or in the mouth of a dead pig, in
each of which cases the significance of the symbol
becomes more ominous. No chief could touch it, so
encased, without placing himself under a most solemn
obligation to meet the wishes of the sender.
(11) Fortunately, the tambua is not always used for
purposes of evil. The authority referred to above
vividly describes the classic case where the influence
G 2
84 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
of the whale's tooth saved the lives of several unfor-
tunate women at Mbau. The incident was as follows :
Two brave ladies, Mrs. Lyth and Mrs. Calvert, hearing
that women were being strangled at Mbau, took each
of them a tambua decorated with ribbons, and entered
boldly into the terrible chief Tanoa's presence, with the
request that the fated ones might be saved. Their
noble petition was granted.
(12) Sometimes, in the installation " of chiefs, the
symbols were decorated with streamers and used as a
curious coronet. But this particular practice was a
local one.
(13) A weird custom in vogue in former days
was to place the ivory upon the breast of a dead
man. His soul was supposed to take with it the
spiritual part of the symbol, and, thus provided for,
would travel to a tree " hard by Heaven's gate," into
which tree he was to throw it as a passport on his
journey to the happy land. The custom is similar to
the penny laid in the hand of the corpse at an Irish
wake, the obolus placed upon the mouth of a dead
Greek, and many Egyptian symbols described by
Dr. Budge. The tree (a Tdrawdn) into which the
Fijian dead are supposed to cast the tambua is still to
be seen on Vanua Levu, near Naidhombodhombo.1
(14) One more specific use of the tambua should be
mentioned in order that we may thoroughly under-
1 Some say the tree is at Kauvandra in Viti Levu as well, and that
it is the " Vdndra " or scrcwpine. Dr. Seemann refers to the
Tdrawdu at Naidh6mbodh6mbo ; see " Viti," p. 322.
ix SYMBOLISM 85
stand it. We have noticed that, if a person receives the
whale's tooth, he is laid under a debt of gratitude or
solemn obligation, which he is bound to discharge when
called upon to do so. It may be that the recipient is
for some reason unable to do this ; if that be the case
only one way is open to him, viz., to send a larger
tambua in return, begging therewith to be relieved of
his obligation. The practice of returning the whale's
tooth is called " pressing down." 1 The Mission
authorities make use of the custom of " pressing down "
to neutralise any unreasonable request upon the part
of the natives.
The uses of the tambua enumerated above are not
all that might be given. But sufficient has been said
to show how important a factor symbolism has been in
the history of the Fijian people. The fates of men,
clans, and tribes have often depended upon the way
in which the whale's tooth has been presented or
received.
The tremendous power of the emblem which we
are discussing is probably of quite modern growth ;
but its varied application is a heritage of earlier years.
When there were no teeth available, their place was
taken by mdsiy mosquito swishers, clubs, shells, cocoa-
nuts with sprays, baskets of earth, etc. But the sphere
of each was much more limited than that of the tambua.
The club, for instance, would only be used naturally
in war, while the basket of earth could scarcely be
bartered for a pig. When the tambua came, it gathered
1 Rev. Thos. Williams, " Fiji and the Fijians," p. 35.
86 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
into itself all the earlier symbolic and emblematic
conceptions of these rudimentary peoples.
How the first tambua came to Fiji is a question
difficult of solution. There is a legend of a whale
which grounded in the Yasawas earlier than the
sixteenth century. The teeth were knocked out and
worn as ornaments, or curiosities, and then were used
in sacred ceremonies, becoming sacred themselves in
their meaning and influence. It is certain, however,
that early whalers discovered the value placed upon the
teeth in Fiji. Ivory was found to command a better
price in the South Seas than in London. Besides, it
was a convenient method of bartering for supplies both
of wood and food during the whaling season. It is
probable that whalers deliberately exaggerated the magic
qualities of the tooth, and so the covetousness of the
Fijian was greatly increased. Ivory literally poured
into the country, therefore, until whaling ceased in
those waters.
The tooth gradually superseded certain chiefly
symbols, as we have already seen. As time passed
on, the inhabitants of the islands became more
particular in their preference for some ivories.
Big tambua were considered better than small
ones ; dark-coloured ivories (made so by constant
use and the application of turmeric powder) were
preferred to those light-coloured ; 1 old teeth were
valued more than those newly acquired ; and finally
1 On this, see Capt. J. R. Erskine's " Western Pacific Islands "
(1853), p. 439.
ix SYMBOLISM 87
the teeth which had been used on important occasions
gained a pre-eminence over those with a more humble
history. The process of discrimination continued till
some tambua acquired a reputation like the old clubs
mentioned in the last chapter. The sacrificial knife
of an Aztec priest could not have been prized more
highly. To those who knew the history of an in-
dividual tambua, the spirits of the past seemed to hover
around it. It is not wonderful, then, that some
tambua were never sold, but were handed on as heir-
looms from generation to generation.
When a tambua is being presented, or " led," as
the Fijians say, it becomes the central feature of the
ceremony. It is greeted with a curious cry of honour,
and all eyes are intently fixed upon it. The task of
" leading " a tambua is allotted to a special officer. It
would mar the function if another should interfere.
The late Mr. D. Wilkinson told me that he had seen
a man laden with whales' teeth staggering into the
circle of spectators ; and one who attempted to aid
him was promptly knocked down, as if, like Uzziah,
he had touched a sacred thing.
After the ceremony of presentation the supporters
of the man leading the tambua all cry out in unison,
" Mdna." This word is important, since it is a
Melanesian term, and represents the inner principle
of the religious beliefs amongst the people in the New
Hebrides.1 The Melanesian had no power apart from
it, and the chiefs held their position by the power of
1 Dr. Codrington, " Melanesian Anth. and Folklore," p. 52.
88 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
the mdna which was thought to reside within them.
As to the source of the power, the idea of the Melanesian
was that it arose as a result of direct communication
with ghosts (Tindalo) ; and the chiefs especially re-
ceived from spirits the virtue whereby they were able
to bring their evil influences to bear upon others.
Dr. Codrington relates that Mairuru, chief of Walurigi,
sent his son to be educated in a Christian school at
Norfolk Island. " It was at once understood that a
Christian education, which shut out belief in, and of,
' Mdna,' excluded him from succession as a chief." x
The word " Mdna " appears in Hazlewood's dic-
tionary as a term used in addressing a heathen deity ;
or it may be a sign, omen, wonder, and, by trans-
mission of meaning, potent, effectual or efficient.
Thus in Fiji the word may be applied to medicine
(magical or otherwise) which is followed by good
results. Missionaries have used the term in the
compound word " dhdkadhdka-mdna " (miracle), and
it is also applied to the divine name of Jehovah. The
meaning of the word may be so attenuated as to
approach the sense of confirmation in the word
" Amen " of our own form of prayer.
Considering that the word "fetish " originates from
facere (Portuguese, feitifo) potent, and that "fetish"
was applied to objects supposed to be permeated by a
virtue not very different from " mdna" it is reasonable
to think that, in some of its uses at least, the tambua
comes very near to the fetish. At all events, Prof.
1 Dr. Codrington, "Melanesian Anth. and Folklore," p. 57.
ix SYMBOLISM 89
Tylor mentions that a Fijian priest, preparing himself
for spirit-possession, was accustomed to look steadily
at a whale's tooth, amid dead silence.1 And if it were
not a fetish before such a ceremony, constant use in
this way, by a priest, would certainly tend to impart
to it magical efficacy.
1 " Primitive Culture," vol. ii, p. 133.
CHAPTER X
SYMBOLISM AND CHIEFTAINSHIP
In order to understand the nature of the tambua
and Fijian symbolism generally, we should not overlook
an important factor in native life, to be seen in the
power of chieftainship.
In Fiji the symbol, whatever it may be, reaches its
highest importance when used by chiefs, or presented
to chiefs, in the accepted way. The three conditions
just mentioned are of the utmost significance to the
native mind. Thus it may be inferred that symbolism
will be effectual according to the amount of power
or virtue popularly supposed to be invested in the
chieftain caste.
Now it is to be recognised that, in common with the
whole of Polynesia, the nobility in Fiji have a peculiarly
high social status ; so high that it probably resulted
from a semi-divine character bequeathed to them from
ancient times.
Some light may be thrown upon this question by
comparing the titles of men of rank in these islands
with those in other countries. The coincidence is
very striking.
9°
CH. x SYMBOLISM AND CHIEFTAINSHIP 91
Male titles of chiefs in Fiji are Rdtu, Ro (in Vamia
Levu), Ra, Rdko, and Rdturdnga.1 Female titles are
Randndiy Mardma, and Rdmardma. All these titles
have a constant syllable, namely, Ra or Ro. Although
it is rather a far leap, let us now turn to West Africa.
Dr. Nassau, in his book on " Fetishism," says that
Ra, meaning lord or master, exists amongst the
West African tribes. Kings, wizards, and gods had
the titles prefixed to their names ; for instance, Ra
Nyambe is the divine name.2
Again, Dr. Nassau says it is the Egyptian word Ra
which had filtered through into the Western languages ;
and we are thus led to look to the land of the Pyramids
for further information. In J. E. Harrison's " Pro-
legomena to Greek Religion " we read that, " In so far
as Osiris was a Sun-God, the well became a well of
light in which the Sun- God Ra was wont to wash
his face." 3 Isis controlled Ra by stealing his name.4
and in the same book there is a hymn to Amen-Ra as
follows : "He riseth on the horizon of the east, he
is laid to rest on the west." 5
It is clear that the Ra of West Africa is the same
title as that given to the Sun-God of Egypt ; and,
moreover, the name is supposed to have magical
1 Mr. A. M. Hocart argues that the word turdnga when traced
to its original meaning leads us to gerontocracy. Man, 191 3.
p. 143. But the facts given in this chapter, as viewed from the
Polynesian standpoint, should have due weight.
2 Dr. R. H. Nassau, " Fetishism " (1904). P- 331-
* J. E. Harrison, " Prolegomena to Greek Religion " (1908), p. 576.
4 Hobhouse, " Morals in Evolution," 1906, vol. ii., p. 39-
* Ibid., p. 42.
92 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
quality. But this is not all. The ancient dynasty of
Rameses means " born of the Sun." All this has a
deep significance when we turn to the question of the
Fijian chief, because it is generally understood that
one branch of the Polynesian race came from the
direction of Egypt, and perhaps settled in, or at any
rate called at, India.
In the latter country, princes are called Rajahs ; and
Raj means reign. Princesses received the title of
Ranee ; and Rajan is king in Sanscrit. Rahu is the
demon in the Hindu myth who has to do with the
eclipse of the sun and moon.1 The Indian word also
for fire is " Rama." Rajah is the same word as the
Latin Rex, and our Royal, Prerogative, and Regal are
from the same root.
Coming nearer to Fiji, princes are called Rajah
Rajah or simply Rajah in Sumatra ; and we are
told that, when the Dyaks of Borneo kill an
alligator, they call him grandfather and Rajah,
which is the term they apply to their chiefs and
elders.
In all the words given above, there is the common
syllable Ra with its variations. These words are,
without exception, applied to men of rank, or
to gods (especially the Sun-God), or to fire, which
is the glory of the sun. The coincidence in
meaning and application with the Fijian titles is
too striking to be ignored ; and the more so when
we consider that the general name of the sun and of
1 Tylor, " Primitive Culture," vol. I, p. 331.
x SYMBOLISM AND CHIEFTAINSHIP 93
the moon throughout Polynesia is Ra and Mardma
respectively.1
The accumulative evidence seems to prove that the
titles of the Fijian chiefs have had a wider and higher
application in their root-connotation than at the
present time, and that, in the narrowing down of
meaning, the semi-divine flavour has clung to the
titles and the chiefly office. Undoubtedly a relic
of that early divine character is still left in the
word Roko, which really has the significance of
" divine person " ; and Roko is the expression which
the missionaries have taken up into the Bible
to convey the idea of " hallowed " in the Lord's
Prayer.
We know, too, that the chiefs of Fiji expected to
become divine when they arrived in the unseen world,
and some, like the Dhakaundrove men of rank, received
their apotheosis before they died.2
There is good evidence that the position of chiefs in
this Group has become what it is through Polynesian
influence. In New Britain, the Solomon Islands, the
New Hebrides and other Melanesian groups, hereditary
rank is at a very low premium. But, in the islands
to the east of Fiji, it is vastly different. In Tonga,
for instance, the chiefs alone were believed to enter
Heaven. The commoners died, body and soul.
Further east in Tahiti, if the chief's foot touched the
1 Prof . Brown, "Maori and Polynesian," pp. 127, 130. William
Ellis, " Polynesian Researches " (1853), vol. iii, p. 170.
2 Vid. in corroboration, A. M. Hocart in American Anthropologist,
1915. P- 638.
94 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
ground, or if he entered the house, the place became
taboo. Accordingly, he must needs be carried wher-
ever he goes.1 It was fatal in New Zealand to touch
any article which the noble had used. If a drop of
his blood happened to fall on anything, it would
become his property.2 The glance of a Tongan chief
would make an upper garment useless, so that it
became the custom to remove it in his presence.3 The
names of chiefs throughout Polynesia were taboo.4
Likewise, in olden days, if a Fijian aristocrat touched
food, it became too sacred to be taken as sustenance by
the commoners.5 There is a peculiar belief in Fiji
which was related to me by an old native, and is
similar to the ideas revealed in the above practices,
that, if an underling happened to eat food which
had been left from the chieftain's meal, he would
become " Mbukete vdtu " or " pregnant with
stone."
As still further evidence of the close relationship
existing between the high rank of the Polynesian and
Fijian chiefs, it will perhaps be interesting to give a
list of special words applied to the latter by their
subordinates in the Lau Group, and on no occasion
addressed to others. The Lau Group is nearest to
Tonga of all the Fijian Islands, and the people there
have a close kinship with the Tongan nation. The
following is the list of words : —
1 Jevons, " Introduction to Religion " (1904), p. 62.
2 Ibid., p. 62. 3 Ibid., p. 64. * Ibid., p. 61.
8 Ibid., p. 69.
SYMBOLISM AND CHIEFTAINSHIP
95
Chiefly Words of the Lan Group.
Approximate
English
Fijian.
Chiefly Fijian.
meaning.
head
ulu
vanua i dhake
upper part.
face
mata
ai serau
the glory.
nose
udhu
ai rengu
the kisser.
ear
ndalinga
tamba ni manumanu
wing.
mouth
ngiisu
ndraka ni kula
parrot's mouth.
tooth
mbati
ai kata
the biter.
throat
nd6mo
nd6mo ni v6nu.
turtle throat.
hand
linga
ai dhaka
that which ac-
complishes.
belly
kete
wave
?
back
ndaku
ndaku ni v£si
back of vesi
(green-heart
tree).
foot
yava
ai turatura.
that with which
he stands.
skin
kfili
kuli tambua
ivory skin.
voice \
word /
J that which
\ makes taboo.
v6sa
vakatatambu
laugh
ndrendre
vakasembua
as the flower of
the mbua.
decree
lewa
sau
the decree that
comes to pass.
anger
dhiindru
t6ka wale
by himself, no
one to go near
sick
tauvimate
milamila
itchy.
dead
mate
mbale
falls.
house of
vale
loma ni k6ro
centre of the
chief
village.
bed
aim6dhem6dhe ai tatavo
?
sleep
m6dhe
tdvo
?
pillow
kali
ai mbal6ta
that which he
falls against.
eat
kana
taura
?
to be
tiko
wiri
?
1 For comparative usages in the Eastern Polynesian Islands, see
Dr. G. Brown, " Melanesians and Polynesians," p. 380 ff. (Samoa).
W. Mariner, " Tonga Islands," vol. ii, p. 86. W. Ellis, " Polynesian
Researches," vol. iii, p. 113 (Tahiti). Erskine, "Western Pacific
Islands," p. 243.
96 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Approximate
English.
Fijian.
Chiefly Fijian.
meaning.
garden
were
nd6ko seru
garden made
finely.
boat
wannga
vatavata
something high
as a shelf.
go
lako
lea
?
bath
sisili
tumbutumbu
?
The explanation of the Lauan custom in so addressing
these words to their chiefs seems to be, that it is a kind
of euphemism, or flattery of the chief, calculated to
win his favour. The words in the third column are
never used with regard to the person or property
of a common man. In Lau, there are also special
words and phrases which are applied to the property
of the ladies as well as to their consorts. Many of the
above terms may be used to either chiefs or their
wives.
The high honour thus paid to the chiefs by their
obsequious followers has a direct bearing on symbolism.
A symbol used in the conventional manner, and by a
chief, would be much more important and efficient
than if it were in the hands of a man of low caste.
Concerning the object of symbolism it may be said,
that it is the struggle to make clearer certain sacred
ideas of obligation, and certain revered principles,
which were too inchoate or abstruse to be lucidly
expressed in words by the primitive Fijian mind.
Similarly, in other countries, an idol is the result of an
effort of the human mind to make more explicit to
itself its own vague conceptions of the deity.
So a tambiia, when presented, means more than a
x SYMBOLISM AND CHIEFTAINSHIP 97
medium of exchange, even in a purely commercial
transaction ; and on some occasions its purport is,
on the other extreme, to express the strongest passions
and emotions of the Fijian nature. A Fijian who tried
to explain the rationale of the symbol said it was a
" Ka ndokdi " (a thing honoured) when presented in
ceremony. Whatever conception of honour a Fijian
is capable of, it is closely connected with his symbolism.
The best, as well as the worst, that is in the Fijian
character, is sealed by the emblems and symbols which
he uses. Contracts, bargains, promises, forgiveness,
pleas, treaties, were all confirmed by symbols as
honoured tokens ; and woe be to the man who continu-
ally disregarded the obligations thus laid upon him.
His life would be a misery ; in fact, he could not live
in a Fijian community.
H
CHAPTER XI
THE CLAN VERSUS INDIVIDUALISM
So far we have examined the Fijian character as
expressed in certain religious beliefs, social customs,
and ceremonial symbols. We shall now study it more
directly as the outcome of particular social institutions.
It will be recognised by all who know the Fijian
that he is a remarkable witness to the power of environ-
ment. In this chapter we are to find out how the
growth, or otherwise, of individuality in the native is
a direct consequence of the society in which he
dwells.
There is no nation in the world whose units
have not a certain degree of individuality. The
everyday life of even a barbarous village never
ceases to demand of the lowest members of it those
actions which, accompanied by pain or pleasure,
developed the personal sense. Every sane man comes
at last to be able to say " I," and to fill the word with
some content. But everyone does not utter the pro-
noun with the same force or meaning. The clause
" I am," for instance, implies something vastly different,
when uttered by the Supreme Deity, from its denotation
when used by even a really great man. For the
ch. xi THE CLAN VERSUS INDIVIDUALISM 99
Former, the phrase indicates purpose, will, knowledge,
and cause, in infinite plenitude within Himself, and
for Himself. No mere man, however cultured, could
put the same intensity into the statement of personal
existence.
And, similarly, the forces of individuality differ
within the sphere of human experience. People at the
bottom of the human ladder cannot be expected,
except by some miracle, to have as much individuality
as the more highly cultured members of the nation.
The beliefs, states, and actions of men result from their
social systems. This is true in our own advanced
nation. Fortunately, our constitution is elective and
free, and the ultra-conservatism of barbarous peoples
is largely obviated. An Englishman is not only acted
upon by his social environment, but he reacts upon it
as a voter, and as being free to express publicly his
views on any subject. He is, in short, able to separate
himself in thought from surrounding influences, and
from the standpoint of a spectator, may approve,
criticise, and judge, to the best of his ability. But
the like privilege is denied to peoples less advantageously
situated, and the upshot is that their characters are
made for them while they themselves do not con-
sciously create the social life in which they are
placed.
The Fijians are such a people. They do in no way
take an individual or active part in the formation of
their society or social institutions. Like all barbarous
nations they are ardent conservatives. No barrister
H 2
ioo FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
ever looked so assiduously for precedents as does the
Fijian ; and, when he finds them, he clings to them
most tenaciously. Therefore, progress is slow and
practically unconscious, as far as his social relationships
are concerned. He is what his father was.
It has been noted before in this book that the
native is born into a social system, the kernel of which
is the " Mdtanggdli " or clan. The Fijian clan is a
kind of enlarged family, where all elders are fathers,
and all juniors are children. Family relationships are
not very clearly differentiated (so far as authority is
concerned), from clan relationship. It is no un-
common occurrence for a distant aunt to beat her
nephew ; so long as they are of the same mdtanggdli,
it is considered legitimate enough. Such a thing would
not be tolerated in an English family. If one of the
clan be ill, the members of the clan will travel twenty
or thirty miles on foot to see him, though the sick man
suffer merely from a mild attack of influenza ; so
strong are the ties which bind the members together.
The chief bond of the clan is the memory and cult
of the Kalou Vn, together with such customs dedicated
to, or originated by, him. As a rule, the members of a
clan claim proudly a connection by blood with the
Kalou Vu. But there are exceptions which are becom-
ing more numerous at the present time. Men may
be adopted into the community from another tribe.
If a man's life should, for any reason, become unpleasant
in his own clan, he may flee to another, on the condition
that he shall be naturalised ; that is, he shall accept
xi THE CLAN VERSUS INDIVIDUALISM 101
the customs, beliefs, and usages of the people with
whom he takes refuge, and shall work and fight with
them. Needless to say, the practice of desertion is
not very common, because the clan-life is the Fijian's
chief joy. The most difficult thing in the world
for him is to separate himself from his own people,
and live as an exile from them. A Fijian without a
mdtanggdli is a very rare specimen ; and, if such a
man could be found, it is usually because all his
relatives have passed away, and he has become the last
of his tribe.
We now pass to the inner life of the mdtanggdli.
All larger works are carried out by clan-labour. There
was no such thing in early days as an individual trade.
Differentiation took place, indeed, to the extent that
there were evolved both a fisherman-clan and a
carpenter-clan. These two phratries had great pres-
tige owing to the secret knowledge and skill which,
as a body of men, they undoubtedly possessed. But
a single carpenter living unto himself was a rara avis.
The carpenter and fisher classes were guilds or cor-
porate bodies, absolutely exclusive, having their own
gods and religious usages. Their knowledge was a
common possession amongst them, and it was taboo
to reveal it to outsiders. Hence the statement remains
good, even in respect of them, that all larger works are
carried out by clan-labour.
Turning again to the general question, we find that,
if a house had to be built, the clan did it ; if a large
canal had to be made, the members of the mdtanggdli,
102 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
or several mdtanggdli, excavated it. And so with
every other undertaking of importance.1
Certain consequences arose from the above-men-
tioned custom :
(i) The individual Fijian developed a predilection
for working in numbers. If he is set to work by
himself he quickly loses heart, and becomes lackadaisical
and without interest in his task. But his manner
becomes immediately enthusiastic and energetic if he
be allowed to throw in his lot with his fellows. The
Rev. T. Williams has described very accurately the
building of a house, and the shouting and leaping, the
bustle and chatter, which continue without a moment's
interruption until the work is finished. When the
house is completed, the builders usually sit down in
a company and give vent to their feelings of joy and
satisfaction in one of their native chants accompanied
by much rhythmic clapping of hands.
(2) There is produced also in the Fijian charac-
ter an interdependent spirit. Self-reliance is a very
evanescent quality amongst the native clansmen. On
may notice again and again how the individual will be
influenced now this way, now that, according to the
opinions he hears expressed by his companions. A
suggestion made quite casually by one of their number
will sway the attitude of the whole company, while
another inadvertent proposition will turn them like
sheep in the opposite direction.
1 Throughout Melanesia the people accomplished their tasks
together. Florence Coombe, " Islands of Enchantment," p. 7.
xi THE CLAN VERSUS INDIVIDUALISM 103
Interdependence is most clearly proven by the
conduct of a Fijian in the face of ridicule or the
condemnation of his fellows. Mr. J. Stewart (late
Colonial Secretary of Fiji) gave an instance, in a lecture
delivered by him in Glasgow, of a man in Viti Levu
who tried to follow English methods of trading and
thrifty living. His mdtanggdli turned upon him in
the most merciless fashion. They boycotted him, and
so pestered him, that he died from the intensity of his
humiliation. Mr. Stewart also related, as an instance
of the strong clan-feeling at the time, that a preacher
stated on the following Sunday that the culprit was
squirming in hell for his misdeeds.
The interdependence of the Fijian is often a source
of danger in a crisis. For instance, if a sailing vessel
were to get into difficulties during a gale, it is most
uncertain what the crew would do unless a chief were
present. In such a case, everyone speaks, and contrary
orders are obeyed one by one, or perhaps together,
until confusion reigns.
(3) Absolute dependence upon those above him in
rank plays a large part in the formation of the native's
character. The chiefs and elders are most powerful,
and their command, in the early barbarous days, was
strictly carried out. The Rev. T. Williams states
that a Fijian is implicitly submissive to the will of
his chief.1 This submissiveness was not only bred by
the constitution of the clan, but was enforced by the
club.
1 " Fiji and the Fijians," p. 23.
104 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Of the chiefs, the highest only were exempt from
the " Vdkarordngo " (submission). The minor ranks
might be more correctly termed transmitters of
authoritative commands than originators of them.
The high chiefs alone, therefore, had an adequate
opportunity of developing personality or individuality.
Everything of importance was remitted to them, as
leaders of the mdtanggdli, for appraisement, judgment,
or direction ; and the people respectfully accepted and
approved the final decision. In a meeting of chiefs
at Bau, R6ko Tiii Mbua stated, " Our people love and
esteem a strong hand." 1
The power vested in the chiefs is apparent in the
right of " Ldla." The land was divided amongst
the clans or phratries, and it was administered
within the clan according to the needs of the unit.
Amongst the clansmen no one could therefore be
designated " Lackland." No man could be called a
" Capitalist."
But the chiefs had no land. King Dhakombau is
credited by Lord Stanmore with the following, " The
land and the people are one. We rule both — we own
neither." The chiefs, in return for services rendered
in the leadership of the people, receive not land, but
certain rights and privileges. Amongst these was the
very ancient right of "Ldla" This custom is the
privilege extended to the chief, by which he may call
the clansmen together at a moment's notice, for the
purpose of carrying out any large undertaking. The
1 Government Official Report, 26th Nov., 1880.
xi THE CLAN VERSUS INDIVIDUALISM 105
right is somewhat like the feudal claims of our own
early kings and barons.
Ldla is said to be subdivided into (a) clan ldla ;
(b) personal ldla. The former was exercised by the
chief in his position as head of the tribe, generally
after discussion with his executive. The latter mode
of ldla is a fungus growth of the legitimate clan-rights
of the chief, and was enforced by club-law if disobeyed.
Personal ldla has been the fruitful cause of great
trouble amongst the people of these islands. The
population are just beginning to distinguish more
clearly works that are for the benefit of the community,
such as roads, bridges, etc., from arbitrary service to
the chief, and they are consequently claiming their
rights from the British Government. It is no un-
common thing to hear in the district councils strong
protests against the acquirement of wealth and man-
power by unreasonable and oppressive demands on
the part of the chiefs.
When Fiji was ceded to England several councils
were held in the 'seventies and 'eighties, and the
representatives of the British Government met the
chiefs for the purpose of adjusting the relationship of
the new colony to the Empire. The proceedings of
these meetings have been printed in an official blue-
book, and are therefore accurate. The following
extracts are taken from these reports in order to throw
some light on the true nature of ldla. When the
custom of ldla came up for discussion, there was some
disposition to abolish it. The proposal met with strong
106 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
opposition on the part of the chiefs. Roko Tui Mbiia
said, " Individuality of house-building is a mistake
altogether ; no one can build his own house, and the
responsibility of it is too much for him." x Such is
the chief's idea of the capacity of his people. He goes
on to say, " If a man has no more food than is sufficient
for himself, it is impossible to provide food for those
engaged to build the house."
Speaking in the council at Ndraimba, Tui Lakemba,
a high notability, argued as follows, " Who of himself
can build a good house ? And who desires to see a
town with nothing but small and bad houses in it ?
Whoever heard of a man who plants a garden by
himself, and whose family always has plenty to eat ?
Do not we Fijians do things in companies ? How
could one man build his house, and plant his garden,
and build his canoe, and sail it all alone ? " Then
followed the strong assertion, " To do this we must
cease to be Fijians." 2 From his standpoint he was
perfectly correct.
A hot discussion followed. Roko Tui TaileVu
remarked, " Now, if British custom is to be substituted
for a respectful obedience to chiefs, as we have heard
it is done in some places, can a greater evil happen ?
Does good ever come of an impudent, disobedient
child ? It will be the same with the people of the
land if disobedience and disrespect to chiefs be
allowed." He went on to say, " Chiefs ! There will
1 Government Official Report, 23rd Dec, 1875.
'Government Official Report, Sept. 1875.
xi THE CLAN VERSUS INDIVIDUALISM 107
soon be none of them, and our people will soon be
in the most deplorable and pitiable condition, as
children without parents."
One more quotation may be given. Roko Tui Lau
said, " But should it become law that all men are to
be free to follow their own minds and pleasures, then
chieftain's authority and position come to an end, and
' Vdka-Piritania ' (British custom) commences." x
The preceding quotations give an insight into the
actual relationship existing between chiefs and people.
They also make very clear that the people were like
" dumb, driven cattle." A remark of the Roko Tui
Nam6si is very apt in this connection, " Our people
still wait for the chiefs' bidding in all that they do."
These discussions took place over forty years ago ;
and so strongly entrenched was the chiefly authority
that the ancient power is still exercised. Under
British rule there are signs, however, of the growth of
individuality in the native character. As we have
already noted, they are beginning to bring charges
of injustice and oppression against their chiefs in the
annual councils.
The old custom of lala is a sign of immaturity.
Yet it brings with it certain advantages. It ensures
celerity in the execution of any work that may be
taken in hand. A private individual in Fiji would
have to wait an indefinite time for the opportunity of
engaging men. This would cause him very great
inconvenience. Again, the swiftness of house-building
1 Ibid.
108 FIJIAN SOCIETY ch. xi
was undoubtedly a great benefit to ordinary native
folk, especially in the rainy season, since a house could
be erected by a clan in a few days. Also, in a land where
lifting appliances were scarcely known, the old regime
was perhaps the only effectual way in which lightness
of labour could be achieved. Another advantage
secured was that the best wisdom of the tribe was
placed at the disposal of the humblest member of the
community. Great cohesion also resulted, for the
clan worked as a unit. The Fijian clan is, so to speak,
a single cell.
CHAPTER XII
INDIVIDUALISM VERSUS THE CLAN
From the previous chapter it can be inferred that
the clan tends to create a dull uniformity within itself.
The sparkling vivacity of a more civilised community
is markedly absent. Any attempt on the part of a
single individual to be different from the other mem-
bers of the tribe meets with universal disfavour. No
man must be better housed than his fellows, except, of
course, the chiefs, who usually have fairly well-built
places of residence. It is just at this point where the
fallacy of the chiefs' arguments in favour of the old
order appears. Nothing is more certain than that,
if greater freedom were allowed for individual initiative,
there would be more rapid development in the mental
calibre of the Fijian ; and mental growth is a most
important condition of social success.
Individualism has had to fight for its existence in
Fiji, as, perhaps, in no other community. Under the
ancient system of communism there was no room for
personal initiative. Want of time was one main
obstacle, and public opinion another. Were a man
to begin a scheme on his own account, his services
would soon be required elsewhere by the programme
no FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
of communal work. At the present time he is required
by that programme (fixed now by the Government)
to work upon all sorts of undertakings. The Fijian
is a " Jack of all trades " : specialists are a rarity.
The development of individual perseverance has a
heavy embargo placed upon it, because there is no
inducement or reward for industry in any one direction.
That which the native acquires by toil or personal
venture is liable at any moment to be taken from him
by an unscrupulous chief or covetous relatives. At
the present moment, the man who has been paid off
after having finished some work will be given no rest
(unless he resolutely hides his pay) until the money
is expended. Money and the most movable goods are,
to a certain extent, looked upon as common property.
A pair of trousers, for instance, have been known to
go the round of a village, until they were worn out.
Proceeding with the discussion, we discover not only
the absence of inducement to individual enterprise in
a Fijian community, but also that the Fijian has not
yet risen to the point when he can realise the possi-
bility of a noble personal idea to be approached by
and through his own endeavour. A man who wishes
to progress may forgo monetary consideration as a
stimulus to perseverance, but he may not ignore the
impetus to be gained by setting up the ideal of high
character. For a Fijian to conceive such a goal of
character, and to attempt to realise it in daily life,
would be to bring him into such isolation that only
the very few have been found to make it their aim.
xii INDIVIDUALISM VERSUS THE CLAN in
The words of Mr. L. T. Hobhouse are remarkably
applicable to the case of the Fijian. " Individual
conduct is often determined by compulsion of law or
custom, not conception of good." x This is not to
say that the South Sea Islander is barren of plans
and schemes. On the other hand, it may be truly
said that he is rather an adept in both. What is
becoming more and more necessary to him, if he
is to grow in individuality, perseverance and purpose, is
an ideal of life which would act as a binding and
governing principle, as well as an inspiration, in all
his attempts to progress. Unfortunately, obedience,
not purpose, seems to be the distinguishing trait of the
Fijians' character.
In the case of the chieftains, who have had, as a
rule, everything their own way, and who have been
for so many centuries the brains of the clan, one would
have expected of them something like individuality.
And indeed, many of them have strong personalities ;
but, on account of the fact that they found little
opposition from their people, they have produced in
their temperament much of arrogance, pride, and
childish vanity.
Therefore, though a change from the communal
system would apparently be a loss in authority to these
island chiefs, they would have, in the introduction of
a freer social organisation, a better opportunity for the
development of both their own characters and the
characters of the people who live under their rule.
1 " Morals in Evolution," vol. i, p. 22.
H2 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
As a matter of fact, a newer state is being quickly
ushered in. In the march of events nothing will pre-
vent this. If it were advisable to keep the native in his
unsophisticated state, it would be impossible. He is
even now in a state of transition, and, in many cases,
is showing an adaptability altogether admirable. Native
captains of cutters, Government officials, mission
teachers, medical practitioners, and others travel over
the Group to their various appointments, thus causing
an interchange of thought and a breakdown of local
and artificial barriers between towns and communities,
to which experience they themselves were formerly
strangers. Hitherto the people, like the Tongans,
were intensely tribal, and intercourse between them
was largely restricted by jealousy, mistrust, or lack
of psychological affinity.
But now, men are sent away from their own tribe,
away from the interdependent life of the phratry,
and are so forced to act according to their personal
knowledge and capacity. The result is that some very
good types of manly character have been developed
and they are a proof that the Fijians would probably
survive the dangers of a complete transition from their
present social system to one more in keeping with a
scientific conception of what is needed to produce a
strong individuality.
Those chiefs who have come much in contact with
white people have received with the evils of civilisation
certain mental benefits. Dhakombau was a powerful
individual, capable and ready to execute both good and
xii INDIVIDUALISM VERSUS THE CLAN 113
bad deeds of the extreme order. His capacity for
thought was exceptionally good, and he is credited with
uttering some fine things which could not altogether
be the product of a purely barbarous training. On
one occasion he was discussing electricity. " Ah, yes,"
he said, " you white men are great in your discoveries.
There is a screen between this world and the land of
all knowledge, and you have scratched it so thin that
you can almost see through. I should have thought
you were immortal gods, but — you die."
Those chiefs, on the other hand, who have been led
into the evils of our own civilisation without assimilating
its great educational and social advantages, quickly
become wrecks on the sands of time. And there are
many pathetic instances where men, who might have
been notable leaders of their people, have prostituted
their opportunities by foolish and criminal self-
indulgence. Freedom without self-control caused
their utter ruin. Those, therefore, who seek the good
of the people of the Fiji Islands, will not advocate
sudden and drastic changes at the present time. In
the solution of this problem, the more hurry, the less
speed. On the other hand, it would be equally foolish
to refuse to support any reform which had a reasonable
ground of success.
The peculiar character resulting from his institutions
is no more plainly seen than in the way the Fijian's
conversion to Christianity took place. The writer has
seen them converted by scores and hundreds. As
they work in companies, so also they tend to keep
I
ii4 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
together in their religious life and custom. One feels,
however, that intensity of purpose is in an inverse
ratio to the numbers who accept the Gospel. Intensity
of conviction will never increase until education and a
change of social organisation bring about more in-
dependent belief and action. The denouement will be
far more satisfactory in that case, even though it should
result in a decrease in the number of conversions.
One specific good, however, results from mass-
conversion ; that is, the people become voluntary
pupils in a religious school, where they gain teaching
well-calculated to inspire in them an ideal of life worthy
of the name. Hence it would appear that the sanest
course of procedure for those whose business it is
must lie in the direction of careful, painstaking tuition
of the native mind.
The religious psychology of the Fijians after con-
version to Christianity reveals the peculiar features to
which we have so constantly referred. All have
volubility in preaching. As all can join in the building
of a house, so each seems to think that he is able to
preach. It is doubtful whether one male Christian
could be found who could not fill in ten minutes or a
quarter of an hour with a sermonette. There are
certain ideas which seem to have become the common
property of the clan-mind on which he can always
fall back with the certainty of getting an attentive
hearing. In view of this, there is a remarkable same-
ness in the native preachers' public addresses.
Words and phrases fall into grooves, as is natural
xii INDIVIDUALISM VERSUS THE CLAN 115
where there is a paucity of ideas and a multitude of
words. In the training of preachers, the greatest
difficulty is found in bestirring them to think for
themselves. By dint of perseverance and careful
tuition, some impression is made, and there is every
reason to believe that, in the future, volubility will
decrease, and originality of thought and utterance will
increase. Thus a superior type of oratory will gradually
evolve, and a more effective class of public speaker
will be differentiated from the inferior example which
occupies the village churches at the present time.
As to style in public utterances, it may be said that
the native is, almost without exception, an adept in
drawing analogies and interpreting allegory. Philo-
sophical thought, which presupposes differentiation in
mental experience and activity, is absent.
The conclusions we arrive at are that a communal
system such as that which obtains in Fiji induces
monotony in the subjects' life and character, and also
in /their mental and religious outlook, and that, so
long as the constitution of society continues as it is,
so long will the growth of individuality and personality
be slow. The absence of conflict of any kind what-
soever is seriously detrimental to the best interests of
the race. Finally, we infer that if a free social life
could be gradually instituted, the dangers of incidental
catastrophes resulting from transition would probably
be outbalanced by the gain in depth of character and
intensity of personality.
I 2
CHAPTER XIII
MORAL CHARACTER
AS SEEN IN THE " KEREK£RE " (FlJIAN BEGGING)
Pursuing the method used in the study of in-
dividuality in the islander, we shall examine the
morality of the Fijian as a consequence of his environ-
ment. Many people are led by erroneous or narrow
conceptions of social life in general to forget that the
Fijian's past is crystallised in his present social
surroundings, and they proceed forthwith to pronounce
judgment upon him as if he had had the same history
as a European. The diagnoses of such people are,
therefore, often unjust, caustic, and unscientific. For
they take single threads of his character, and judge
therefrom the warp and woof and all. But mercy
comes with knowledge, and knowledge results from
scientific study of the race in question.
It is not proposed to seek Fijian ethics in his
barbarous religion ; for his religious experiences were
peculiarly unethical. In the after-life of the soul, he
saw no irresistible law of retribution working out man's
destiny. The nearest to such a law that he could
realise was the unpardonable sin of being a bachelor.
ch. xiii MORAL CHARACTER 117
A bachelor was slain at the river of death by Nangga-
nangga. " This was the second death." From some
tribes, as in Kandavu, there are hints of certain tests
being applied to those suspected of meanness and lying.
The soul of the dead man was supposed to pass at
one place through two great rocks which ground
closely one against the other. He who passed through
scathless was thereby proven to be a brave man. At
another place the soul was tossed by four people, from
a sheet, high in the air. If he were not carried away
by strong winds he would be accounted a truly generous
man, and would be allowed to pass on his way.
Compensation certainly accrued to valour, but valour
itself was interpreted in terms of cruelty. The better
land was open to all who obeyed the customs of their
people here on earth. In fact, the heavenly country
was merely a kinematographic view of the social life
surrounding the native while living, photographed on
the mind by usage, and vivified by imagination and
emotion. Indeed, a moral retribution theory which
was to take effect in an after-life would have little
influence upon these people, because events far in the
future were misty and unreal to them. The heavenly
country was not a fact far away, but a present existence.
It was a continuation of the present, earthly life.
Generally, social status remained the same in the here-
after as now. It was not possible for a commoner to
join the ranks of the aristocracy in that other land. A
high chief had every prospect of a noble apotheosis,
while a commoner had to put up with the best position
n8 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
he could find. There is nothing ethical, therefore, in
the relationship existing between the native and his
gods.
The beginnings of morality may, however, be dimly
traced by examining certain aspects of his social life,
and by noting some definite results which are to be
seen by the close observer.
One of these aspects is the system of " Kerekere "
(Fijian begging).
The clan is a commune in which real and personal
property are clearly distinguished. Land, for instance,
is, as in all countries, real estate, but is looked upon
as fundamentally the property of the clan. Each man
has his allotment and he is supposed to use it. If he
neglects to do so, another individual, by the consent
of the mdtanggdlt, puts it to some good purpose. No
man is at liberty to alienate his portion. Should he
die without issue, the land reverts to the clan to be
again apportioned as they think best. Houses, like-
wise, cannot be sold, as the clan works in the construc-
tion of them. Some high chiefs claim that they have
the right to sell land, but in some cases recently, when
the chief has done so on his own authority, the people
have taken the law into their own hands, and have
caused a considerable amount of unrest.
Personal property is respected to a limited extent.
By personal property is meant those goods which the
member of a clan has made or produced in his spare
time ; such goods include mats, pottery, nets, salt, and
the like. These possessions may be alienated, and are
xiii MORAL CHARACTER
119
often bartered away at what is called the " Solevu"
On such an occasion, one town will arrange with another
for an exchange of goods. The people from one
community will bring, for example, pigs or mats, which
they will exchange for pottery or salt made by the
inhabitants of the other town. At an appointed place,
the exchange is made without hurry, with much
preparatory ceremony, and amidst unlimited feasting,
rejoicing, and hilarity.
Within the clan, personal property is not held by
any individual in the same sense as we understand
ownership. All the members of the clan have a certain
lien upon the goods belonging to any one of their
number. Clearly the Fijian has made but one step
from absolute communism of goods.1
The chiefs, aided by their quasi -feudal powers, have
a perfect right to confiscate a pig or a mat, if the
transaction be ostensibly for the good of the tribe.
The owner may show his disapproval by keeping
silence, but he dare not refuse the chief if he would
keep his good character of being a kindly-spirited and
generous man. Such a demand on the part of the chief
implies a certain compensatory privilege of the owner
of the property to come to his superior at some later
time with a petition for a return boon. Amongst the
members of a tribe or clan a man may, if he should
desire something belonging to another, lay a request
1 In New Britain private property is much more clearly recognised.
See a paper by Rev. B. Danks, Aust. Assoc, for the Advancement of
Science (1910), p. 456.
120 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
for it ; and, just as in the instance above, the owner
of the article is bound by the customs of his people
to give it to the one who wants it. The custom is
called " Kereke're." This system is the chief means
of exchange within the tribe, and it is of such a nature
that it has not reached the form of barter. " The
Kereke're" says Mr. J. Stewart, " is like the borrowing
of jewellery from the Egyptians when the Israelites
were preparing to depart." x He adds, "It is the
first stage of evolution in which the proprietary unit
was the tribe." So then, when a Fijian says of an
article, "It is mine," he has far less meaning in the
phrase than we usually put into it. We understand
by the first personal possessive pronoun that no man
has legal right to appropriate, claim, or use our pro-
perty without our consent. When a Fijian uses the
phrase, he cannot mean by it any more than that an
article is his until someone, whose influence he dares
not disregard, begs it. This is far from being a
distinction without a difference.
Mr. Stewart called the Kereke're " a terrible weapon
in the hands of the idle or indolent." The latter class
know that their fellows cannot very well refuse their
petitions if they would maintain their good character.
The same gentleman further says, " if he (the Fijian)
does refuse, he becomes the victim of an organised
boycott."
The truth of these words must be accentuated here.
The whole tendency of Ke'rike're is to create an idle
1 Glasgow Lecture, 1898.
xiii MORAL CHARACTER 121
class. And not only so, but the general temperamental
attitude of the Fijian people is, that they lean too much
to one another, and lose therein that peculiar upright-
ness belonging to a man who depends primarily on his
own resources. A man in Fiji may be so negligent
that his garden becomes overgrown ; yet this need
not trouble him very much, as he can always have
recourse to the Kerekere ; that is, he can beg in the
customary and approved manner. From the ease
with which their exhausted stock is thus replenished,
many men yield to the temptation to habitual idleness
and improvidence.
Moreover, the system opens the door to all kinds
of schemes for over-reaching one's neighbour.1
Covetousness becomes a bugbear of native society.
I asked a superior Fijian the following questions
dealing with the matter. His answers were naive
enough to satisfy the most critical examiner.
" Do people, as a rule, beg large things ? ';
Ans. — " Such goods as cups, plates, tables, food,
are convenient things to ask for."
" If a man ke'rekeres from you, do you make a point of
remembering that he has done so ? "
Ans—" That I do. Just wait a little while, and I
will go straight to that man who keeps asking things
from me."
" Do you ever forget ? "
Ans.— " Never."
1 Sir Everard Im Thurn states that Kirtkdrl brings with it no
shame to the Fijians. Med. Journ. of A 11st., Sept. 26th, 1914, p. 299.
122 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
" Suppose you go to him and he refuses to give,
what then ? "
Ans. — " The friendship is over."
" When you ask for an article do you know that it
means you are placed under a debt to that man ? "
Ans.— " Yes."
" Do you try to get the better of the other man ? "
Ans. — " Yes, I always try to get the better of him."
We are prepared, by the answers given, to accept
as true the following statement from Mr. Stewart's lec-
ture : " The wealth of the Fijian consists in the number
of persons from whom he can beg." It is also manifest
that a rogue could very simply over-reach his more
ingenuous fellow, because there is no accepted standard
of valuation. The circumstances in which a man is
placed determine very often the willingness with which
he parts with an article. The absence of a recognised
standard of values has an important bearing, therefore,
on the moral character of the native. Just as it is
difficult for him to value an article of commerce, so he is
unfitted to appreciate accurately the difference between
moral values.
While there are some men in Fiji who are really
generous and will ofttimes seal friendship with gifts,
many, on the other hand, make friendship a means
by which they impose upon the more industrious.
Some amusing illustrations may be given of the
Kerekere. A man received a loin-cloth as a present
from a European. Some little time had elapsed when
he came back to the donor and asked for a second
xni MORAL CHARACTER 123
cloth, giving as his reason that his relative had come
and taken the first one. Naturally, the donor inquired
why he had given it to his relative. " Oh," said he,
" I had already got his coat."
A Fijian carpenter was working for me, and having
finished his task, received the money and departed.
A youth belonging to the same clan came to me a
short time afterwards, and asked, " Has Ratu Tavua
gone ? " I replied in the affirmative, and queried, " Do
you want him ? " " Indeed I do," answered he,
" I want to get his money." The answer from his
point of view had no humour in it, and was quite in
harmony with the accepted system of Kerekere.
The Kerekere takes away the wholesome fear of
debt, a fact which has a detrimental effect upon the
native character. A Fijian will never exert himself
to discharge obligations which are due to fellow-
members of his clan.
It is not indeed surprising that the people cling to
the custom. By its use they know that they can never
become absolutely destitute, and are loth to give it
up for another system which they cannot properly
understand. They see in it, too, a safeguard against
the rise of rich men, which, in the opinion of the
native, is no small gain. A rich man is an irresistible
challenge to their natural covetousness. The chiefs,
when questioned about its abolition, said, " Why should
one man be richer than another ? " The suspicion
arises immediately in our minds that the chiefs were
not so altruistic as their words make them to appear.
124 FIJIAN SOCIETY ch. xiii
Enough has been said to show that here is a key to the
present moral character of the Fijian. It has been
stated by some that the native is lax in his dealings.
How could it be otherwise ? Is he not the result of
his past ? It would be strange indeed if he did not
tend to limpness in his principles, or if he were not
easily led into deceit. The Fijian is kindly enough,
affectionate also after his own manner. But one of
the greatest difficulties which the missionary faces is
the task of stiffening the natives' moral backbone, and
inculcating the bracing principles of commercial
uprightness which the best Europeans hold so dear.
CHAPTER XIV
moral character — continued
Taboo, and the Growth of Conscience
The early custom of Taboo was exceptionally com-
plete in Fiji. The multiplicity of its ramifications
may be read at leisure in the Rev. Thos. Williams's
book.1
There were two kinds of taboo, (a) things which
were taboo in themselves and were always so ; (b) things
which were made taboo by chiefs or owners of property.
In the taboo itself there is nothing ethical. A man
desires to save his cocoa-nuts or yams for a special
purpose, and fixes up a taboo-symbol, which is supposed
to be endued with supernatural or magical power.
Evidently no moral principle is embodied in it. The
owner acts from a purely egoistic motive, and en-
deavours to attain his end by acting upon the super-
stitious and personal fears of his fellows.
But the taboo in its outward effects upon society
becomes a splendid preparation for the building up of
a good character in a later stage of development.
F. B. Jevons states that the present-day moral senti-
1 " Fiji and the Fijians," pp. 196-199.
135
126 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
ments get their strength from taboo.1 The question
therefore arises how taboo becomes, in the process of
time, the basis of morality.
One of the necessary conditions of moral growth is
that a society shall be formed with common interests.
But this truth has another side to it, for common
interests imply that the members of the society shall,
to a certain extent, think of the interests of others.
It is only thus that morality is revealed in its noblest
beauty. Given a company of men who distinguish
themselves as personalities from the society in which
they dwell, and from the persons who go to compose
that society, feelings of mutual obligation tend to arise
as a natural means by which the existence of the
social organisation is secured. The moral " ought "
has no reference to one's private instincts or passions
as the ultimate rule of conduct, but rather to a law
which is observable only in a society of men who have
learned to distinguish themselves from each other,
and yet who feel that their own safety depends upon
their interdependence within the society, and upon the
way in which their common interests are established.
In a word, the moral " ought " is practically born in
society, and is a generalisation from primitive and
unethical obligations which have been imposed
upon the members of the clan in such a system as
taboo.
In the custom of taboo there grows up irresistibly
a general sense of obligation to others. If a man
1 " Introduction to Hist, of Religion," p. 85.
xiv MORAL CHARACTER 127
should place a taboo on an article, he must feel a need
of that article. His motive in trying to save it may be
entirely selfish. But, without examining critically the
quality of his motive, his fellows within the clan
would tend to respect it, if it were for no other reason
than that they themselves had needs, which they, in
their turn, desired to be supplied. Consequently, a
dim respect for the need of the person setting the taboo
mingles in their minds with the more powerful fear
of evil accruing to them if they were to break the
magical sanction.
When such a taboo is placed on the fruits of a crop
or upon the honest product of labour, it comes to be
looked upon as reasonable. The producer grew the
vegetables, therefore he has a greater right to them
than to articles upon which he bestowed no time or
labour. In this way a discussion occurs in the bar-
barian mind which begins to have a truly moral
aspect.
Differentiation takes place in taboo. For instance,
the sense of obligation is more intense when the man
who sets the taboo has a natural right, or has established
a right, to property by bestowing labour upon it, than
in the case where a man has arbitrarily laid claim to the
article in question. The extent of differentiation
depends, therefore, on the amount of original labour
bestowed upon the property. The sense of justice
begins to make itself felt. A conception of injustice
would develop where a taboo was unreasonably placed
on anything ; that is, where it was laid upon an article
128 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
having no customary or visible connection with the
author of the taboo.
But, again, if a taboo be broken, the offender is
affected psychologically by his fear, so that he suffers
bodily and mentally on account of it. In his ignorance
he immediately thinks that he is the subject of an
invisible influence which is magical and irresistible
in its work.
Consequently the taboo has a religious aspect as
well, especially when a taboo is set by a priest. There is
then unconsciously inculcated a fearful reverence for
supernatural sanctions, which reverence, in its better
form, is eminently useful when religion becomes more
ethical. So the missionary finds that when he taboos
anything it is looked upon as religiously sacred. The
Bible becomes taboo and likewise the Sabbath Day,
and both the Book and the Day are held in greater
respect in Fiji than either in Europe or Australia. The
apocalyptic Mount Sion is sacred in the same way.
The sanctity of this religious taboo is broken when
either the people disobey the precepts of the Bible,
desecrate the Sabbath, or ignore the claims of the
Better Land.
Unfortunately, that which is an aid to morality in
some respects becomes a hindrance in others. For it
is most difficult to get the Fijians to change the old,
absolute idea of the taboo, for something which is
more rational and adaptable. There is attaching to
the Sabbath and the Bible something of a magical
character, which gives rise to many unnecessary small
xiv MORAL CHARACTER 129
questions of casuistry. The missionary needs to be a
master in the art of deciding so-called questions of
conscience.
Still it is in Fiji that one can enjoy the Sabbath, for
on that day scarce a sail is seen on the blue-green
waters, nor does a spade touch soil ; the sound of the
axe is not heard in the deep woods. If the native
Christian is pharisaical to the point of refusing to pull
a fruit from the tree, or eat a fish caught on Sunday,
he does not, on the other hand, make the sacred season
hideous with carousal, or secularise it until it loses
altogether its religious significance. It is taboo.
CHAPTER XV
ETIQUETTE
The Fijian is a model of good manners. It has
been mentioned that he is ceremonious to a fault.
As a supplement to that phase of his mental make-up
we may say that he is amongst the most courteous of
the South Sea Island peoples.
Fijian courtesy, however, is shown most carefully
to those of high rank, and but indifferently to those of
lower station. Good manners are the Fijians' ex-
pression of their reverence for the chieftains. The
more we examine the ways in which etiquette shows
itself, the more accurate does the foregoing statement
appear.
It would be well-nigh impossible to exhaust the list
of good manners, but the following will give a good
idea of what it means to be " gentlemanly " in the
Fiji Group.
The native deems it bad manners to intrude upon the
sleep of a chief or white man. I have had the greatest
difficulty in inducing him to awaken me in the early
morning, even when it was necessary. When he did
so it was with a soft, low call, which was scarcely
calculated to awaken a heavy sleeper.
ch. xv ETIQUETTE 131
When two men meet in the pathway, the inferior
stands on one side till the other passes. In addition,
if the chief be very high in rank, the commoner will
crouch to the ground, and utter a curious cry called
the " tdma." The same practice is observed when a
superior overtakes an inferior. In case of necessity,
the inferior will apologise in words such as the follow-
ing, " Au sa vdsale'vu, sdka " (I am impudent, sir),
while he proceeds ahead. The peculiar Fijian greeting
of chiefs called the " tdma " is almost a cry. A Fijian
authority thus describes it : —
" The ' tdma ' was different in different lands. At
Mbau the ' tdma ' of the men was thus — ' Mundiio-O.'
But the women, if there were many together and
Rdndi ni Mbau1 or Rdndi Levuka2 approached, they
would ' tdma ' thus : ' Mdinavdkandu-A.' But if any
woman were going alone, and met a lady, she would
1 tdma * thus : ' Vita.' The meaning of the ' tdma '
is the morning salutation ; it is impossible for the
commoners to say ' Sa ydndra ' to the chief, they
1 tdma ' instead. But should they meet after sunset or
when it is night, they say thus : ' Sa mbdngi, sdka '
(it is night, sir). No man may ' tdma ' twice, it
would be the same as deriding the chief. Chiefs do
not ' tdma ' to chiefs. The women do not ' tdma '
to chiefs, and men do not ' tdma * to ladies." 3
The greeting of a commoner to a chief in Lau
when night approaches is the very essence of courtliness.
1 Chief lady of Mbau. "Chief lady of Levuka.
8 Transactions of the Fijian Society, 1911.
K 2
i32 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap
A man would not say " Sa modhe " (sleep), as he
would greet his equal, but would make use of the
phrase, " Sa dhiri na vesi." Literally this would mean,
" the vesi1 drifts away."
In Kandavu, if a chief is sitting down, no one
should pass behind him, or step over his legs when
they are stretched out before him.2 A commoner will
not pass him in the pathway, or in a canoe at sea,
without apologising. To impede the chief's progress
is considered the height of ill-breeding.
The Rewa chiefs have a special kind of respect paid
to them. A commoner must not on any account carry
anything on the shoulder past their houses, nor is he
allowed to go by the chief's residence with an umbrella
open, or with any kind of sunshade. It is taboo also
for a canoe to approach the chiefly town with the
outrigger inshore, nor is it any less taboo for a man
to appear in the presence of his superiors with a
towel or any garment about his shoulders. Probably
the latter custom is breaking down now that European
singlets are being worn by the natives.
Mbau, which is the residence of the highest chiefs
in Fiji, is naturally full of Fijian scruples with regard
to etiquette. Should a chief be sitting upon the mats
in his house, no one may pass him without uttering
the word " tilou." If his back be towards the entrance,
a stranger would not dream of proceeding into the
1 The greenheart tree (Afzelia bijuga, A. Gray), the most highly-
valued wood in the Fijian forest.
* In Samoa no one dares to step over the legs of a chief. Capt.
J. R. Erskine, " Western Pacific Islands," p. 49.
xv ETIQUETTE 133
midst of the house, neither would anyone touch an
article in the house, without afterwards sitting down
and clapping his hands. The name of this practice
is " Dhombo." In some places the underlings clap
their hips. The origin of the latter custom is said to
be that it proved in more savage times the absence
of weapons. The same clapping of hands goes on
when the superior has finished eating. An equal
would not feel the necessity of clapping. Sitting on
the door-step would not be tolerated a moment by
anyone of chiefly rank.
Corroborative evidence from a native of Mbau is
worth inserting here. Ndeve Tonganivalu, in an
article written for the Fijian Society in Suva, says : —
" Certain customs were unlawful (tdmbu) to be done
at Mbau. (a) Having empty bows. If a canoe were
being poled to Mbau it was ' tdmbu ' for the bows to
be empty : if there were no one in the bows it would
be stoned out to sea. (b) Being outrigger towards.
It was ' tdmbu ' for the outrigger of canoes to be
turned towards the land when being poled by the
town, (c) It was ' tdmbu ' for the ' uluvuso ' (the
foaming bow) to be presented towards the land when
a sailing canoe arrived at Mbau. (d) It was ' tdmbu '
for any canoe to have a flag, unless there was a chief
on board, (e) It was ' tdmbu ' to wear a train.
(/) It was ' tdmbu ' to use the fan palm frond as an
umbrella, (g) It was ' tdmbu ' to wear a shoulder
scarf. All these things were unlawful to be done at
Mbau ; they were lawful (tdra) to be done only by
134 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
the high chiefs, and by those who were great ' vdsu *
to Mbau." 1
The drinking of the yanggona has given rise to
certain customs of etiquette. No man is allowed to
lie down while the chief drinks the liquor. During
the ceremony, when one of the number assembled
desires to cross to the other side of the house, he must
first of all touch the rim of the dish which holds the
yanggona, or the rope by which the dish is usually
hung up, and then pass over.
Many of the above customs are to be found in other
parts of Fiji ; and generally throughout the Group
the natives give honour wherever it is due. In their
ordinary conversation one will hear the Fijian equivalent
of " sir " constantly used. Strong language is not
heard except when a man is very angry. Men count
it a great shame to be insulted in conversation, and
they would sooner receive a blow than be called by
any one o^ the vile epithets which an angry Fijian
knows so well how to use. Another great insult is
to be pointed at with the index finger. I have been in a
house when a man, who was usually mild in his manner,
spoke most angrily to another who had treated him so.
Men speak little with married women. If they were
to do so, probably a scandal would immediately arise.
An additional phase of Fijian courtesy is their great
unwillingness to break news which might be unwelcome.
And, if one were to report to another good news, the
latter would assume an air of innocence so as to give
1 Transactions of the Fijian Society, 191 1.
xv ETIQUETTE 135
the former the pleasure of conveying the pleasant
information. It is reported that when the Rev. J.
Carey went to the chief Tuiniyau with pleasant news,
the latter, though he had heard it six days beforehand,
would not think of telling this to the missionary,
11 Because," said he, " I would not be so disrespectful."
He thought it would not please Mr. Carey if that
gentleman found he was the bearer of second-hand
reports. It is an integral part of their courtesy that
the Fijians shall not tell to one another, face to face,
what would be likely either to give pain or lessen joy.
Now the fact just mentioned has wide-reaching results,
since the native is often led thereby to sacrifice truth to
courtesy. Prof. Macmillan Brown, in a lecture on the
Chinese, said that they were a raceof liars.1 The following
sentence is an extract from the newspaper report of his
lecture : " The Orientals, even the most intellectual
and wisest, were satisfied with illusions. They found no
shame in lying, and, in fact, found it rather meritorious."
Mr. Hobhouse reports the same of the Yahgans of
Tierra del Fuego. The like character is attributed
to the ancient Greeks, who considered a lie to be
rather clever, provided it was not found out. Many
people have said the same of the Fijians. It is perhaps
true that they are an explicit example of the doctrine
of extreme mental reservation.
They lie, yet it may be doubted whether they lie
always in our sense of the term ; that is, it is to be
questioned if they deliberately lie from an immoral
1 Lecture delivered in Sydney, 1908.
136 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
motive. I am convinced that their inordinate love of
courtesy, and their diplomatic form of etiquette, are
at the root of many of their evasions and misstatements,
and the fact that they consider it no shame to sacrifice
truth to good manners may be attributed to their love
of standing well with their fellow-men.
D plomacy was demonstrated in clever cock-and-
bull stories which the chief's messengers were in the
habit of inventing. Suppose a message is to be
delivered to a chief ; if there be others in the room the
messenger will concoct a most plausible tale with not
an atom of truth in it, really for the consumption of
those whose business it was not, lest his master should
be brought to shame, or be injured politically.
" Adroitness in lying is attained by the constant use
made of it to conceal the schemes and plots of the chiefs,
to whom a really clever liar is a valuable acquisition." *
It was virtue for a messenger thus to hide the truth ;
and he was reckoned the cleverest who could dissemble
the best.
Fijians will not divulge one another's private business.
To do so would be very bad manners. An amusing
illustration of this fact occurred some time ago at the
Mission station in Kandavu. One of my boys wished
to go to his town, and another lad told me of it. When
I questioned my informant as to the reason, he said
he did not know, at the same time assuming a most
unin tlligent aspect. I then called the boy in, and
inquired of him personally the reason of his desire to
1 Rev. Thos. Williams, " Fiji and the Fijians," p. 107.
xv ETIQUETTE 137
return home. But he remained silent. Thereupon
his companion, who had already said he did not know,
took a kind of tacit permission from the silence of his
friend and said, " Allow me to explain, sir. He
wants to get married." He could not have told me this
piece of news until it was obvious that his friend was
in a dilemma. The foregoing characteristic is not
exclusively Fij'an. Dr. Nassau, speaking of the Mi
Amie people in Africa, states that where they say
" I don't know," when they do know, it is not with
them a lie in the strongest sense of the term. It
means simply, " I am not at liberty to tell." The
illustration given above shows that no great sense of
condemnation attaches to a negative answer advanced
in place of a positive one, if diplomacy or courtesy
countenance the action.
If a stranger is asking Fijians for information, it is
necessary for him to be full of guile in order to hide his
purpose. Were one's predilections not so hidden, the
Fijian would quickly discern them and answer in
harmony with them His standard of good manners
would lead him to say exactly what would please the
interrogator. This, again, is not peculiarly Fijian.
Prof. Max Muller refers to the huge Sanscrit frauds
perpetrated on Lieutenant Willcox in India, simply
because his desires for a particular class of information
were all too obvious.
In the same way, a native will not contradict his
superior when the latter makes a mistake ; but he will
respond with the words, " True, sir." He is not
138 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
concerned as to whether the chief is correctly informed
or not, but he is very much concerned that his words
shall please the chief. Over and over again I have
been allowed to find out with trouble and weariness
to myself things that could have been made clear to
me by a word. A similar statement is made by
Mrs. Smythe in her book, " Ten Months in Fiji."
" A Fijian will not correct you when you make a
mistake ; so long as he is polite, his end is served."
Also the Rev. J. Carey asserts that " one must pretend
ignorance in a chief's presence to please him." * The
following statement supports the quotations already
given. " Politeness is a great deceiver. Custom may
compel to praise another for form's sake, when he
deserves no praise ; and to thank him when he deserves
no thanks." 2
How easy it is, then, for the Fijian people to learn
the art of lying ! Fijian children quickly acquire the
fatal gift, and are adepts in telling falsehoods without
stirring a muscle of their faces. The longer they live
the cleverer they become, unless they are brought
strongly under the influence of religion.
Only too often do they find that lying is successful
in achieving selfish ends, so that they are encouraged
to lie even when it is not to the real advantage of the
liar.
The process then is, that the barrier between truth
and falsehood is broken down by the system of
1 Rev. J. Carey, " Kings of the Reef," p. 164.
1 Westermarck, " Origin of the Moral Ideas," p. 160.
xt ETIQUETTE 139
courtesy and diplomacy existent in Fijian society ;
after which the practice of lying is aggravated by its
extension to every part of life.
It is a great triumph for Christianity when a man
is produced who will not under any circumstances
utter that which he knows to be false. It is a miracle
of modern times. As an instance of what has been
accomplished, a native minister was subpoenaed to
give evidence in a court of law. While in the witness-
box he kissed the Bible, and promised to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. To his
credit be it said, he gave his evidence without the
slightest equivocation, even when some of the highest
chiefs in the land used all their powerful influence to
make him commit perjury. This was a very severe
trial to such a man under the best of circumstances.
Undeterred, however, by his natural respect and fear
of his superiors, he answered boldly, " I am here not
to please man, but God. I am here to tell what I
know according to the truth that is in me."
Men after this type are not few in Fiji, though the
circumstances which reveal their integrity do not often
occur.
CHAPTER XVI
TRUTH, CONSCIENCE AND CRIME
That the Fijian has comparatively confused ideas
of what truth is, we may gather from his vague con-
ceptions of the nature of falsehood. The word,
" Ldsu " is the term he uses for "lie." But this same
term has a most varied and wide application. It is
ldsu to tell a deliberate untruth, to carry a false story,
to make a wrong statement even when it is believed to
be true, to break a promise wittingly or unwittingly,
to be inaccurate in ordinary conversation, to miss a
mark, as when a boy throwing a spear misses his aim.
Obviously the idea of gross falsity is not so powerful
as to demand a special term.
The difference between a cool, unblushing lie and an
innocent misstatement of truth is not clearly perceived ;
and this probably arises because the Fijians, like most
simple-minded peoples, take into account the explicit
action more than the hidden motive ; and, secondly,
because untruth, whether intentional or not, carries
with it a kind of infection like taboo. The difficulty
that the native finds in appreciating the difference
between a lie and a misstatement is similar to that which
ch. xvi TRUTH, CONSCIENCE AND CRIME 141
the primitive mind meets in its endeavour to dis-
tinguish accidental homicide from deliberate murder.
It is quite doubtful whether an abstraction of truth
is possible to the Fijian. In mental calibre he is but a
child, who looks at the world as an aggregate of little
pieces. He has negligible power of unification, and
less gift for abstraction. On one occasion I asked a
class to give me a definition of love. The answers
given were in the form of concrete examples as,
for instance, (a) " If a man comes to me and I help
him " ; (b) " God loved us and gave His Son for us."
The universe is called by these Pacific Islanders
" all the things." There is apparently no idea of
uniting " all the things " in a single system. The
abstraction of truth is a still more difficult generalisa-
tion which comes after moral training, and after a
system of morality has become objective.
The native has a rough idea of what is true in concrete
cases, when he is able to compare the question under
immediate observation with concrete standards. An
English farmer, in former times, knew when his wooden
tally corresponded with that of his debtor or creditor,
and yet, perhaps, a theory of commerce or bookkeeping
was far beyond him. So it is with the Fijian in the
moral sphere. Consequently, there could be no
development of a noble idea of truth in his mind. The
reference was never made to any law within, or to any
guiding principle ; but to expediency, to outward
contingencies, to a taboo, a command, threat, or
promise of a chief, or to a precedent of some kind.
142 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
At the present time the natives of the Group are in the
moral school, learning the difficult task of judging
according to principles, as well as to concrete codes or
decrees ; and he finds the process irksome in the
extreme. In earlier days " out of sight " of the code
meant " away with the necessity of abiding by it."
If he could do a wrong thing without being seen, or
without meeting with any resultant evil, all was
well.
As a consequence of his moral deficiency, there is
no word for conscience in the Fijian's vocabulary.
The word used in the Bible to express the idea of an
inward monitor is, " Na lewa e loma " (judgment
within). But this phrase only confuses the native who
has not been developed under Christian teaching, for
to him, in his native state, there is no standard whereby
the wrongness or otherwise of an action can be decided
within his spirit. And there are very few to-day who
can give a clear definition of what the " Lewa e loma "
is. For most natives, the phrase is a very wide term
embracing all their decisions, however unimportant they
may be from the standpoint of ethics. That is to say,
the words referred to have no specific reference to the
moral quality of an action. The same objection may be
made to another phrase which, I discovered, was also
used for " conscience," viz., " At vakavuvuli e loma "
(the teacher within).
We are not surprised to find, therefore, that there
is not in the native's mind that abhorrence of wrong
which depends not upon public opinion, but on an
xvi TRUTH, CONSCIENCE AND CRIME 143
inner concept of truth. Incarceration within a jail
has not for him the shame that it has for a member of
a higher race. Prisoners and criminals, when they are
met by their fellows, are treated without shrinking ;
there is no cleavage of common interests, or straining
of friendship's ties. Those who obey the law have not
even yet come to the point when they debar from their
society those who are admittedly open law-breakers.
The sense of shame is deepest after the discovery of
wrong-doing. This fact alone proves that conscience,
as the ethicist understands it, has only been partially
developed. The deep consciousness of shame which
we generally expect to find in a man of mature character
who falls into wrong-doing, is dependent for its intensity
first of all, upon the recognition of a worthy ideal, and
the conception of truth as an abstract principle, or as
identified with the will of God ; secondly, the subject
should be in the habit of contrasting himself and his
character with his ideal. Now the Fijian's ideal is not
high, and, as he has not yet learned to realise or con-
ceive the principle of truth as an abstraction, his con-
science, being without a suitable or sufficient sphere, is
necessarily immature in its development. Instead of a
high moral standard within the soul which would be
worthy of the name of conscience, the Fijian has had
a substitute in the will of some other person superior
to himself either in rank or age. When a delinquent
is brought before his chief, he trembles, and is at the
moment sincere in his repentance. If he is able to
pass through the ordeal without severe punishment,
144 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
he becomes blithe and gay, evidently considering his
misdeed no greater than the penalty meted out.
Confession is seldom made unless in sickness, or
through fear of imminent discovery. Times of sick-
ness are the occasions when a native of Fiji feels most
keenly a sense of his wrong course of life. He begins
immediately to cross-question himself as to whether
or not he is guilty of some sin which is, in the hands
of God, the cause of his misfortune. Mr. Jevons
notices a similar phenomenon in Tahiti. " Sickness
was the occasion for making reparation for past sins,
e.g., by restoring stolen property." *
A very remarkable case occurred in the year 191 6
which illustrates the truth of the foregoing remarks.
The wife of a native missionary was returning home
to Fiji from New Guinea, where her husband had died
while performing his missionary duties. Her people
lived in Kandavu, some sixty miles from the capital.
The woman, together with her little son, embarked at
Suva in a cutter, for the purpose of returning to her
relatives. Some time after they had left the anchorage
in the harbour, a storm arose, and the waves began to
dash over the vessel. One wave larger than usual
caught the boy and swept him overboard. The
captain very bravely leaped into the boiling sea to
rescue the lad. He succeeded in reaching him, but,
unfortunately, the men on the cutter were unable,
on account of the strong wind, to bring the cutter
about. The captain clung to his charge for some
1 " Introduction to Religion," p. 111.
xvi TRUTH, CONSCIENCE AND CRIME 145
time, until a huge ocean shark came and snatched
the boy from his grasp. Horrified by the event,
and expec.ing every moment that other sharks would
seize him, the man struggled on in the midst of
the waves. It was three hours before the vessel
returned to the spot, and by good fortune the crew
were able to save the captain. No sooner, however,
had he got on board than he looked round on the crew
and passengers with almost the air of a judge, as he
asked, " Who is responsible for this ? " Forthwith
the mother of the lad that was drowned fell upon her
face on the deck, and confessed her wrong-doing in
New Guinea before she left that country. All the
people on the cutter were immediately at rest in their
minds, accepting the occurrence as fully explained,
and as inevitable under the circumstances.
The following instance is an additional evidence of
the readiness of the Fijian to confess when broken by
sickness or trouble :
A member of one of the mission churches in the
Group was stricken down by sickness. She had
almost come to her last gasp. Feeling that death was
upon her, she confessed to having sinned some months
before. Up to that time she bore a good character.
Such cases might be multiplied indefinitely.
Considering how prevalent is the tendency or trait
of the Fijian people to look on the chiefly authority
as their standard of life, it is little short of a marvel
that we can find men such as the native minister whom
I introduced towards the end of the last chapter. Yet
L
146 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
he is not alone, for, throughout the Group, there are
to be found men of outstanding righteousness, men
who have won not only respect amongst their own
kind, but from white people who have no particular
interest in missions. There have been constantly
found those who have been patient in tribulation,
enduring hardships without a murmur, living long
lives of usefulness and ardent devotion to their religion,
finally passing away, wearing, we might almost say,
" the white flower of a blameless life."
In a more general way also, there has been a marked
improvement in the morality of the Fijian people.
Let anyone read the Rev. T. Williams's account of
early native life, and he will discover that these islanders
were characterised by the worst of crimes. Murder,
fornication, suicide, parricide, matricide, and infanti-
cide were quite common. Religious ceremonies of a
vile nature were rife. Unbridled cruelty was thrown
into dark relief only by the occasional games and
sports of various kinds. Since the British Govern-
ment took control of the colony, and since British
missionaries began to work amongst the people,
most of these horrible crimes have been abolished.
Murder, suicide, and burglary are comparatively un-
known. Petty larceny of food and small articles is
found, especially amongst those who come in contact
with the lower class of whites in the centres of popula-
tion. Apart from immorality, no very serious crimes
are committed. The majority of prisoners in the jails
are Indians. Those Fijians who have been put in
xvi TRUTH, CONSCIENCE AND CRIME 147
prison are there for petty breaches of the law involving
no strictly moral principle. They are incarcerated
for not paying taxes, disobedience to orders, careless-
ness in the use of fire, omission to pay dog-licences,
etc. The absence of serious crime is striking. A
magistrate who had under him more than 6,000 people,
often could not find enough prisoners to keep his
compound clean. Considering the easy-going nature
of the native, one would expect that there would be
many serious breaches of the moral law. The pheno-
menon may be accounted for by (a) a lack of courage to
take the great risks involved in evil-doing ; (b) the
institution of a just government ; (c) his long training
in submission to the powers that be ; (d) his reverential
respect for a religion which has been the most potent
factor in delivering him from the bondage of barbarism.
Of all the great crimes that the Fijian was in the
habit of committing, there remains in full strengih the
sin of immorality. Sin of the sexual type appeals to
a character weakened by a luxurious climate and by a
poor social environment. In former times, the chiefs
kept it down by club-law, because it infringed upon their
chiefly right to numbers of concubines. Now that
marriage with one wife has become the rule, and
club-law has been abolished, there seems no bar to the
growth of the evil except in the condemnation of it
by religious teachers.
The sex question is one of the most serious problems
that have to be dealt with at the present time. The
Fijian's animal nature is like his summer days, hot,
l 2
148 FIJIAN SOCIETY ch. xvi
passionate, and over-mastering. The amount of sexual
immorality and promiscuous intercourse during the
past forty years is appalling. Some of the chiefs have
been the principal offenders in this direction. One
chief made a vow that he would not rest until he had
despoiled all the girls in his town ; and he pretty nearly
accomplished his fell purpose.
With regard to the rank and file, the custom of the
sexes living together in one house accounts, in these
days, for a great deal of impurity, especially as Fijian
houses rarely have more than one compartment. If
we also take into consideration that the people have
the smallest amount of clothing upon them, par-
ticularly when they go to work in the gardens, we can
scarcely be surprised at the evil results. Until the
conditions of the houses are made better, and until
the clothing of the native becomes less scanty, we
cannot hope for much diminution in this great vice.
The wonder is that so many are enabled, by their belief
in religion, to keep clear of the vile octopus that has
seized the race. The sanctity of the marriage bond
has been respected in a most remarkable way by
hundreds and thousands of these tyros in the laws of
morality. It is an outstanding testimony to the power
of a great religion that the best of the Fijian race are
making these successful attempts to stem the flood of
evil that sweeps daily over them.
All such cases of successful moral achievement
warrant us in hoping that the peculiar character of the
Fijian has the po?sibility of rising to an estimable
moral height.
CHAPTER XVII
SUPERSTITION — SIGNS AND OMENS
Wherever the scientific mind is absent, there super-
stition abounds. It gradually grows into a chain that
holds the people in dire bondage. So exacting do the
superstitions of the people become that even their
daily pursuits are dominated by them from beginning
to end. To those who look upon the Fijian from
without, the signs and omens by which he is wont to
govern himself do not appear. But to those who
know the language and who take the trouble to inquire,
a mass of curious beliefs is revealed which well repays
the labour involved.
It has usually been thought that superstition is full
of terror to those who are in bondage to it. And to
a certain extent that is true. But, with respect to the
Fijian, it would be erroneous to say that all his
superstitious practices bring nothing but fear. On the
contrary, some afford him a large amount of lively
pleasure as well as peace of mind. To leave these
practices undone would place the Fijian in a state
which would be intolerable. His fixed idea is that
he would be the victim of unnumbered evils leaping
from the unseen, were he to neglect the ordinary
150 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
precautions which his fathers had handed down to
him. When he has done all that custom requires, his
mind is at rest. On the other hand, some of his
beliefs bring him much mental suffering ; and, in
the case where sympathetic magic is brought into
operation, he often falls into sickness and death.
Superstitions regarding Planting.
In the description of the Fijians' superstitious
beliefs and practices, we shall begin with those con-
nected with planting. Throughout Fiji there can easily
be found, even in these days, natives who believe that
the welfare of plants, trees, and vegetables depends upon
conditions which have no real connection with plant-
life. Rain and sunshine are not under-estimated, but
it is thought that magical conditions may be set up
which will ensure success in gardening. And just as
many of our own race throw a pinch of salt over their
shoulder when the salt-cellar is capsized, and are ill
at ease if they omit this, or turn over their money when
the new moon appears, so the native feels he must
take certain precautions for his plants and trees if he
would avoid disaster in his garden. With the Fijian,
however, the position is more accentuated than with
us, because his belief is more intense.
In Rewa and other parts, the " uto " (breadfruit)
is treated thus : — When the male flower catkin falls
to the ground for the first time in the season, it is thrown
about in sport, after which the owner takes an empty
cocoa-nut and hangs it on the branch of the breadfruit
xvn SUPERSTITION— SIGNS AND OMENS 151
tree. The name given to the cocoa-nut used is At
vdkadhoa." Its virtue is supposed to be effective in
causing the tree to be very fruitful.
At Mba the old men say that when a breadfruit
tree is planted, the one who plants it in the ground
must on no account drink boiled water, whether in
the form of soups, broths, or other decoctions. If he
does so, the tree will surely die.
Another practice in connection with the breadfruit
tree is found at Verata, where the first fruit, when it
appears on the branch, is carefully covered, so that it
will not fall to the ground. When that particular
fruit is ripe, they boil it whole, and then break it into
small pieces so that everybody in the house may eat
of it. The people think that in this way the tree will
become fruitful. A similar practice is followed by the
inhabitants of Rewa with regard to a cocoa-nut tree
which fruits for the first time.
Some natives in Rewa, Yasawas, and Mba hold the
plantain in great estimation as food ; and, when they
plant one, they throw a stick at it to make it fructify.
In Madhuata, corn is supposed to be better planted
after the gardener has had a large meal. The connec-
tion between the ideas of plenty and a large meal is
apparent. So with sugar-cane in some districts ; and
the natives used to think it better to set it in the ground
at the full moon, or when the tide was full.
The people of Nausori say that an unfruitful cocoa-
nut may be made fruitful by entwining around it a
vine called " Mbulimbuli-sivdro " (Hoy a bicarinata),
152 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
which does not die when taken from the parent stem.
The same community, and many others besides, had
a curious custom which they followed in former
times with the object of making the yams bear well.
They first of all cut up the yams for planting and
put them in a heap. Then they went into the woods
and brought the leaves of the " Lata " (Plectranthus
Forsteri), " Waldi " (Entada scandens), and the " Mbua"
(Fagraea Berteriana), and crushed these up in water.
They then sprinkled the water over the heap of yams
preparatory to planting. Subsequently, when they
had placed the seed-yam in the earth, they stuck two
pieces of lata in the corners of the garden, to windward
of it, which they imagined to be a fine preventive of a
bad season. The name of the sticks so set up is
" i ndraniimi"
A hungry man in the woods of Viti Levu will pluck
the leaves of the tree called " Nggdvildwa " and throw
them in the air. Should they scatter, the food is
cooked at home, and the man will repair thither.
A curious superstition holds good with some in-
habitants of the Lau district. If a plantain breaks
off of itself, there will be a death at sea.
Celestial Signs.
Celestial omens are numerous. A large ring around
the moon prognosticates the death of a high chief.
At Lau and Kandavu a broken rainbow in the after-
noon is sure to be the precursor of wind, rain, or
storm.
xvii SUPERSTITION— SIGNS AND OMENS 153
Nothing more definie in meaning could appear
than a comet. When Halley's comet shone over the
Group in 1910, everybody was of the opinion that
something important would happen on account of it.
Nor were they greatly surprised to hear that King
Edward VII had passed away. The comet was the
harbinger of his death.
December, 19 14, was marked by a very brilliant
meteor, which broke over the main island of Fiji
with a loud report. The whole landscape was lit up
as by a gigantic arc lamp. Natives shouted out in
astonishment. One came running to me shortly after-
wards, and, with pallid countenance, asked the reason.
Old wiseacres prophesied the death of a chief. Strangely
enough, within a week or two, Ratu Kandavu Levu,
their highest chief, a man in the prime of life, died
suddenly. In the Fijian mind the explanation was
quite clear.
That same year brought also to Fiji an extraordinary
rainfall. For weeks at a time the sun would scarcely
shine on the earth. Many natives were quite con-
fident that the great European War had magically
caused the excessive downpour.
Travelling Signs.
Travelling carries with it many little yet strange ideas
which maintain a resolute hold on the native mind.
The creaking of a rudder is a bad sign, and some old
men will shake their heads ominously when they hear
it. The black crane does duty as a bird of ill omen
154 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
to sailors. Its appearance is certain to provoke the
alarmist to dark forebodings. If one should appear
on the setting out of a boat or canoe, the crew would
cry out, " Mai kitnuri " (Come behind). They think
that if it were to cross the bow of the boat, a bad
voyage would be their lot. Nothing pleases them
better than to see it fly swiftly ahead without crossing
the vessel's course. In that case the crane becomes
a bird of good omen.
There are certain local travelling signs in Vaniia
Levu, which have their counterparts in nearly every
district in Fiji. For instance, a snake lying across the
pathway is a trustworthy hint of trouble ahead. The
same remark equally applies to a bad stumble, or a
rat running athwart the track. These point to some
evil in the village to which the travellers are journeying.
Lauans also fear the rat. They say that, if one should
run across the pathway from the left to the right,
it is a sign of death. Also, should a water-snake
swim in front of a vessel when sailing, evil will result.1
Throughout Fiji, sailors used to point sticks or
oars at a rain-storm, in the belief that they could so
disperse it ; even to-day the old men will do this. It
is a most amusing sight when a grey-haired individual
will solemnly take up a piece of wood and aim it at a
dark cloud on the horizon.
When a chief travelled by sea, there was usually an
old retainer who made it his business to call the wind,
1 The counterparts of all these omens are found in Samoa. Dr.
G. Brown, " Mela nesians and Polynesians," pp. 174-5
xvn SUPERSTITION— SIGNS AND OMENS 155
if there were not sufficient to drive the boat. He used
a curiously monotonous cry, which he repeated at
intervals with slight variations. It ran as follows : —
" Mai vondo, mat vondo, vondo mat na mardma mai
Ono." (Come aboard, come aboard, come aboard
the lady from Ono).
Superstitions about Children.
The souls and lives of children have been always
the centre around which a good deal of superstitious
belief was wont to cling. A few cases will be sufficient.
In Talaulia, Kandavu, a woman gave birth to a child.
When the infant was ten days old, the women of the
village, together with the relations of the mother,
anointed themselves profusely with cocoa-nut oil.
Then they entered the house, and all sat down for some
time. Meanwhile, a fire had been lit outside. When
a sufficient period had elapsed, the women took the
mother and child into the open air, and began to go
round and round the fire, and sometimes to step over
it. The custom is called " Kaldwa mbuka " (Stepping
the fire), and is probably a purification ceremony.
The women thought that they were taking the best
precautions to make the child strong.
What might be termed a development of the fore-
going practice used to be followed in Yakita, Kandavu,
a town not far from Talaulia. When the child was
ten days old, a Fijian earthenware vessel was brought
into the house, and a fire lit within it. Then one of
the relations took the baby in her arms and waved it
156 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
towards the fire several times. When this operation
was completed, a man in full war-dress smote the vessel
with a club, breaking it to atoms.
It is always reckoned a risky thing to take children
into the woods for the first time. In Ra, on one
occasion, when ten women, accompanied by a young
boy, took a woodland path, five of them went before
him and five in the rear. All of them plucked leaves
of reeds, and, after tying them in knots, scattered them
in the pathway. When asked the reason, they said it
was to preserve the soul of the child. A quantity of
these knotted reeds was recently noticed in Ono by
one whose word I can trust. He stated that they were
thrown there for the same purpose.
A striking illustration of a similar superstition
happened in connection with our own household. My
wife and our Fijian nurse-girl took our baby daughter
into the woods for an outing. In the evening, when,
on their return, they had just left the edge of the
trees, the girl turned round and called out loudly into
the wood the name of the baby. This she did again
and again. She explained her action afterwards, when
interrogated as to the reason, by saying that she was
calling back the soul of the child.
Superstitions referring to Sneezing.
Sneezing has always been ominous amongst most
primitive peoples.1 It is especially so in Fiji. Whether
1 Compare the Samoans. Dr. G. Brown, " Melanesians and Poly-
nesians," pp. 240, 250
xvii SUPERSTITION— SIGNS AND OMENS 157
or not the soul is thought to escape through the
nostrils with the violent expulsion of breath cannot
be certainly known. The probability is that such is
the case. In Fiji, a sneeze at a graveside is an un-
pardonable offence, and invariably the natives believe
that a death will follow. Hence, in former times,
children were not taken to the graveside. In Lau,
sneezing in one's sleep was a sign of death, and, if a
person sneezed at the right hand of a warrior, war
was imminent.
There is a local idea in some parts of Fiji that
should a man sneeze when a fish is being cut up, he
must flick his nose to obviate the mischief accruing.
When a chief indulges in a sneeze, an inferior will
always say " Mbula " (life, or live), to which the chief
will graciously answer " Molt " (thanks).
Yanggona Superstitions.
The Yanggona ceremony is one of the most intense
of all Fijian functions. While it is being performed
there is no thought for anything but the right conduct
of it. The man appointed to make and strain the
drink is, for the time being, transformed into a different
person, and it would be a great shame to him, and
indeed to all present, if anything were to go wrong.
Everyone assembled would be shocked if a man were
to sneeze accidentally when the cup was being handed
to the chief. The only way to avoid subsequent
evil in that case would be for the unlucky delinquent to
leave the house immediately.
158 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Similarly, the yanggona chant must proceed correctly.
A mistake in the chanting would indicate some mischief
approaching. The liquid, when being poured from
one cup to another, must on no account be spilled on
the ground. It is the auspice of good for the con-
coction to flow safely from one vessel to another.
In the Transactions of the Fijian Society, Ratu
Ravulo, a prominent Fijian, describes the drinking
ceremony for a chief who is to be received into the
position of Vunivdlu1 of Mbau in the clan of Tuikamba.
The vein of superstition is seen running right through
the account : —
" Those who prepare and serve the yanggona wear
ornamental bandages (called ' ve'sa ') below the knees
and above the elbows made of a vine called ' wdkalou '
(Lygodictyon Forsteri).2 The mouth of the water-jar
has also a ' ve'sa.' The meaning of the ' wdkalou '
ornaments is that the government may not become
loosened or separated, and that the land be not divided,
as that vine, the ' wdkalou/ was used in the heathen
temples, being plaited along the top of the house.
In preparing the yanggona the rootlets must not be
split, the reason of this prohibition being lest the
government be split up. It was also forbidden for
the solid root of the yanggona to be split, the reason
of this ' tdmbu ' also being lest there should arise
divisions in the land. The yanggona had to be all
cut crosswise.
1 War Lord.
2 The botanical name was not in the original account.
xvn SUPERSTITION—SIGNS AND OMENS 159
" When the yanggdna straining was finished, the
heathen priest stood up to present the cup. When
the hand-clapping (' dhdmbo ') for the yanggdna was
over, then the priest stood up and took the cup and
went and stood at the edge of the yanggdna bowl,
and he who strained the yanggdna took another cup
to use as a ladle ; he ladled three times, lifting very
small quantities and holding the cup in both hands,
and poured it into the cup held by the priest. When
the cup was emptied once into the cup held by the
priest, the priest stood upright to offer the dedicatory
prayer, in which he mentioned all the names of all
the devils or original gods of the various lands. The
priest dedicated thrice as the yanggdna was ladled.
On the third occasion the cup which was used as ladle
was turned right over, so as to be emptied completely,
and then allowed to drop between the priest's arms,
as he was holding his cup by both edges. The reason
for this dropping the cup was to typify that the whole
government of the land was handed over. When
the cup fell they made the supreme obeisance or
salutation (tdtna), thus : ' E ndinay ie, ia tu> a tu ydni
ki dhdke le, ie ia.y l He then stood up and went
and poured the yanggdna into the cup of the chief for
whom the drinking ceremony was made, and having
poured it he dropped the cup between the arms of the
chief and caught it again below, that it might not fall
right down. The meaning of the cup being dropped
between the arms of the chief and then being caught
1 " True it is that he stands above there." Approx. meaning.
160 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
below is this : That the government of the land was now
given once for all to him, and that no decision proceed-
ing from him might fall to the ground or be neglected.
Having poured the yanggdna and dropped the cup
and caught it below, he then waited facing the chief
until he took the cup from his mouth. Then the
second cup was presented to Tu-ni-T6nga, the principal
1 mdta-ni-vanua,' by some young man, the priest's
duty having terminated with his presenting the
yanggdna to the chief for whom the ceremony was
held.
" Then when the chief had drunk they all ' dhdmbo *
(that is, clapped hands in a certain way), the significance
of which was that they had given to him to be the head
of all councils concerning great matters of war and all
great matters about which they consult together, that
the decision might come from him as to whether the
things would take place or not, according to their having
made him head or leader. And from that day he was
called by the name of the ' Vunivdlu.* " *
Superstitions concerning Animals.
The independent actions of certain animals have
always been the forerunners of trouble. For example,
the cry of the owl at night, the loud mewing of the
wild cat, the crowing hen, are all calculated to send
quaking fear into a superstitious Fijian mind.
Should a cat by chance lap yanggdna in a house
1 Transactions of the Fijian Society, 191 2-13.
xvii SUPERSTITION— SIGNS AND OMENS 161
while rain is falling without, there will be a drought.
So the people think in parts of Lomaivfti.
When a bird flies low along the ground, it betokens
death drawing near to someone in the village.
Miscellaneous Superstitions.
There are several ways of knowing when people
are talking against one. An itchy nose, the biting
of the tongue at meals, a burning ear, show clearly that
a man's enemy is maligning him.
The Fijian housewife says she believes harm is near
when a pot breaks, or the string round its neck snaps,
of its own accord.
A native will tell you that to step on a stone when
your foot is asleep will free your future from threatening
danger.
A gravedigger would be greatly concerned were his
spade or knife to break while he was digging a grave.
A golden sunset foretells very dry weather.
Very many more curious beliefs might be added
to these. It will be enough, however, to describe the
great " Ndrdunikdu " superstition which holds Fiji in
its fearful grasp even at the present time.
The Ndrdunikdu Superstition.1
The practice is that of sympathetic magic, and
similar beliefs may be found all over the world. Those
who make use of it in Fiji are amongst the darkest-
1 In New Britain a practice almost exactly similar is found, called
agagara. Dr. G. Brown, " Melanesians and Polynesians," p. 233.
M
162 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
minded of the race. It is their usage to take the
remains of food, clothing, or tobacco which have been
left by their enemy. With these they mix certain
leaves, and slugs from the sea. The manner of treat-
ment varies with the locality and with the character
of the men who give themselves to work evil magic.
Sometimes they boil the mixture, or they use it just
as it is. At any rate, they carry the mixture to the
woods, and there put it in empty cocoa-nuts, pieces
of bamboo, or native jars. Then, dressed in native
cloth, they bury the vessel or vessels, at the same time
muttering curses and incantations, so that, as the
mixture ferments, their enemies may become ill and
die. There is supposed to be a close correspondence
between the fermentation and the progress of the
sickness.
A simpler form of magic is to bury the leaf near
a man's house or garden, where its very proximity is
supposed to bring him evil.
Doubtless, it is part of the plan to let the fated one
know somehow what is going on. In many cases the
effect is swift and fearful. There can be no doubt,
therefore, that the pernicious result is, at first, purely
mental, though it quickly brings on bodily disorders.
It is surprising to note that many of the best of the
Fijian race cannot tear themselves away from the
fear engendered by this remarkable magic. It is
sufficient even for them to know that magic has been
practised against them, and they will succumb to it,
though it may be a sheer fiction of the imagination
xvii SUPERSTITION— SIGNS AND OMENS 163
Even Christians, who would on no account indulge
themselves in ndrdunikdu practices, and who regularly
preach against them, are yet afraid of them.
One of my native ministers lay on his back for
six weeks because he imagined that the enmity of
another Fijian had taken this form. I paid him a special
visit and reprimanded him kindly, pointing out that
the religion of Christianity gave freedom from such
ignoble fear. The little interview had the desired
effect, and, in a short while, he resumed his duties.
Another native assistant, an eloquent preacher and
a man of fine sensibilities, confessed that he believed
fully in the fatal influences of ndrdunikdu.
On one occasion I urged a student to get someone
to try the sorcerer's devices on me, so that I might
disprove to him the whole thing. Whereupon he
answered that white men are different from the Fijian.
" The native mind," said he, " cannot resist it."
A girl who worked in the kitchen of the mission house
suddenly got the idea into her mind that she was
stricken down by ndrdunikdu. On no account would
she get up, though we used every argument we could
think of. Then my wife and I knelt beside her bed
and prayed for her, and the effect was instantaneous.
In a short time she was back at her work.
As against these cases, it should be mentioned that
there are many natives who, through the virtue of
Christianity, are quite delivered from the thraldom of
the superstition. Like an evil bird of prey, it has
for ages gripped the nation with its talons, and now,
M 2
164 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
at last, the talons are beginning to unclasp. One very
striking instance was that of Mataiasi Vavi, a native
minister, whose record is of a high order. It happened
that he was visiting a certain town in which was an
unused house-foundation that had been the place
where a sorcerer lived. The wizard was now dead,
and the villagers, in deadly fear of his spirit, neglected
the foundation-site of the house, for they believed it
to be haunted. Mataiasi, on inquiry, discovered the
reason of their neglect. Forthwith he made as if to
go to the mound. " Stop," said they, " he will kill
you." Without deigning to reply, Mataiasi showed
his complete emancipation from the ancient dread by
deliberately climbing on to the site ; and he stood
there smiling down upon them, with his arms folded §
The Government of Fiji have made it an offence
against the State to engage in any wizardry which has
nocuous effects on the native mind.
There is a curious application of ndrdunikdu in the
province of Mba. The natives engage young men,
who claim to have the powers of the Fijian witch-
doctor, to bury leaves around their yam gardens. In
one case, ten young men were proffered feasts for their
services in this direction. On this occasion, no action
was taken by the Government because no human life
was threatened.
It will naturally be asked whether the Fijians have
any charm by which the evil influences of the ndrdunikdu
can be warded off. Such a mascot they have selected
in the leaves of certain trees, amongst them being the
xvii SUPERSTITION— SIGNS AND OMENS 165
" Sinungdnga " (Excoecaria Agallocha), the " Mdtamera
ngginggh" tne " Kdlambudhi" and the " Sdsanggilu."
Without exception, the leaves of these trees are
pungent, acrid, or bitter. The native belief is that, if
they chew these leaves, they can suffer no harm, and, by
preserving some in their houses, they will be immune.
CHAPTER XVIII
FISHING AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS
To say that the waters of Fiji teem with fish is a
commonplace. Yet few people realise how plentiful
the scaly denizens of the deep really are in that beautiful
group of islands. Every little nook and cranny ol
the never-ending coral reef affords a home for some
kind of life. It is marvellous what wonders they can
reveal to him who knows how and where to look. A
little effort will yield much even to the uninitiated. I
have sometimes taken up a piece of broken coral out
of the shallows, and found clinging to it numbers of
dainty creatures of every conceivable hue. Amongst
them are to be seen the most brilliant green, and
blue, and yellow fish ; it almost seems a pity to call
them by their common name. On the other hand,
one suddenly happens on the most awful monstrosities
that could be imagined. And between these two ex-
tremes may be placed all those piscatorial species which
the Fijian knows so well, and which he is so skilful in
catching.
Fishing in Fiji was at one time carried on by pro-
fessional clans, who were well plied by their chiefs
with food and yanggona as a reward for their labours.
166
ch. xviii FISHING AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS 167
In Mbau, the ancient clan still follows its pursuit, but in
these days the occupation has fallen principally into
the hands of the women ; probably because, under the
Government regime, they have more daily leisure than
the men.
Hand-line fishing in deep water is still the occupation
of the men, and, in connection therewith, there are some
interesting superstitions. If a man is preparing his
bait (cuttle-fish,1 cockles, young mullet, etc.), and
has it lying in a heap before him, no other person
may carelessly step over it. If he should do so,
the owner of the bait would be justifiably angry, for
no fish would take an infected lure. In the same
category is the belief that no stranger should walk over
the fishing-line. A poor catch inevitably follows.
Likewise, when a man is setting out on an excursion
he desires nothing so earnestly as that you shall not
wish him good luck. For were you to do so, that
invaluable quality (to fishermen) would at once leave
him for that occasion at least. Neither may any
thoughtless person call out after him, " Bring me a
fish too." Failure is sure to be the outcome.
But the most fatal obstacle to successful angling is
when an individual engaged in the sport is being
mentioned by name on shore. And it usually happens
that, if the angler is catching nothing, he attributes
his failure to some malicious person on land. To turn
his luck he uses the following charm. He ties a knot
1 The cuttle-fish is valued by the Fijians as the best fish-bait to
be had.
168 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
in a short piece of cord, and, while drawing it tight,
mutters with savage energy, " A nddmo i Jdni onggo "
(this is the throat of Joni). The fisherman then ex-
pectorates on the knot and casts the string into the
sea. This charm is supposed to check Joni's tongue.
Truly if Joni were garotted as fiercely as the
knot is tied, then would Joni undoubtedly die the
death
Spearing fish is the clever acquirement of the men.
From boyhood the Fijian is trained to this difficult
sport. It is no unusual occurrence to see a lad
walking along the beach with his spear of reed and
parachute wire, ready-poised to transfix the unwary
" nggidwa " (a fish). In the early days of youth he
learns to allow for the refraction of the water as he
strikes at the tiny fish darting by. Old fishermen
say that they always aim a little nearer than the fish
appears to be, in order to hit the mark. The distance
from the object is only learned by long practice. Yet,
with all this practice, it is still a puzzle to us how the
Fijian becomes so adept in piercing the slippery bodies
of his scaly prey from different angles and at various
depths. Naturally such large fish as the " Nggio "
(shark), " Sdngga," and the " Ongo " (kingfish), fall
easy victims to the native spearmen. The giant
octopus he finds lying on the top of the reef. Many
Fijians esteem this gruesome creature as good food.
On the ocean side of the great reef, the Fijian seeks
the large lobster, and he captures it by diving through
the green roller as it breaks upon the coral, and, in the
xviii FISHING AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS 169
brief respite which follows, he drags the fish cleverly
from its hole in the reef.
Both men and women make a practice of diving
for edible shell-fish on the coral patches. When they
do so, sometimes the ripple of the water makes it
difficult for them to locate anything in the depths
below. To obviate this difficulty, the divers have a
very ingenious device of literally pouring oil on the
troubled waters. Another method is to scatter chewed
cocoa-nut on the surface of the wavelets until the
exuded oil forms a film. The oil is called " At
vdkamardvu ni wai " (water smoother). Objects below,
which before were invisible, become quite plain by
its use.
Netting usually falls to the lot of the women.
Around this industry, superstitions cling in crowds.
Women have always been more superstitious than
men, and also more conservative. They, therefore,
relinquish more slowly their ancient beliefs. Some
of the women's superstitions we shall now consider.
There are two kinds of nets commonly used by the
women, one large enough to be handled by two persons,
and another small enough for one. The former net
is about fourteen feet long, and six or eight feet wide,
with an inch and a half mesh. On either end, a pole
is affixed by which the net is slung, and which enables
the women to handle the net conveniently. Usually,
six or eight pairs of women work together, but there
may be as many as twenty or thirty pairs. They wade
waist-deep in the shallows, each pair holding their
i7o FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
net horizontally between them. As they stand in
line no one net should overlap or touch another. And
so, holding the nets somewhat below the surface of the
water, the women gradually sweep the sea, enclosing
in the operation a circular piece of water, and, of course,
the fish which happen to be swimming there. The
fish caught in this way are those the habit of which is to
swim near the surface, and which, to escape, must
pass over the outspread nets. But the women are
too quick for them, and as soon as they appear darting
above the meshes, the net is swiftly raised and the
haul tumbles and splashes into the centre as it sags
down. The sides of the net are quickly closed above
the leaping fish to prevent a possible escape. The rest
is easy ; for the women take them out one by one,
and bite their heads to kill them. Sometimes this
operation is done so carelessly that, in the process,
the fish slips down the woman's throat. A few years
ago a case of the sort was operated on successfully by
Dr. de Boissiere at Nasowale, Kandavu.
The nets are very carefully looked after by the
women, and it is taboo for any person, other than the
owner, to touch the pole whilst fishing is proceeding.
An exchange of nets is at all times taboo. Every
precaution is taken to make the expedition a success #
No one must know that a fishing excursion is planned
except those engaged in it. In olden days the women
blackened their faces to a certain extent — " nggisa '
as it is called. They must not eat the flesh of the pig
prior to the expedition. If, after everybody has
xvm FISHING AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS 171
agreed to go, one of the number should not desire to
join with her companions, the whole fishing jaunt is off.
When they start they should on no account be recalled.
If two lag behind, they are pelted in order to bring
them up with the others. Leaves of various trees and
vines, as, for instance, the " Sinn " (Leucosmia Bur-
nettiana), the " Soni " {Guilandina Bonduc), the " Me'na
vundi na yalewa kalou " (Heritiera littoralis ?), and the
Tdvotdvo" are mixed together in some localities,
as in Kandavu and Tailevu, and are thrown into
the centre of the net as a mascot. The first fish
taken is flung back into the same place from which
it was caught, in order to complete the charm.
Sometimes, with all these precautions, a fish is too
quick for the netters, and, when the net is raised, the
prey has unaccountably disappeared. In such a case
the women attribute their want of success to the fact
that the fish had a spirit. They thereupon kick
backwards with their feet in the water as a counter-
charm to exorcise the uncanny presence. The same
thing is done when they suppose that people are
thinking about them on shore.
Should a woman die and leave a net, the property
is looked upon in Kandavu with superstitious awe.
Before they can eat with impunity the fish caught in
it, they have the curious custom of throwing into the
sea the first one taken.
There is an almost universal custom observed
throughout the Group when women are engaged in
the occupation which we are discussing. It is called
172 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
the " Vdkatundrekeniwdi " or " Silimdki." It has to
do with the place where the fishing is to begin. After
it has been decided where the women are to net on
the coming day, if it should leak out as to where
that place is, it is taboo for any person outside the
select circle to appear on the scene.
Women who use the smaller net mentioned above
do not, when going out in the morning, partake of any
fish, nor do they drink fresh water, or chew sugar-cane.
If they have thoughtlessly transgressed any of the
above rules, they must go forthwith to the beach,
where they touch their cheeks with sand. Thus are
the evil effects of the broken taboo supposed to be
neutralised.
The " Kdwa " (a fish-trap, called " Susu " in Mbau)
is recognised in Kandavu as the property of the women.
The kdwa is made from a round strong vine called, in
Kandavu, the " Rusa." The susu of Mbau is manu-
factured from the downward shoots of the mangrove,
which are split with a knife so that they can be more
easily manipulated. The kdwa differs a little from the
susu in shape, being spheroid, with the entrance on
top, while the latter is the shape of a barrel with an
entrance at either end. The principle is the same in
each. The entrance of the kdwa leads straight down-
ward from the top, and the pieces of vine which compose
the passage point inwards, so that it is easy for a fish
to swim in but difficult for it to get out. The bait
for the kdwa is " Vundi " (a plantain), charcoal,
" Sivisivi " (a bivalve), " Basdnga " (a sucking fish),
xviii FISHING AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS 173
" Valikir " Villa " (beche de mer), or " Sdmur As
in the case of hand-line fishing, these baits must not
be stepped over by any stranger ; moreover, if a
woman is going out to the kdwa and sees any one of
them lying in her way she is bound to walk round and
not over it.
In connection with the fish-trap, the rules used to
be very stringent. In the early morning the owner
might not expectorate nor eat before she went to the
trap. At no time should she partake of prawns,
crabs, or anything that turns red when boiled. Were
she to overlook this latter rule the inside of the kdwa
would appear red, and terrify the fish so that they would
not venture near it. Another regulation with much
more sense in it demands that, when many traps are
lying together in the sea, all the owners must go out
at the same time lest the finny tribes be disturbed.
Evidently, in days gone by, individuals were not
above purloining the contents of their neighbour's
kdwa.
To ballast a kdwa, so that it will not drift in the
currents and waves, is no easy task, but the work is
achieved by surrounding it with stones. It is an
amusing sight when a woman is putting the ballast
around a trap in water four or five feet deep. One
moment the shock head of hair over a good-humoured
face is visible ; the next instant the head disappears
and up come the feet all a-waggling as the woman
endeavours to reach down to where the trap is
lying.
i74 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Mammoth hauls of fish are made chiefly in three
ways. The first is the fence, made of reeds intertwined
with " Mindri" a curious vine which is tougher
in the water than out of it. The fence is made
in sections and is then attached to poles fixed
firmly in the sand on the tidal flats. It is either
J or U-shaped, and is generally placed with the bend
towards the sea. When the tide flows, the fence may
have from six to twelve feet of water in it, and it is
practically bare when the tide ebbs. The fish enter
the enclosed space with the water, and, in the en-
deavour to go out with the tide, are caught in rough
traps made in the bend of the fence. Such an en-
closure may have within it from half an acre to an
acre of space.
One superstition may be noticed in regard to the
fish-fence. No married woman is supposed to enter
it. It is possible to catch thousands of fish in a good
fence before it is destroyed by the waves and tide,
but none will enter it after a married woman, and
especially after one who is enceinte.
A simpler method of making a good haul is to watch
the small creeks. Occasionally shoals, such as grey
mullet, find their way into a natural trap of this sort.
Then real fun begins. The women from the neigh-
bouring villages come with their nets ; they block
up the entrance of the stream, and, with much scream-
ing and shouting, they will capture as many as two
thousand fish in a few hours.
Of all huge catches, the most interesting is made
xvni FISHING AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS 175
by means of a long rope of vines and leaves.1 Such
a rope may be over three hundred yards long, and needs
at least eighty or a hundred men to handle it. With
the rope, a large space of circular shape is enclosed at
high tide. The men, half-swimming and half- wading,
draw the ends until they overlap, and continue to do so
until a close spiral is formed, which gradually grows
smaller and smaller. At last the area within the rope
is not more than twelve yards in diameter. Meanwhile
the surplus rope has been piled up around the space
to a height of about four feet, in order to prevent the
escape of the fish. Within this small yard the denizens
of the deep await capture. All manner of fish from
every conceivable nook are shoaled together, and may
number from a hundred to a thousand.
One other device, to which the Fijian has recourse,
is the " Sara." It is a small house made of mangrove,
and is shaped like a diminutive Hottentot hut. The
house is built upon the sand-flats. When it is well-
washed by the sea- water, fish of various kinds make
their home in it, much as they seek the holes of the
coral reef. After a sufficient time has elapsed, a fence
is placed around the little domicile, and the house
itself is destroyed by those who built it, and the fish
may then be taken within the yard by means of a
net or spear. A hundred fish are sometimes caught
in this simple manner.
The turtle, or vonuy is the king of the sea in the
1 Used also in Samoa. Dr. G. Brown, " Melanesians and Poly-
nesians," p. 336.
176 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
estimation of the natives. In Kandavu it is called
" Ika mbula " (living fish), or " Ika tamdta." The
meaning of the latter name is obscure. " Ika " is the
equivalent for " fish," and " tamdta " has various
meanings, amongst them being " a creature that
breathes," and " human being." The name might
have been given to the turtle on account of the simi-
larity of its breathing to that of a man. Most of us
who have gone out to sea at night in Fiji have been
startled at the resemblance of the puffing of a turtle
as it rises near the boat, to the panting of a man after
exertion. Or the name may have its origin in the well-
known tenacity with which the creature holds to life.
Or again, the amphibious habits of the turtle, or the
fact that the reptile bleeds like an animal when killed,
may have something to do with it. Turtles grow to
an immense size, being measured or weighed by the
hundredweight. There are two common kinds, one
of which, the " Tdku " (Caretta imbricata), may bring
£5, because of the value of its shell.
There are four principal ways of catching turtle.
First, with the net. The following is a description
of turtle-netting prepared by a Fijian chief (N. Tongani-
valu) for the Fijian Society.
" The Tuninddu (chief fishermen) are in command
of the turtle fishing. Each tribe has its own Tuninddu
and they are called gods of the turtle. After the
yanggdna has been drunk, they all return to their tribes
and there decide upon a day on which to embark the
net. Before going fishing, they have a feast which
Turtle Fishers.
Rock Fish Fen< I
•
xvin FISHING AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS
has only puddings for its concomitant or :eiish, as an
offering for the turtle fishing, and, after the feast, they
meet again in tribes to draw lots ; and only when
everybody has assembled are the lots drawn, because,
if a single person is absent, the turtles will escape and
will not be caught in their nets. When all are assembled,
the net and a turtle club are brought to the place, and
the Tuninddu then brings ripe nuts to act as lots, the
number of which must be equivalent to the number of
their gods. It is the duty of the Tuninddu to draw lots,
and he takes a nut and mentions a god and then spins
it as a lot. In the event of it pointing directly towards
the net, ' Mdna e ndina ' 1 is called out. The lot
for another god is then taken and spun until all the
gods have their lots spun for them.2 If several nuts,
the representative of a god, point towards the net,
they can expect to catch some turtle.
" After this has been done, the food offering is
brought and eaten. They then prepare the provisions
for the canoe, the women making the bread ; the chief
woman of the tribe's duty is to make the bread for the
Tuninddu, which is to be made in large loaves and
then stowed in a basket to be hung on the end of the
frame of the deckhouse to be always near to where
the Tuninddu stands aft. This basket is called ' Kdto
tdmbu ' (sacred basket) and nobody must touch it
without leave ; and should an unprivileged person
1 " The virtue is true, or manifest."
2 The spinning nut as a means of divination was used in Tonga.
Mariner, "Tonga Islands," vol. ii (1827), p. 191.
N
i78 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
so touch it, the fishermen will not succeed in catching
a turtle until the net has been brought to land again#
" When the Tuninddu has embarked on the canoe
to go fishing he must remain at the end where the basket
is hanging. No member of the crew is allowed to
eat his food at random, their eating is under the control
of the Tuninddu. When the reef, where the fishing
is to take place, is reached and the tide is on the rise,
lots are again cast in the same way as was done on
shore to find out the wishes of the gods ; when this has
been done, they weigh anchor and go fishing. One
of the largest poling-sticks is picked for the Tuninddu,
who holds it at the stern. The members of the crew
can help each other in the poling, but no one may
help \htTuninddu ; even if they are poling from high
to low tide they cannot help him. When the first
turtle has been caught in their net, the Tuninddu is
decorated by putting on the ' mdsi ' and a skirt dress,
and being anointed with oil, he then dives in for the
turtle in their net. When the turtle is put on board
the Tuninddu takes three or four large pieces of bread
out of the basket and after having broken them up
he shares them with the crews. Having eaten, the sail
is hoisted and they proceed to the land in order to
take their first turtle to the town. When the town
is reached and night has fallen the Tuninddu is painted
red and goes and sleeps alongside the turtle in the
open till the morning. When it is heard or reported
at the chief town that a turtle has been caught they
collect ten or twenty whales' teeth, which are taken
xvin FISHING AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS 179
and presented to the fishermen. This is called ' Nat
dhokavdki ni mbi ' (reward for filling the turtle fence).
After this ceremony has taken place the Tuninddu goes
and bathes himself ; in the meantime yanggdna is
being chewed that he may drink immediately after he
has finished bathing." l
The foregoing is a very detailed account of what
used to be done in the old barbaric days. Only a
semblance of these elaborate preparations takes place
to-day. In the account given, the translator has
preserved very well the naive manner of the original.
The turtle is also captured by spearing. Some say
that spearing turtle is a modern mode and was not
known by the early Fijian.
In order to attract the animal to a convenient place
the natives cut away the linear leaves of the " Vutia"
a sea- weed growing profusely on the sand-flats,
and which is the natural food of the turtle. The
outgoing tide carries it out into the bays, where
the men go to spear the vonu. The spear is
heavy, having a barbed iron point, and a rope attached
to draw it back. The turtle must not be much more
than twenty feet away if the throw is to be successful.
The spear may be used at night, when a torch of dried
cocoa-nut leaves makes an excellent decoy to attract
the animal towards the boat or canoe. It used to
be strictly taboo to point at a turtle with the index
finger. To do this was the surest way to make the
quarry dive. The only safe manner of pointing was
1 Transactions of the Fijian Society, 191 2-1 3.
N 2
180 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
to bend the joints of the first finger, or to indicate the
turtle with the shut fist. When a vonu is captured,
the fact is communicated to those on shore by blowing
the " Ndavui " (conch shell).
Another way of catching turtle is to wait for them
in the breeding season. There are several pretty
islands near Kandavu where this is regularly done.
Two or more men are told off in the season to remain
on these uninhabited islets, and when the vonu come
on shore to lay their eggs, the scouts very easily
outflank the lumbering animals and turn them upon
their backs, the perfect symbols of helplessness.
Turtles caught in this manner may be kept for months
awaiting some approaching festival. Most towns
situated near the sea have turtle fences where the
captured animals are confined and fed until the day
of the feast.
More interesting is the method adopted by the
people living at Talaulia, Kandavu. The ocean at this
place is shallow enough for the bottom to be dimly
seen, yet not so shallow as to make it possible to
frighten the turtle lying upon the ocean floor beneath,
if a boat or canoe appears overhead. The natives
go out in canoes well supplied with pebbles. The
moment they see the shadowy form of a vonu in the
dim depths below, they quietly drop a stone upon it.
This causes it to move just a little, but not so fast
or far that the men cannot follow its movements.
The action is repeated again and again until the turtle
rises like a whale to the top of the water for air. The
xvm FISHING AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS 181
opportunity has come for which the fishermen have
been waiting, and the instant the turtle rises to the
surface, before it has time to look round, a man dives out
of the boat, seizes the prey with both hands, and
most dexterously turns the animal on its back, splashing
helplessly. A noose is thrown and the prize is dragged
on board. It is marvellous how enduring the Fijians
are in their struggles with some of these big turtles,
some of which are over six feet long. I saw two
Fijians fighting for half an hour in a rough sea with
a turtle which, if weighed, would have been quite
two hundredweight.
When the turtle is to be prepared for the oven, one
man is appointed to kill it. He does so by severing
the blood-vessels at the root of the back flippers and
the throat. There is an ancient superstition that if
the blood of the dying turtle bespatters any other
person than the man who is appointed to slay it, he
will become leprous in the parts stained by the blood.
In former times the flesh of the turtle belonged to
the chiefs only. But now, much to the chiefs' chagrin,
anybody who catches a turtle may eat it.
CHAPTER XIX
NET-MAKING
The practice of netting fish is universal. It is
likewise one of the most ancient of industries known
to man. The making of nets was familiar to the
earliest races, and has changed little in method up to
the present time. Even modern machinery, though
rapid in its operation, has caused but little difference
in the construction of the fishing-net. In Fiji the
work of making nets fell largely to the lot of the
women, and we may therefore justly infer that the
process is practically the same as that in vogue through-
out bygone centuries.
The Fijian has shown himself ingenious in adapting
himself to his surroundings in this as in other
directions. He has sought out from his ample woods a
fibre suitable for the manufacture of a sufficiently
strong twine, without which nets would be impossible,
or at best inefficient. This fibre is the bast or the
inside tissue of the bark of a vine called " Ydka "
(Pachyrhizus angulatus). Thus it is in the same
category as the fibre of hemp, jute, and flax. The
ydka creeper is small in circumference, and is covered
ch. xix NET-MAKING 183
with a bark having a furry epidermis. The process
of preparing the fib e is as follows : —
The ydka is cut into pieces of about nine inches in
length, and is boiled for an hour. When the bark is
sufficiently softened, it is split by means of the finger-
nail, the wood is discarded and the bark laid by in
a convenient place. After a sufficient quantity of the
latter is collected, the operator takes a " Kuka "
shell and scrapes the epidermis and the true bark
away, leaving the bast or fibre. For the sake of con-
venience, the tissue is then tied up in bunches and is
hung up until needed.
Fijian cord is simply made ; and one is strongly
reminded, when watching the process, of the manner
in which a saddler makes his sewing-twine out of
hemp. Three twisted strands are intertwined by
rolling them with the open hand upon the upper
part of the leg, until they become a single line. Instead
of wax, saliva is the adhesive substance used. The
string is regular and often wonderfully neat, parts
of it being equal in appearance to the best English
fishing-line. It is also very durable in water.
When a sufficient quantity of twine is completed,
it is strung upon a needle called the " Sika ni lazva."
The needle, which is the wing-bone of the vampire
bat, is mo=t suitable for the purpose. Its small
knuckles effectually prevent the loops from slipping
off, while they are not so large as to prevent the passing
of the needle through the meshes. The only other
instrument used is a piece of bamboo called " Ydva
iS4 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
ni lawa" which is the gauge determining the size of
the mesh. Upon this gauge, a full row of meshes is
knotted, after which the bamboo is withdrawn and
the process begins with a fresh row.
The form of nets in Fiji has been governed by the
nature of the sea-board, and of the sea-floor adjacent
to the shores. There are eight principal kinds of
net, which may be described in the following order : —
(a) The " Ldwa ni mbalolo " is used to catch the
" mbalolo " when it rises to the surface of the water.
The mbalolo is a species of annelid which rises up
from the coral reefs in the months of October and
November. It is much prized by the Fijians as an
article of diet. As the worm is very slender a small
mesh is necessary to strain it from the water. The
mbalolo net, therefore, has a mesh scarcely half an inch
in length, and the bamboo gauge used in its manufac-
ture is a quarter of an inch wide. The net itself is
much like those in which butterflies are caught,
having a handle, though the shape and size of the
whole thing vary according to the caprice or taste of
the individual fisherman.
(b) The " Sdki " is a scoop-net having generally the
same mesh as the mbalolo net, but lacks the handle.
It is usually about eighteen inches or two feet in length.
This net is manipulated by the women as they scoop
up small fish that hide amongst the seaweed which
grows profu:ely on the sand-flats.
(c) A third kind is the " Tardki" a net with a mesh
slightly bigger than that of the mbalolo. The length
xix NET-MAKING 185
of the tardki is four feet approximately, while its
breadth is about two feet. It is attached to two small
sticks, and both sinkers and floats are necessary. A
Fijian woman's equipment is not complete without
the tardki. It is the more convenient, as it requires
only one woman to work it. The tardki is placed
around loose rocks where fish may be in hiding ; the
stone is then removed, whereupon the fish are caught
in the net as they try to escape.
(d) An enlargement of the tardki is the " Mambuke "
(called in the Mbauan dialect, Ldwa mbuke). It has
the same mesh and shape as the tardki, but is eight
feet long by six feet broad. It is used to skim the top
of the water where small fish swim in shoals. The
mambuke has the reputation of catching everything
eatable on the surface of the sea.
(e) Another and better type of net is the " Ldwa
Dhe'le " (Mbauan, Ldwa Dhere), perhaps more service-
able than any other Fijian net. The mesh is one and
a half inches long, and it is made of strong cord.
The method of its use has already been described in
the previous chapter. Its length varies from fourteen
feet to eighteen feet, and its breadth may be six or eight
feet. A net such as this is light and strong, covers
a good expanse of water, and, in the hands of two
women, is easily manipulated by means of the poles
attached to the ends.
(/) The " Saulele" a narrower net about a yard in
width and from four to six yards long, has the same
mesh as the preceding. It is valuable when used in
186 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
numbers to encircle a small patch of coral or rock.
The women penetrate the holes of the reef with sticks,
or disturb the water by bombarding it with stones
in order to frighten the fish that might have taken
refuge there. The fish swim into the nets already
laid, and are easily taken by skilled fisherwomen.
The four nets last named all have floats and sinkers.
Light woods make excellent substitutes for cork, and
have the general name of " Utoiito." Dr. Seemann
mentions as floats the square fruits of the " Vutu
rdkardka " {Barringtonia speciosa, Linn.).1 Shells are
invariably attached for sinkers. The necessary weight
is attained by increasing or reducing the number of
shells. To prevent these four nets from collapsing,
sticks are joined to the ends in each case.
(g) I have seen in use at Mbau an immense seine
net, called the " Ldwa Sukdu," so heavy that scores
of men were needed to manage it. In the centre
part there is a portion,2 the meshes of which are
composed of sinnet, and which bellies out like a great
bag as the net is drawn through the water. Gradually
the fish are driven into this receptacle, sometimes in
thousands. The grunting noises of the captured fish
can be heard quite distinctly above the surface of the
water. At the last moment, the Fijians rush into the
water and force the catch into the sinnet bag.
(h) There remains to be described the turtle-net
1 " Viti " (1862), p. 356.
8 The other portion is made from the fibres of the Vau (Paritium
liliaceum, Juss.).
xix NET-MAKING 187
with which the men of the tribe captured the chiefly
dainty. Perhaps no better description could be given
than that prepared for the Fijian Society by Ndeve
Tonganivalu.1 He gives not only the mode of manu-
facture but also adds certain ancient customs which
have largely ceased to exist : —
" Turtle nets are usually made from sinnet. If a
tribe of fishermen intend to make a turtle net they
discuss it ' enfamille' and a day on which to commence
the work is decided upon. The cocoa-nut trees are
climbed and the green nuts collected. The fibre
covering is then stripped off and roasted in a pit-oven ;
after two or three days' roasting, it is dug up to be
beaten and the plaiting is then commenced. The
sinnet for turtle is entirely different from the sinnet
used for house- or boat-building and is plaited very
carefully and of large strands so as to be strong.
During the work of plaiting the sinnet for a turtle
net, the head of the tribe provides yanggona and food.
When the sinnet has been finished, a day is decided
upon to make the net, and a great feast will be held
on that day. Upon the completion of the net, another
tribal gathering is held, at which every man, woman,
and child must be present. The reason for this
gathering is to inform the members of the tribe of the
day on which the net is to be put into the water for
the first time, so that they will all be able to agree as to
the day. The head of the family will then earnestly
beseech them all to be friendly with each other and not to
1 Transactions oj the Fijian Society. 1912 1 ;.
188 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
have tribal quarrels and to ask them to agree to the day
fixed upon fo the immersion of the new net. Should,
however, there be any quarrels, the fishing will not
be successful, and it is on account of this that everybody
must be present at the meeting. Upon approval of the
day being given, the members of the tribe prepare
a feast and at its conclusion everybody (men and
women alike) go and weed the graves of their ancestors
or their relations and, after thoroughly cleaning them,
drape them with tapa and wreaths. The reason for
this is that the spirits of the dead may be friendly
and thus ensure the success of the new net. This
custom is still followed by some people, although
the religious teachers are continually trying to put a
stop to it and asking them to refrain from doing it as
it is a heathen custom, which however they do not
agree to. They maintain that, should they fail to
weed the graves they will not be successful with their
fishing : this is still believed 2nd practised, although
everybody quite understands that it is a heathen
custom.1 When the weeding of graves is finished,
lots are cast and the way for doing this is as follows : —
Should a tribe have three or four gods they take the
same number of ripe nuts and, after naming each after
a god, they are spun. Should the eyes of one of the
nuts point directly towards the net all the members
of the tribe call out * Mdna e ndina? In the event of
one or two nuts pointing to the net all the members
1 There is a slight contradiction here with what he has already
-aid. He means " belonging to heathen times."
XIX
NET-MAKING 189
of the tribe proceed to the place, where the feast
has been prepared, to eat together. A move is then
made and they go fishing, and should one or more
turtles be caught they immediately return to land to
cook and eat them. This is called the ' feast for the
beating out of the sinnet/ or ' the first fruits of the
net.' After this the net is taken ashore and dried.
It is then carefully wrapped up in plaited cocoa-nut
leaves and taken into a house for safe keeping until
instructions are received from the chief to go turtle
fishing."
With the exception of the tardki all the above nets
are generally used on the sea-beaches and sand-flats.
In the larger rivers the people have a substitute in the
shape of a basket-net. This primitive contrivance is
an openwork cane-basket about two feet long, eighteen
inches deep, and nine inches in breadth. The method
adopted is as follows : The men line the banks of the
stream and cut away the long grass which is the
hiding place of the fish. The latter are thereby
driven into the stream, where the women await them.
The women hold their baskets with the long mouth
downwards and press them quickly to the bottom of
the water. In this way many fish are caught as they
endeavour to swim between the women. A fisher-
woman knows immediately a fish has entered her
basket, and she at once seizes the opening of the
trap with her hands. The name of the basket is in
most places the " Veildwa"
A very interesting substitute for the net was employed
igo FIJIAN SOCIETY ch. xix
in earlier times. A man who had learned it as a boy
in Ra told me of it. A piece of reed was taken and
bent into a circle, the ends being firmly tied. After-
wards a short handle was attached. The operator
went into the woods and found strong spider-webs1
in which he waved the bent reed many times until
it became quite covered with them. The handle was
taken away and the reed-hoop, so enveloped, was laid
on the top of the water in a stream, where it floated.
The fisherman then put into it small grasshoppers
and fles ; or he threw little pebbles, or spat within
the circle. The fish rose like trout, and in their
eagerness to get the bait were caught by the gills
and fins in the spider-web.
In the interior of Fiji the natives make an ingenious
trap for single fish of a larger size than can be caught
with spider-web. Reeds and grass are tied together
at one end and a device is fashioned just like the
straw coverings of cordial bottles, only that they are
somewhat larger. When this trap is laid in the bottom
of the stream with the entrance away from the current,
it happens that many a fish is captured, for it swims
foolishly into the opening, where little obstructions
catch against the scales and fins, making it impossible
for the prey to retreat.
1 In the Hebrides garfish are caught with spider-web balls attached
to the end of a kite tail. Florence Coombe, " Islands of Enchant-
ment," p. 173. Similarly, in New Britain, the web is employed
for the purpose.
CHAPTER XX
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
In the barbarous days of Fiji communication was
established by certain signs or signals, by messengers,
and by the wooden drum, or " Ldli."
Quite a large number of miscellaneous signs and
signals have a fixed meaning amongst the Fijians.
When sailing, a chief always had tied to the boom
of his canoe a bunch of pandanus leaves. No one else
might imitate him in this practice.
At Mbau, the flag of the high chief's sacred canoe
was well known. It was called the " Kuila" The
Fijian chief, Ndeve Tonganivalu, quoted previously
on another subject, also enlightens us on this matter.
To quote from his article in the Transactions of the
Fijian Society, 9th Dec. 191 1 : —
" The ' Kuila ' is not a Fijian word — it is Tongan.
At Mbau flags hid different designations. The war-
standard was called ' ndrotini ' ; there were two kinds
of canoe flags, one was called ' na irongge'le.' It was
the streamers of the sail which were arranged along
the lower yard, commencing from the upper end of
the yard and reaching to the foot. The other was the
1 tawdke' which was a long flag. The ' tawdkk ' was
192 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
hoisted on the sacred canoe when sailing, and was
hoisted to the upper end of the lower yard. But on
the canoe of the Roko (high chief) Tui Mbau it was
hoisted to the upper end of the upper yard. The
' tawdke * of the Roko Tui Mbau was a sacred thing ;
the people might not touch it at random. There is a
tribe at Mbau who have the hereditary right to touch
the Roko Tui Mbau's ' tawdke.' When one of that
tribe is appointed to handle the Roko Tui Mbau's
1 tawdke, ' he is given the name of ' Lingatdmbu ' ; *
He is the sacred hand for the ' tawdke.' The ' tawdke '
of the Roko Tui Mbau is kept in the house of
Lingatambu, and there is a small doorway for itself
to be put through to the inside of the house ; it might
not be entered at another doorway. When the
chiefs of Mbau are preparing to sail, Lingatambu
goes and takes the ' tawdke ' by its doorway and takes
it to the Roko Tui Mbau's canoe. On that day he
may not touch his own food because he has touched
the Roko Tii Mbau's ' tawdke ' ; another person puts
his food to his mouth. If several sacred canoes are
sailing together, none of them may sail past to wind-
ward of the canoe on which is hoisted the ' tawdke '
of the Roko Tui Mbau. If any canoe is going so fast
as to pass it, they will sheer off to sail by the leeward
side ; it is forbidden to sail past to windward. While
the sacred canoes are sailing, the ladies practise a
song-dance at Mbau called the ' Vdkadhda tawdke*.'
And, when they return from sailing, the ladies
1 " Sacred hand."
xx MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 193
dance to welcome the ' tawdke ' of the Roko Tui
Mbau."
A chiefly vdsu has the right to fly mast (native
cloth) from his boom when approaching the town to
which he is vdsu.
A time-honoured sign of grief is still observed in
the island of Mbau. The crew of a vessel coming to
the island after the death of a high chief are accus-
tomed to tie to the mast-head articles of value such
as tdpa (painted mast), mdsi (native cloth), or European
cloth. When they draw near to the town they are
met by men from Soso and Lasakau (sections of Mbau)
whereupon the string holding the goods is cut so that
they fall into the sea. The men of Soso and Lasakau
then struggle in the water in high glee for the possession
of the gifts. The cutting of the string is called the
" Tdmbisd," and the name of the gift is " At loldku." 1
Mbau natives, when carrying bad news by water,
indicate to those on shore that something is amiss
by throwing stones or oranges into the water thrice.
A single stone is sufficient to convey the news at Verata.
In the latter place, as well as in other districts, it is
the custom for a canoe, when bringing a dead body,
to throw away the sail when approaching the shore.
Those on land are immediately cognisant of what has
happened.
Fishermen at sea, when they have caught a turtle,
inform their friends by blowing on the conch shell
for a considerable time.
1 " The grieving."
i94 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Deaths are reported in similar fashion in Lau.
Throughout Fiji bereavement is generally emphasised
by the wailing of women ; but in Lau wailing is not
the usual method of showing grief on the occasion
of a death.
There was no way of wearing mourning for deceased
friends or relatives except by shaving the back of the
head, a custom which is not continued. Of late,
the Fijians are following in a marked degree the
English custom of dressing in black.
The first joint of the little finger on children's
hands used to be severed when a great chief died.
There are men alive to-day whose little fingers have
been shortened in this way.
Travellers had their signs and signals. If a path
branches into two, and a Fijian wished to show a
friend who was in the rear which direction he had
taken, he would throw leaves on the track which he
had not followed.
Sometimes Fijians, when travelling, become thirsty.
Should they be near a plantation of cocoa-nuts, the
owner of which is their friend, they will climb a tree
for the young fruit, and drink without a qualm
of conscience the luscious liquid ; but the husks
they will gather together and cover with cocoa-nut
fronds. The owner will thereby understand that
friends in need of a drink have taken his fruit.
Visitors to a town recognise that they are not
welcome when a feast is not prepared for them. The
Fijians are the most hospitable of folk, and they count
xx MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 195
it a shame to neglect a stranger amongst them. The
absence of the feast, therefore, would be a most signifi-
cant indication of the thoughts of the people concerning
a traveller.
Virgins (male and female) were known in former
days by little plaits of hair hanging from the temple.1
In these times the young men have given up these
curious ornaments, and very few of the girls follow
the custom. The plaits may still be seen in out-of-
the-way villages. Chiefly maidens were distinguished
from the commoners by the greater length of the loose
ends of their mdsi (native cloth) girdles.
Messages were sent in various ways. Inhabitants
of neighbouring islands were accustomed to signal to
each other by means of fires.
An explicit message was carried verbally by a
messenger ; nothing was written, as the Fijians had
not evolved any system of written signs. Hence the
man who could remember exactly the words of his
chief, was most highly honoured. But accuracy was
not the messenger's only accomplishment. He must
know the proper formula with which to begin and
conclude a communication. Much depended upon
the preparation for the message as well as on the
skill with which the message was concluded. Certain
forms of words became stereotyped ; also there arose
a family of couriers in each important clan, whose
accomplishments in this direction were handed down
1 So in Samoa. Dr. G. Brown, "Melanesians and Polynesians,"
pp. 316-17-
O 2
196 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
from father to son. The chief went nowhere without
his " Mdta ni vanua " (special herald).1 Some of these
mdta ni vanua had great influence, and were always
the spokesmen of their chiefs in every important
ceremony.
Allied to the mdta ni vanua was the office of town-
crier. Each evening his far-carrying voice would be
heard echoing through the hills as he enumerated for
the people the work to be done on the morrow. He
was fully seized with the importance of his duties,
supported as they were by the direct command of the
chiefs.
In former times the " Ldli," or wooden drum, had its
uses for sending certain kinds of information.
We are all acquainted with the far-carrying
sounds of the woodman's axe, consequent upon the
vibrations of the tree on which it is used. Had we
no metals with which to make bells, it is highly
probable that we should have fallen back on the
vibrating tree as a substitute.
The Fijian has thus adapted himself to his sur-
rounding conditions of life, and has made consider-
able advance in the knowledge of acoustics. *" He has
found out, for instance, that a hollow tree produces
in concussion a more penetrating sound than a solid
one. A tree standing not far from Richmond, Kandavu,
illustrates this well. As the Fijian youth passes the
hollow trunk he is almost irresistibly prompted to
1 Vid. an illuminating article on the mdtanivanua, by A. M.
Hocart. Journ. A nth. Inst., 1913, p. 109.
xx MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 197
pick up a piece of stick and play a gratuitous tattoo.
The native has also discovered that a hollow tree
slightly open will emit more sound than a closed one.
Nor has it escaped his notice that a tree stripped of
its bark is an acoustic improvement on one which
has its bark intact. He has likewise marked the fact
that some woods are superior to others in resonance.
All these primitive discoveries in acoustics the
Fijian has embodied in his Idli — an instrument half-
drum and half-bell. It is made of the strongest and
most enduring timber, chief amongst which are the
" Ndilo " (Calophylhim Inophyllum), the " Tavola "
(Terminalia Catappa), and the " Vesi " (Afzelia bijuga).
These woods are extremely tough, and their resonance
is remarkable. The shape of the Idli follows that of
the tree from which it is cut, except that the concavity
has been accentuated by slightly rounding off the ends.
The edges are turned somewhat inwards, which is
necessary if the sound-waves are to come primarily
from within. Consequently, the vibrations from the
sides of the Idli converge to a point within the drum,
and are then projected at great speed through the
oblong opening, much on the same principle as a
shot from a cannon. A similar idea is seem in a certain
kind of bullock-bell in Australia, which has a mouth
smaller than the rest of the bell. Though the sound
is thereby muffled, yet it is of a quality that is very
penetrating and far-carrying.
The sounding property of the Fijian Idli is remark-
able, though it varies according to the size of the
198 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
instrument. The ordinary town Idli is usually about
six feet long by three feet high. I have measured
one nine feet long, three feet six inches high, and
two feet ten inches thick. A man stood inside to
beat it. It was responsive to the lightest tap, and
when beaten loudly was heard at a distance of ten
miles as the crow flies,1 although mountains intervened.
It is quite common to hear the beat of a large Idli
at a distance of seven miles, and from three or four
miles over a high range of mountains. When we
compare this performance with the resonance of our
best metal bells, there is not much to choose between
them as far as penetrating power is concerned.
The cutting of a new Idli is always a great occurrence.
When it is being taken on a canoe to its destination,
it is beaten all the way, though it may be twenty
miles, and the natives along the coast know therefrom
that a town somewhere near is receiving a new drum.
Originally, the Fijian Idli had a purport which it
has largely lost. It is now a mere relic used for
announcing the time of religious services, and for
making New Year's Eve, and like occasions, hideous.
But, in early days, the Idli and its beat were invested
with great importance. Old men assure me that
it was never beaten without some definite motive or
meaning. The beats differed according to their
significance, and were easily recognised by those who
heard them. It must be taken for granted, however,
1 Dr. G. Brown states he heard a Samoan Idli twenty miles
away. " Melanesians and Polynesians," p. 422.
Beating a Small I. am.
{Tof.icefagc 199.
XX
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
199
that, in different districts, the beats varied when
announcing the same thing ; and then again the same
beat in the same district was liable to be altered
slightly by the fancy of the operators. Of these
latter, some were adepts, and were well known for
their gift of embellishing the phrases of the beat
with grace-notes and accidentals (Fijian, " Tatanggiri
nggiri ").
The first lali beat which should be noticed is simple,
and is indigenous to Fiji. We might call it the Fijian
beat, and it is heard more often in these days than
any other. It is played with two short, thick sticks
(" At uaua ") usually upon a single large drum, but
may have other drums accompanying it. The beat
is regular and heavy, and is the first beat that a Fijian
drummer would learn : —
No. 1.
Ordinary Fijian Lali Beat.
Right hand
' 1
1. c*
0 -0
r r
j-w \
Left hand
0
r r
0' 0
r r
Note. — The quavers may be omitted.
ad libitum
The Fijian beat is often heard in these days calling
people to church. We must not confound it with
the Tongan beat, which is also universally known in
Fiji. The Tongan call is lively, and avoids the solemn,
monotonous tone of the Fijian beat.
200
FIJIAN SOCIETY
CHAP.
No. 2.
Ordinary Tongan Ldli Beat.
Right hand f 1
Left hand ^
r
i
i
r
acZ libitum
The " La'// m tambua " is apparently a combination
of the previous two, and was played within a town where
a tambua had just been received in a time of distress
or war. The tambua, as we know, was requisitioned
to confirm a town's allegiance to the centre whence
the tambua came, or to alienate and undermine its
loyalty to another town. The reception of suchTa
tambua was usually signalled by the Ldli ni tambua.
It is the ordinary Fijian ldli beat with an accompani-
ment on another drum somewhat like the imported
Tongan call. In this combination the beat of the
first ldli is called " Kdmba mbu."
No. 3.
Ldli ni Tambua.
First
Lali
(Kamba
mbu)
Second
Lali
(accom- -
pani-
ment)
f
Right
hand
f 1*
-m
Left
hand
f Right
hand
Left
hand
,
Rest
r
Rest
id*
Rest
1 r 1 r
JrJf
r J r r
f J r r
XX
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
201
An adaptation of the Ldli ni tambua was the " Ldli
ni Wdngga " and was played upon a high chief's
canoe when approaching a village.
There is no toll for the dead amongst Fijian calls.
What we hear at the present time is an imitation of
our own funeral toll, and answers the purpose very
well. When heard amidst the hills of Fiji, it has a
peculiarly solemnising effect.
No. 4.
Funeral Call.
Very slowly.
Right hand ^ r
Jr
* ~ r
1
J 1
Left hand 1 r
Jr
F r r
d
1
Repeat
at
intervals
But, in some parts of Fiji, as at Yale, Kandavu,
there used to be what was named the " Vdkatdratdra "
(raising the taboo). On the fourth night after the death
of a chief, it was the duty of the relatives to intimate
to the townspeople that ordinary work (which had
been suspended on account of the funeral) might
proceed as before. The beat employed had a pre-
liminary attack of four or eight heavy strokes, according
to the number of nights which had elapsed since the
death. The heavy notes were immediately followed
by a " rat-tat," diminishing in volume of sound, but
increasing in acceleration.
202
FIJIAN SOCIETY
CHAP.
The
No. 5.
Vdkatdratdra."
Right hand
Left hand
r
r
1
1
Alternately, aceeltrando
4 diminuendo, until the
beat dies away.
Repeat ad Libitum.
Yet another beat is called the " Ldli ni Kdmbakoro "
(besieging a village) and is a pretty one, although
ominous in former days.1 It began with a rat-tat
(accelerando e diminuendo) followed by heavy beats as
given in No. 6. This call was used when a town was
invested in times of war, and was repeated, like all
these beats, ad libitum.
No. 6.
Ldli ni Kdmbakoro.
First
Lali
("
ght
hand
Second
Lali
Left
hand
[ Right
hand
I Left
hand
* i* 1*1* r
Rat-tat — ad libitum,
■* f» j* *
1* 1* T*V*
1
Accelerated and dying away.
* ^ 1^ >
9 1* i*i* r*
r r
1
r r
r r
<TD-m
CD*
■ma*
!d*'
C3-0
d
GT
a*
o*
R«t-tat — perhaps a minute.
1 l* 1 * 1* 1 * 1 !r r
di 1 j 1.
If a chief had been slain in battle, or in a siege such as
that mentioned above, another ldli beat was evolved
1 In San Cristoval the message of war was conveyed by means
of a wooden drum. Florence Coombe, " Islands of Enchantment,"
p. 224.
XX
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
203
to mark the fact. This beat varied in different places.
Two examples are given. They were primarily meant
to intimidate the foe and to express the triumph of
the victors. But they had also the further significance
of the wild revel before placing the dead body in the
oven. The two specimens of the " Ldli ni Mbakola "
(as they were generally called) which are appended,
have the specific names of the " Nderua " and the
" Timbi " respectively. The former is from Ngau
and Lau, and the latter was that in vogue amongst
the Waimarou clan, Tailevu.
The Nderua from Lau and Ngau is simple. The
sticks strike alternately thrice, and are then brought
down heavily together. After a pause it is repeated,
and so on.
No. 7.
The " Nderua."
Right hand f* \
Left hand
r
rrr M
cA
Repeat ad libitum.
A slow, heavy beat.
The Timbi is the most complex lali-beat of all, and
is a very fine one when executed skilfully. It must
have been truly dreadful when heard amid its fearful
associations. To be beaten properly there must be
one sharp-toned ldli to lead, and four or five large boom-
ing drums to accompany it. At first I could not dis-
tinguish any time in the rhythm, but after the Wai-
marou native had beaten it repeatedly, I found that
204
FIJIAN SOCIETY
CHAP.
its rhythm was in ordinary common measure, which
was kept admirably throughout. Anybody with a
small knowledge of music could play and appreciate
the beat, if he remember that the lower line represents
the ominous roll of the big lali, while the top line
is the spiteful little lali that leads the savagely
triumphant orchestra.
No. 8.
The " Timbir
Rather quickly.
Small Lali,
both sticks together.
Large Lalis,
both sticks together.
Preliminary Rat-tat.
i r r i r r
ill > I I I I I 11'.^
■0 0 & 0 \ 0 000 \ 00 0' 0
L f*
r r r i i r r
r r f i r r
! I I
^ 1
I I J
i r*
\rr \ rrr l
;;j;l;;doloidd /dj-da/d#-
I I I i li l l I I li I !«J l i 1 1 I i* i I
! After a pause —
j Kepeat ad libitum.
o
r^ |
G>
■0 0 00
£>
0000
C2
G>
C?
Slowly.
00 0 0
1 1 1 1
Q
Slowly.
00 00
1 1 1 1
£2
G>
Now suppose the fight to be over ; the victors
were often prompted to build a " Mbure " spirit-
house) to their ancestors, or to their particular god.
The building of such a house or mbure was a great
xx MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 205
event, and was accompanied by much ceremony. A
special drum -beat was employed when the house was
nearing completion, that is, when the ridge was being
covered with the vine called the " Wdkalou " (Lygo-
dictyon Forsteri, J. Smith). Not everyone might have
the honour of thatching the ridge-pole ; only those
who had distinguished themselves in battle were
allowed to attempt such a chiefly task. The men
who had slain their score or their ten warriors in
battle, and were called therefore "Koroi" or" Mbdti"
or " Nggdngga" were chosen to crown the edifice
with wdkalou. With all due ceremony and dignity
the brave seated himself on top of the house. Then
the wdkalou was handed to him, in order that he might
intertwine it about the ridge-pole. During the opera-
tion, those below executed the first part of what is
known as the " Ldli ni mbure." It is unique in this
respect that, in addition to the kettle-drum rat-tat
described in a previous beat, there is an accompaniment
of voices calling loudly the following words in Fijian :
" Dho-o-o-ka dhoka dhoka dhoka dhok',
Dho-o-o-ka dhoka dhoka dhoka dhok V
No. 9.
Ldli ni Mbure. First Part.
Voices— high pitched— Dho-o-o-ka dhoka dhoka dhoka dhok'— in descending scale.
Right hand [«P 1 J* 1 ** I J* 1 J* 1 J* 1 ^ Repeated thrice,
J Long rat-tat, accelerated and dying away. while passing up
-. * - * -, * -. P -, * i P i .* the " Wdkaldu:
U* 1* 1* r \* 1* 1*
Left hand
206 FIJIAN SOCIETY ch. xx
The cry begins on a high falsetto note, and descends
in the scale, increasing in acceleration as it does so.
When repeated three times, the Kordi is supposed to
have sufficient vine to go on with. He immediately
begins to weave and thread it about the ridge-pole,
to the accompaniment of the second part of the Ldli
ni mbure, as follows : —
No. 10.
Ldli ni Mbure. Second Part.
Right hand
Left hand
r i r r
i j
r\
r
o
C2
Repeated thrice
whilst thatching
proceeds.
The whole process was repeated until the house
was finished. Then the usual mangiti (feast) was
presented to those who had worked on the erection,
and the bfave who had completed the work mingled
with his fellow clansmen.
A house such as the foregoing was frequently
erected before a war to ensure success, a space of ten
days elapsing before the tribesmen began the battle.
When war has ceased, the " Ldli ni sautii" or Ldli
of peace, is beaten. It has no appreciable difference
from the Vdkatdratdra (No. 5) and has a like meaning.
The warriors hearing it knew that once more had the
" Angel of Peace " smiled on the land, and that they
might turn again to their usual occupations until the
wzr-ldli should be heard booming anew its message
of fear, rapine, and death.
CHAPTER XXI
FOODS AND FOOD-PROHIBITIONS
Food plays a most important part in the social life
of the Fijian. The islander is not a glutton, though
sometimes he goes to the bounds of excess in his
feasts. On the contrary, the constitution of the
Fijian, especially of the woman, has been impaired
because, in some provinces, food is rarely eaten more
than twice a day. The majority of the natives have
no set time for their meals ; they are not governed
by the regularity which distinguishes more highly
civilised societies. The ordinary people live very
much from hand to mouth ; each day brings its work
of searching for foods to vary the inevitable yam or
taro diet.
The land is prolific in many kinds of sustenance,
and the natives have lived long enough in it to know
just where to go for what they need. There is little
time or labour wasted in the search for food.
To the question, How does food play an important
part in the life of the native ? the answer is, that the
many feasts which he prepares on all definite occasions
are inextricably interwoven with his etiquette and
social organisations. To take away the feast from the
208 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Fijian would be to leave him a life dull and monotonous.
The most important times for holding feasts are, the
birth of a child, the first turning of the child, the
cleansing of the mother, the death of a chief, the
celebrations at the end of ten nights and a hundred
nights after a notable death, a marriage, a conference
of chiefs either in a town or province, a religious
gathering of any kind, the installation of the head of
a district, the completion of any great work, and the
visit of a distinguished person. There are numerous
other occasions on which the Fijian indulges in feasting,
and it might truly be said that he lives from feast to
feast. Unfortunately, at times, the preparation for
them becomes a burden on the people, especially
when the spirit of emulation enters into them. During
such a season of rejoicing, lasting only a week, hundreds
of pounds have been wasted in riotous living, leaving
the clansmen a load of debt which takes months to
remove. The local Chinese storekeeper, who has an
eye to business always, has often, to my knowledge,
established a lien on the following year's crop, by
advancing provisions to the enthusiastic customers
who crowd his small shop.
It is at feast-time that the Fijian earns for himself
the reputation of being a good eater, and it is then
that he certainly goes beyond the bounds of moderation.
I have seen a Fijian eat continuously for over an hour
at one of these convivial gatherings.
A feast without its " Kenai dhoi " (relish) is no
feast at all. It boots little to have a mountain of
xxi FOODS AND FOOD-PROHIBITIONS 209
yams or tdro, if there be no flesh or fish-food to go
with it. The most highly prized relish is pork. A
handsome mangiti would have at least one " Rara "
(ten pigs), but really large feasts would be distinguished
by the presentation to the chief of three or four rara
and even more. In modern days cattle are being
requisitioned more frequently in lieu of the porkers.
At many feasts there appear together cattle, pigs,
poultry, and fish. The former (cattle and pigs) are
presented whole, and are divided afterwards. The
latter (fish) are usually cooked in a ground-oven if a
quantity has been prepared ; the precaution is always
taken of wrapping them up carefully in leaves to prevent
earth or ashes getting to them. When cooked they
are placed in large baskets for presentation. Shrimps
were often boiled in hollow pieces of bamboo, and so
carried.
After a feast has been prepared, it is customary to
proffer it to the highest personage in the town. It is
divided out into portions for the various divisions of
the company assembled. It is almost pathetic to note
the seriousness with which this is done. A Fijian
is never more thoughtful or just than when he divides
the mangiti. He begins at the highest individual,
and does not cease until everybody has been supplied
according to his rank and station. Visitors to the
town are invariably remembered, and studiously cared
for. When the food has thus been distributed in
little heaps over the open square of the town, the head
of the feast is notified, who at once gives thanks. A
P
210 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
crier then calls out the names of the recipients, and
these come forward without further ceremony to carry
their portion to their houses.
If a visitor has been feted, he is supposed, according
to Fijian etiquette, to take away with him the remains
of his food. On my first visit to a certain town in
Kandavu, I was presented with twenty-two fowls
for my Sunday dinner. Those I could not eat, my
boys carried away. Though I pressed the villagers
to receive their share, they refused, as it was my
first visit to the village. The visitor is often thus
considerably hampered, and good food has not seldom
been thrown away when the outskirts of the settlement
have been reached.
Fiji is prodigal in the number of kinds of food it
affords its inhabitants. So fruitful is the country
that a famine of three months is almost unheard of,
and would be remembered for years. The menu
of dishes does not vary greatly throughout the Archi-
pelago. Slight divergences occur where the exigencies
of the case demand. The Kandavuans, for instance,
raise yams (Dioscorea alato, Linn.), tdro (Colocasia
antiquorum, Linn.), kawdi (Dioscorea aculeata, Linn.),
kumdla (sweet potato, Batatas edulis, Chois.), and
kaile (Helmia bulbifera) in abundance. Several kinds
of manioc are grown with success. If a quantity of
these roots and tubers is required for a feast, they are
baked in ground-ovens. The procedure is to dig a
hole to the requisite size. The excavation is then lined
with stones of a regular form, upon which a fire is
xxi FOODS AND FOOD-PROHIBITIONS 211
lit. When the wood has burnt out, the stones are
nearly red hot. The coals and ashes are removed and
a lining of leaves is neatly laid over the sides and
bottom of the pit. Upon the leaves, the food is placed.
More leaves cover the opening, and earth is heaped
up into the shape of a mound, in order to keep the
heat in. A couple of hours of this crude treatment
suffices to cook most foods.
The tubers named above comprise the staple of
the Fijian's food-supply from end to end of Fiji.
When these are scarce, the shortage is supplied by
fruit- and nut-trees of many kinds. The most
serviceable is the bread-fruit tree (Artocarpus incisaj
etc., Linn.) of which there are several varieties. As
a food it cannot maintain its reputation. It is pleasant
to eat, however, when baked on the coals or boiled,
and is a favourite article of diet with the natives.
One great advantage the bread-fruit has, viz., that it
ripens just when the supply of tubers begins to give
out. The cocoa-nut tree is so much a necessity to
the native that it might be termed the milch-cow of
Fiji.
Other fruit trees are the " Ndawa " (Nephelium
pinnatum, Camb.), the " Wi " (Evia dulcis, Comm.),
the " Oleti " (Carica Papaya, Linn.), the " Kavika "
(Eugenia Malaccensis), the orange, and the mango,
the last two having been introduced into the Group.
Nut trees are very abundant, the chief being the
" ltd " (Inocarpus edulis, Forst.), the " Tavdla "
(Terminalia Catappa, Linn.), and the " Ndwandwa"
p 2
212 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
(Cordia subcordata. Lam.). The nut of the ivi
(Tahitian chestnut) is either boiled or roasted. A
kind of Fijian bread is made from it, and is much
appreciated by some. The method is to grate the
nut and tie it up in large leaves for about a week, until
it ferments. The natives then press it into little lumps
about the size of a hen's egg, and wrap it up closely
again for use when required. The taste is strong and
acrid.
The term " At dhoi " has already been applied to
the flesh relish of feasts, such as cattle and pigs, but
it has a very wide connotation. In Kandavu, for
instance, it further comprises all the following : bats,
flying-foxes, plover, pigeons, parrots, ducks, goats,
dogs, cats, wild pigs, shrimps, shell-fish of all kinds,
snakes, eels, turtle. All these the Kand&vuan can
eat as a relish.
But the term " At dhoi " has a still wider signifi-
cance, for it may be used to describe all those leaves
which, when boiled, are used by the native as a piquant
addition to his food. Dr. Seemann supplies a good
list of them for those who can peruse his book.1 The
leaves most generally treated in this way are the
" Mboro " (Solanum anthropophagorum, Seem.), the
taro, watercress, " Mbele " (Abelmoschus moschatus,
Moench.), the " Mboro ha" the " Ota " (Angiopteris
evecta, HofTm.), and the sweet potato. All the fore-
going, after being boiled, are simply flavoured with
salt, or with the expressed juice of the cocoa-nut.
1 " Viti," pp. 308-9.
xxi FOODS AND FOOD-PROHIBITIONS 213
To the list of " Kenai dhoi " the native of Lau adds
eggs of sea-gulls which the people in that part of the
Group find in the sands, mindri leaves, a reed fungus
on trees called " Kardu" " Ndrdsi " which is a species
of jelly-fish, " Mboreti" (Acrostichum aureum, Linn.),
a kind of fern. The ndrdsi is usually kept four nights
and then roasted on the coals ; or it may be simply
boiled.
In respect of " Kenai dhoi" there is one remarkable
variation in Fiji, viz., in the case of the people of the
interior of Viti Levu. From time immemorial they
have been accustomed to look upon almost everything
living as their lawful food ; and there is a marked
difference between them and the coastal natives in this
particular aspect of the subject. The stomach of the
coastal native will heave at some things, such as the
obnoxious rat. But the only living things which,
apparently, come amiss to the inhabitants of the
interior, are centipedes, flies, spiders, and mosquitoes.
They include in their bill of fare owls, hawks, frogs,
rats, lizards, locusts (sometimes eaten raw), wood-
grubs (a delicacy), slugs, caterpillars, and the young
of the red ant found in ant-hills. The latter article
of diet they boil together and eat with gusto. Bats
are boiled in their skins, and there is nothing left but
the bones when the native has finished his repast,
even the wings being eaten. The gap is so wide
between the lists of food which the coastal and interior
natives respectively use that I would suggest as a cause
a racial difference.
214 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Puddings are much prized by the Fijian, and he has
many kinds to his credit, upwards, perhaps, of a couple
of score. They are called puddings (vdkaldlo) because
they are sweet, and are eaten with sauce after the
ordinary food has been disposed of.
The following kinds are known all over Fiji.
Nddloyddha.
Scrape the tdro root and tie it up in leaves. Boil
or bake. When cooked, cut into pieces as big as a
small hen's egg, and pour on the juice or lolo. The
lolo is the expressed juice of grated cocoa-nut, boiled
with sugar and water until the mixture turns brown.
If no sugar is available the juice of the sugar-cane
takes its place.
Sivdromddha.
Tdro is boiled whole, and then pounded into a jelly.
This is cut up into pieces like the Nddloyddha, and
the lolo is sprinkled on it. In this case the lolo is not
liquid. It is made thus : — Grate cocoa-nut, then
boil with sugar and water, until the water has all
disappeared. The lolo then becomes crumbly and
dark brown.
Sivdrovula.
Treat the tdro as in the case of Sivdromddha. To
make the lolo, grate a cocoa-nut or two, express the
juice, but keep the grated portion. Then take the
tdro, cooked as in the Sivdromddha, and cut it into
pieces. Rub these pieces in the dry grated cocoa-nut.
xxi FOODS AND FOOD-PROHIBITIONS 215
When the pudding is to be served, the juice prepared
as above is poured on, and the pudding is brought
in to the guests.
Ndardi.
Ndardi is the same as the preceding, except that the
dry grated cocoa-nut is not used.
Ydkiydki.1
This is a pudding made from bread-fruit, which is
first baked on the coals ; the inside of the fruit is taken
out and pommelled with a cocoa-nut or young bread-
fruit until it becomes a pulp. After being cut into
pieces, a dressing is poured over comprised of cocoa-
nut juice, sugar and salt to taste.
Tukivdtu.
In this pudding the lolo or juice is the same as that
of the Ydkiydki. But the roast bread-fruit is taken
and beaten quickly under water with a stone. The
outside covering falls away, and the inside is beaten
to a pulp with a stick. Lolo is poured over as in the
Ydkiydki. What difference the beating under water
makes, it is hard to say, but the Fijians state that they
can distinguish the taste of the Tukivdtu from the
Ydkiydki.
Sdkosdko.
Tdro is taken and baked on the coals and then put
in fresh water, and the skin is peeled off. It is then
beaten with a stick and the lolo added.
1 Called in Samoa " taofolo," and much prized. Dr. G. Brown,
" Melanesians and Polynesians," p. 133.
216 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Vdkalolo yambia.
The root of the manioc is scraped and soaked in
water. The fibres are then strained out with the aid
of long cocoa-nut fibres, leaving the starchy portion
to dry. This is cooked by boiling it with water, and
is eaten with the cocoa-nut sauce. Or if a great
quantity be required, it may be done in the following
manner : — A wooden trough four feet long is filled
with tapioca diluted with water. Near by the Fijians
light a fire in which stones are set. When the stones are
heated thoroughly two or three are thrown into the
tapioca, while two men, standing at either end of the
trough, push them backwards and forwards in the
mixture until the food is cooked. To watch the work
is to lose one's appetite for the dish.
Vdkasoso.
This pudding is made from plantains. First the
Fijians press the juice out of grated cocoa-nut. Then
they make a slit in the plantain and fill it with the
dry gratings. The juice is poured over all. The
flavour is very pleasant, and is palatable to a European.
No sugar nor salt is used in Vdkasoso. Some cook
the pudding after they have prepared it as above.
Waidu.
Cut bananas up into small pieces, then tie up in
banana leaves with the juice of the cocoa-nut as
dressing, and bake. The people of the Lau Group of
xxi FOODS AND FOOD-PROHIBITIONS 217
islands have some special puddings of their own im-
provisation. I give two of them.
Mdlimdli.
Tapioca and ripe plantains are mixed together in a
mash and roasted. Afterwards it is cut into small
pieces and eaten with cocoa-nut dressing.
Tololo Kumdla.
Scrape sweet potato and mix it into a mash with the
lolo. Then wrap in plantain leaves in small bundles,
and bake.
Puddings are not chewed by the native. His practice
is to swallow the pieces whole.1
The interior of Fiji supplies a curious pudding.
The flower-cob of a kind of reed called " Nduruka "2
is boiled and sweetened with wild sugar-cane juice,
or with sugar, if it is to be had. There are probably
more than a dozen kinds of wild sugar-cane in Fiji.
The native names of some are : Nandi, Mbuta, Mdlai-
nggele, Kukusauloa, Sdnganimbdto, Me'ndra ndovu na
Mbuiningone, Kitu, Kambakavdle, Sakuri, Silotna.
In times of famine the Fijian was able to live where
another would starve. After a hurricane, for instance,
the unripe fruit and roots destroyed by the force of
the wind are placed in a hole in the ground called a
1 Dr. Rivers states that in some islands of Melanesia knives are
made for eating pudding. "Hist, of Melan. Soc," vol i. p. 81.
2 The nduruka is mentioned as food by Mr. A. M. Hocart. Man,
1914, p. 118.
218 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
" Ndavuki "x There a process of fermentation takes
place, much in the same way as when ensilage is made.
The mass, when carefully covered with leaves and earth,
ferments together in about a month. The natives
call this " Mandrdi " (bread), and it has a spongy
nature like bread. The taste and odour are such that
only a native could enjoy it. There can be no doubt
that Fijian bread made in this way is life-sustaining.
Many plants from the woods become useful in times
of famine. The seed-pod of the mangrove in former
times was peeled and put in a bread-pit {ndavuki)
and turned into bread. The pith of the yaka vine
was boiled as an article of diet. Certain poisonous
arums called " Via " are also treated in the same
manner, and though coarse, help to tide over the
period of stress. Bulbous and tuber species as the
" Tikdu " (wild yam) both red and white in colour,
the " Tivoli " (Dioscorea nummularia, Linn.), wild
" Kdile " (a wild yam), take the place of the yam
and tdro if there be a shortage of the latter. The
wild kdile is acrid, and, on that account, the natives
first cook it, then scrape and soak it in water until it
becomes mild. Further boiling or roasting reduces it
to an eatable state. This process is aided by mixing
the scrapings of the " Waldi " nut (Entada scandens,
Bth.) with the kdile.
In order to get at these roots the islanders fire the
country where they are found. Many mysterious
1 The Samoans know this. Dr. G. Brown, " Melanesians and
Polynesians," p. 131.
xxi FOODS AND FOOD-PROHIBITIONS 219
fires that sweep through the tropical forest can be
explained in this way. Consequently, the Government
has made the practice illegal.
The soft head of the cocoa-nut palm and the stalk
of the banana have been resorted to in seasons when
food is scarce. The natives, especially those living
on the coast, have learned to eat many articles of diet
raw. These include shell-fish, as the " Sidhi "
(trochus), the " Vasua " (giant clam), the " Dhawdki "
(sea-urchin), cockles as the " Kaikuku" " Kaikiso"
" Kainddzva," " Kaitasirisiri " ; also the " Tandruku "
(mollusc, chiton), a few kinds of the Beche-de-mer,
as the " Ndrinddiro" "Seniloli " ; the " Ndio " (oyster),
and a slug or worm in the sands called the " Vetwia."
In many parts of the Group raw mullet are much
appreciated, though in Ngau, for instance, this fish
is barred as raw food.
In addition to the above, several kinds of seaweed
are masticated without being cooked.
Food Prohibitions.
A number of food prohibitions have been noted
under the head of " Fishing and its Superstitions."
Others are as follow : —
The last food which a man eats before he dies is
in some parts denied by the wife to herself for some
days after the burial. It is looked upon as the food
which supported the spirit of the husband on its
journey to the spirit-land.
An interesting prohibition of food is continued at
220 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
the present time at Mbau. When a high chief dies,
a certain tribe from the mainland has the sole privilege
of burying the body. During the work of burial
these native sextons may not eat any kind of food
until the grave is filled in, and until they have partaken
of a kind of fruit called the " Kura."1 The kura
appears to be a small species of jack-fruit, and falls to
the ground before it is fit to eat. The pulp of it is
very soft and has a most atrocious and clinging odour.
When a child is born, the mother is often prohibited
from eating salt with her food during the three or four
days subsequent to the birth.
Certain kinds of fish were, in former days, kept ex-
clusively for the chiefs. A severe penalty was exacted
from the culprits who secretly ate food kept sacred
by custom for the use of their superiors. The most
important of these prohibitions had reference to the
turtle. It is only of late that ordinary folk have been
allowed to eat this valuable animal. Naturally, the
breaking down of old usages with regard to the turtle
has caused a good deal of friction. As late as 191 2,
the chiefs endeavoured to influence the Government
to restrict the use of the turtle as in earlier times.
Their persistence has, in some cases, restored to them
their ancient right. In a large number of districts
in Fiji the dorsal fin of the shark and Sdngga (a fine
fish), as well as the heads of most fish, are reserved
for the chiefs of the neighbourhood.
1 William Mariner tells of similar funeral customs, "Tonga,"
vol. ii, p. 187.
xxi FOODS AND FOOD-PROHIBITIONS 221
A most fruitful source of prohibition of food is the
old clan-interdependence of " Veimbatiki " which has
a great similarity to our ancient feudal system. All
chiefly or conquering towns had henchmen or
" Mbdti" as they were called. It is surprising how
almost all the towns of Fiji are in this manner linked
together. For instance, Rewa has for mbdti the town
of Tonga near by. Tonga, again, has for its mbdti
the town of Tongandravu, higher up the river. If
Rewa went to war, the chiefs in that town would
communicate with Tonga, and thence the message
would proceed to Tongandravu. Tongandravu would
help Tonga, and they together would help Rewa.1
Verata is a remarkable case in point, for that town
was, at one time, the most powerful in Fiji. Up to the
present moment, there are many villages which hold
fast to Verata by the old bond of " veimbatiki." The
mbdtis, in order of precedence, are Verata, Tumbalevu,
Nanamu, Naimasimasi, Kuku, Vungalei, Kasavu, and
Nanggelendamu. A call of war would have followed
that order. The interesting thing for our purpose is
that all these recognise their relationship in their
feasts. If all were eating together at Verata, the chiefs
of the latter place would pass over their food to the
mbdti, and the mbdti would hand their portion to
the chiefs.
In this particular system of Veimbatiki, the chiefly
food at Verata was fish, vdkalolo (pudding), Fijian
xMr. B. Thomson avers that the help so given was doubtful.
" The Fijians," p. 88, note.
222
FIJIAN SOCIETY
CH. XXI
bread, cocoa-nuts, and crabs. But if one of the
mbdti happened to be present these classes of food
would be given to him. The mbdtis' especial sustenance
was pig, plantains, and eels. If a chief happened to
be eating with his retainers, the eels, plantains, and
pigs would be handed by them to their superior.
The foregoing prohibitions took place only when
the high chiefs and retainers ate together. The reason
for the peculiar usage is given by a Fijian thus : the
mbdti are the warriors of the chiefs. If they eat
the food of the latter they will be courageous and
strong in battle. It would be unwise, therefore, for
the chief to withhold that which would eventually be
to his own good.
CHAPTER XXII
CANNIBALISM
Cannibalism was a hideous excrescence upon the
true nature of the Fijian, a pestiferous, cancer-like
growth, the roots of which struck deep down into his
social, political and religious life. That human flesh
was unnecessary to him has been proven by the fact
that he exists very well without it. And if it be
unnecessary, it is also unnatural, and by no means
the chief index to his general character. Still the
Fijian has been usually classed in the world's category
as a cannibal, and we cannot therefore let it pass
without discussion.
The question has been frequently raised as to
whether cannibalism was long practised in Fiji,
and has been answered in various ways. Before we
endeavour to give a reply three circumstances should
be noticed.
Anthropophagy is a very old practice of the human
race, not as an unnatural appetite, but as a specimen
of sympathetic and religious magic. In this form it
is very general throughout the history of mankind,
and may, therefore, be legitimately classed as the
earliest kind of cannibalism. Savage races have, by
224
FIJIAN SOCIETY
CHAP.
means of a misdirected logic, inferred that the appro-
priation of the symbols of strength and courage would
give them those qualities. Thus generally, lions'
claws, tigers' claws, and boars' tusks are reckoned
amongst the most effectual charms ; likewise the
flesh of the bear was eaten for the same reason, while
that of the timid deer must be shunned, lest the bravery
of the warrior vanish away. In the early days of
stress, conflict, and ignorance, it was an easy transition
of thought from the flesh of a bear to the heart and
liver of a man, for, in primitive psychology, these organs
were the seats of courage and energy. There is an
instance recorded by Professor Tylor of an English
merchant in Shanghai, at the time of the Taeping
attack, who met his Chinese servant carrying home a
man's heart. When questioned, the servant said it
was the heart of a rebel, and that he was going to eat
it in order to make him brave.1 In some Australian
tribes, the fatty portions of a corpse are consumed for
a similar reason. Africa is also full of such strange
ideas.
Now the practice of eating human flesh from a
superstitious motive is found all over New Britain,
New Guinea, the Solomons, and the New Hebrides,
and these islands were the pathway of some at least
of the Polynesian races when they first came to the
Pacific. Professor Macmillan Brown thinks the Poly-
nesians learned cannibalism at their resting-places on
their voyage from South Asia, and that they carried it
1 " History of Mankind," p. 131.
xxii CANNIBALISM 225
as an intermittent custom into New Zealand.1 If they
did so, they must also have learned the superstitions
by which the practice was supported.
Even in modern times, the belief in sympathetic
magic survived side by side with the established
appetite for human flesh. Dr. L. Fison narrates the
story of a Fijian woman who rubbed her infant's
lips with the flesh of a slain champion in the full
assurance that the child would thereby receive some
of the warrior's bravery.2 I have been told that the
heart and liver of the chief of Ndavinggele, Kandavu
(by name, R. Tokanduandua) were eaten for the
self-same reason by the chief of the neighbouring
village of Nambukelevuira. An interesting parallel
to Dr. Fison's incident was told me by the Rev. H. R.
Rycroft, of the Solomon Islands, for he states he saw
there a woman rub human flesh upon her infant's lips.3
A second fact, which bears out the theory of the
magical and religious origin of cannibalism, is found
in the circumstance that most of the Polynesian
peoples have eaten human flesh at some time in their
history. Now, if we find a practice common to many
branches of the same stock who have not been in contact
for centuries, we infer that the custom must have
been known to them before they were sundered.
It is unlikely that peoples, settled in so many isolated
1 " Maori and Polynesian," p. 266.
a " Tales of Old Fiji," Intro, p. xxxvii.
3 " A mouthful of the brave man's flesh and blood is thought to
convey the coveted power." Florence Coombe, in " Islands of
Enchantment," p. 222. Reference is to San Cristoval.
Q
226 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
islands of the sea, should have initiated the horrible
usage after their settlement in those islands. It is
fair to add, however, that the particular form which
cannibalism took in any one island was conditioned
by the circumstances and exigencies of that locality.
In the third place, we find that the ancient legends
are interwoven with cannibalistic narrative, and without
which the stories have no meaning at all. Con-
sequently, we are led to believe that these stories point
to a very early knowledge of the custom. The great
culture-myths and heroes of New Zealand, as a case
in point, reach back to a time preceding the arrival
of the Maoris in their present home, and these
stories hold together by reason of the cannibalism
related in them. There is only one conclusion at
which we can arrive, that cannibalism was known
at a very early date.
Ancient myths in Fiji likewise show that the early
spirits or heroes there were addicted to the custom.
At Mba there were two gods, named Rawailevu and
Tuinaidhindra, who fell out and fought each other.
The cause of their fighting was that the latter ate at
Malolo a certain tribe from the mainland called
Kaisara. Ndengei, the chief Kalou Vu of Fiji, was
also said to demand a sacrifice of human flesh.
From the three considerations given above, it is
obvious that the Fijian, as part of the Polynesian race,
knew of the practice of eating human flesh before he
finally settled in the Pacific, and that he developed it
according to the circumstances or exigencies of his life.
xxii CANNIBALISM 227
In no place did anthropophagy develop to such an
extent as in Fiji, except perhaps in the Marquesas
Islands. These two groups are much alike in social
history and contour, factors which are most important
in the study of cannibalism.
In the Fiji Group, cannibalism assumed the pro-
portions of a monstrous appetite. The people acquired
a strong liking for human flesh as food. The custom
grew in astonishing measure in the eighteenth century.
When the missionaries arrived in the Group, it was
estimated that thousands were annually destroyed in
this way. It became so customary, that the flesh got
the name of " kendi dhoi" or the relish of vegetable
foods at feasts. A horrible story is told at Madhuata
that it was the duty there of certain tribes to find the
relish at the time of the offering of first-fruits to the
chiefs. When the sun rose on the appointed day, a
human body was found tied to a stake, with garlands
hung about it. In this gruesome fashion the task of
the tribes appointed had been fulfilled.
The appetitive phase of cannibalism I believe to be
a comparatively late growth in Fiji, which belief I
base on the following considerations : —
(a) The Fijian people are so far distant from other
groups of islands that it would have been impossible
to get their captives from foreign nations.
(b) They would therefore be forced to find victims
from amongst themselves ; a fact which would
necessitate the existence of war.
(c) If, however, this had been done at the wholesale
Q 2
228 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
rate which the first missionaries were forced to witness,
there would have been a swift decline in the population.
The statistics of the Hervey Islands showed that the
population there dwindled through fighting from two
thousand to sixty, and again from sixty to five, within
the memory of the Rev. John Williams. Now the
population of Fiji was traditionally large. One hundred
and fifty years ago it was estimated at between 300,000
and 500,000. Given that the tradition is true, it
would seem impossible that cannibalism could have
existed on a very large scale before that time. About
the time the missionaries arrived (eighty years ago),
it was unanimously agreed that the population was
at least 200,000, notwithstanding the terrible ravages,
in the latter part of the eighteenth century, of a
pestilence known as the " Lila mbaldvu," which
carried off at least one-third of the total number oiF
Fijian natives in the islands. It is unlikely, therefore,
that war had been carried on to any extent before that
time, and consequently, that anthropophagy had grown
into anything like the proportions which the early
missionaries saw.
(d) Again, it is a well-known fact that Fijian warfare
was comparatively bloodless before the introduction
of firearms. In the year 1808, the natives had no use
for muskets ; for in that year Charles Savage, a Swede,
was wrecked on Nairai. It was he who told the chief
at Mbau to look in the wrecked vessel for muskets,
and also for shot. The natives did as they were
directed and found that the guns had been taken from
xxii CANNIBALISM 229
the ship by local inhabitants, and had been built into
a yam-house. They were not so badly damaged that
they would not shoot, and, from that time, war became
more deadly in Fiji. There can be no doubt that
the superiority of Mbau in battle, and the swift growth
of cannibalism in that town, were due to the intro-
duction of firearms at the period mentioned.
(e) That war on a wide scale has been carried on
only in the nineteenth century seems to be confirmed
also by the fact that the first " Vunivdlu " (war-lord)
was appointed not more than three or four generations
ago. The tradition suggests that before the appoint-
ment of the Vunivdlu in Mbau there was no need of a
special officer.
(/) The ancient legends describe a peaceful immi-
gration of a few half-shipwrecked and forlorn people.
The explanation given by the people of the use of
stone implements is that their forefathers lost over-
board in a gale the case which held their house-building
tools. And so far from being an entrance at that
early date of a victorious host, it is not till long after
that any serious war is even hinted at ; not, indeed,
till several tribes had broken away from the original
stock and become independent. Steady immigrations
from the eastern Polynesian islands would accentuate
the state of war, until certain tribes became hereditary
enemies, and never lost an opportunity of fighting one
another.
All these arguments indicate a comparatively recent
development of warfare on anything like a large scale,
230 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
and therefore of cannibalism in its special phase as the
satisfaction of an unnatural appetite.1
We now proceed to discover, if possible, the cause
of this appetite. Let us first examine some theories
that have been set forth by different authors.
The simple hunger theory is supported by some,
and there would be some force in it if Fiji were a
barren land. We know that intense hunger will
compel the most gentle people to eat their fellows,
as, for example, in shipwreck or siege. Mothers
have been known at such times to devour their own
offspring. So great, however, is the racial objection
to this horrid meal, that even the extremest hunger
fails to overcome it, except in isolated cases. An
important case is described by a traveller named
Werner in a book entitled " British Central Africa.'*
The following is a quotation : —
" In Shire there was a terrible famine in 1862-3.
Nine-tenths of the population perished, many com-
mitting suicide, but no cannibalism."
When we bear in mind the equality of the Fijians
and the Shire people in racial standing, we are com-
pelled to realise that the simple hunger theory is
inadequate.
Besides, Fiji is a fruitful land, rich, as we have seen,
in edible roots and plants. The surrounding sea and
1 On the connection between war and cannibalism see Ellis,
"Polynesian Researches," vol. i, p. 359; W. Mariner, "Tonga
Islands," vol. i, pp. 264-265; Capt. Erskine, "Western Pacific
Islands," pp. 39, 157, 158, 249, 260, 272, 320, 334. The latter
refers to Samoa, Fiji, Tanua, and Vate.
xxn CANNIBALISM 231
the rivers teem with fish. It would be indeed difficult
for a Fijian to arrive at the starving stage. The stories
of the people, handed down from the past, have no
record of a disastrous famine. The only case in which
a Fijian could be brought to absolute starvation would
be when besieged in time of war. But in all the cases
of siege with which we are acquainted, those who ate
human flesh in sheer distress were glad enough to
give it up when the siege was raised. We infer
therefore, that while the very extreme of hunger is
necessary to force a person to accept this method of
satisfying hunger, it is but a temporary cause, and,
consequently, is not calculated to establish a custom.
We must look for some supplementary reason.
Dr. L. Fison evidently felt the difficulty, and en-
deavoured to meet it. His hypothesis is that we are
flesh-eating animals, and it is the scarcity of flesh-
meat which causes an overpowering flesh-hunger.1
His assertion, also, is considerably neutralised when
we remember that the sea waters of Fiji are full of
fish ; and the Fijians were, and are, expert fishermen.
It is true, as Dr. Fison says, that pigs and poultry
were of late introduction into the Group, but we have
to face the further fact that Dr. Fison seems to have
forgotten, viz., that they were brought to Fiji just
before the very period in which cannibalism began to
develop most swiftly.2 That is to say, according to
1 ■ Tales of Old Fiji," Intro, p. xlv.
2 Sir E. Im Thurn says that it developed rapidly only after the
white man came. Med. Journ. of Australia, 1914, p. 297.
232 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
Dr. Fison's theory, the flesh-hunger became most
powerful in its demands when the means were present
to satisfy it, an evident contradiction.
The doctor furthermore overlooks the important
circumstance that the chiefs, who were the greatest
delinquents in the matter of eating human flesh, had
numbers of pigs and poultry with which to appease
their flesh-hunger.1 They had also the monopoly of
turtle, and well-cooked turtle-flesh is an excellent
substitute for roast meat.
The theory of flesh-hunger, as applied to Fiji, has
no foundation in fact, for at present large numbers of
natives are quite content with fish, birds, molluscs,
and Crustacea. An occasional pig gives them merely
a taste of flesh-food. As we have seen, the people
in Dholo (the interior) often lack even fish, and use
leaves of trees and shrubs as an appetiser for their
vegetable diet.
The flesh-food theory has been strained to meet the
case. It is inconceivable that, for instance, men who
had sufficient vegetable foods would think of eating a
man to satisfy a supposed hunger for flesh.
Another theory was held by the Rev. T. Williams,
that revenge is the chief motive of cannibalism. This
again seems but a partial explanation of the problem,
for nowhere has the desire for revenge been so intense
as in the old Italian vendetta. Napier, in his " Floren-
tine History " writes of it : " And for centuries after,
1 Dr. G. Brown holds that scarcity of animal food does not cause
anthropophagy. " Melanesians and Polynesians," p. 140.
xxn CANNIBALISM 233
a private offence was never forgotten until avenged,
and generally involved a succession of mutual injuries.
. . . Vengeance was sometimes allowed to sleep for
five and thirty years, and then suddenly struck a victim,
who perhaps had not seen the light when the original
injury was inflicted."1 Hellish torture seems to be
the very worst thing that revenge in Italy could
contrive. There does not appear to be any sign of
cannibalism as a result of the vendetta. To take a
concrete case, the only violent methods used in the
bitter struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines
were torture and murder.
The native explanation of cannibalism is too much
like Charles Lamb's story of roast pig to bear much
examination. We are unable to believe that the
natural abhorrence in human nature of the flesh of
our own kind would vanish upon the discovery that
it tasted nice after being in a conflagration. Nor
could this be answered by saying that the Fijians were
in a lower state of civilisation. For, if we descend in
the scale of life as low as the superior animals, we do
not find that they are in the habit of eating their own
species. The abhorrence of eating one's own kind is
evidently rooted deeply in all kinds of superior life
as an instinct of self-preservation.
The true explanation of the cannibalistic appetite
seems to be in a combination of the simple hunger
theory and the revenge hypothesis.
The people of Fiji were intensely tribal, the separ-
1 Napier, "Florentine History," vol. i, chap. vii.
234 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
ation of interests being very largely due ^to the contour
of their land. High and steep mountain ranges pre-
vented regular communication, until the very languages
changed. In the small island of Kandavu there are
upwards of half a dozen minor dialects, while the
general speech of Kandavu is quite different from
that of Mbau. The same may be said of every other
section of the country.
Jealousies arose, and then bitter enmity, which
occasioned war of a most determined character. The
Marquesas Islands afford corroborative proof that war
is frequent in countries where the communities are
separated. They are very mountainous, and the
inhabitants have become local in their ideas, and
jealous in their disposition. In Tonga, on the other
hand, there are few mountains, and it is well known
that, in former days, the Tongans were not lovers of
war. The Maoris were great fighters, and cannibals
as well. Again, the Caribs, whose name gives us the
term cannibalism, were fierce and warlike.1 Alexander
reports the same of the Hervey Islanders.2 The
Hervey Islanders were cannibals.
In Fijian warfare, the characteristic mode of assault
was not to be found in hand-to-hand conflict. In
harmony with his general system of life, the native
resorted to trickery and ambush ; and if any other
way could be found by which an enemy might be
conquered he would never fight. One of his methods
1 Tylor, " Primitive Culture," vol. i, p. 30.
2" Islands of the Pacific," pp. 267-8.
xxii CANNIBALISM 235
of warfare was to cut off the water supply, and destroy
the gardens, of the foe. Fruit trees alone were the
exception. These were spared if possible. If an
opportunity were afforded them, the besieged would
retaliate in the same way. Much distress would thus
arise, for the people in the besieged town would be
prevented by the enemy from seeking food in the woods.
Sallies would be made at intervals with the object of
intimidating the investing forces, and perhaps a dead
body or two would be brought back. Finally, driven
by pangs of hunger, and goaded by motives of revenge,
they would cast aside their natural abhorrence for
human flesh, and, in mad desperation, make a feast of
the dead body. Be it understood that they were
already acquainted with the eating of various parts of
the human organism, but not from motives of hunger.
On this question, Westermarck is interesting. He
quotes the Talmud, " Commit a sin twice and you will
think it perfectly allowable,"1 and so the act of eating
human flesh for food, if repeated several times, would
gradually acquire a certain legitimate appearance, and
would become more highly favoured as war grew more
prevalent.
By association, a further development would take
place. If a man saw his deadly enemy in time of
comparative peace, his desire for revenge, having been,
in days gone by, closely connected with extreme
hunger, would suggest eating ; which suggestion
would gradually acquire strength according to its
1 Westermarck, " Origin of the Moral Ideas," p. 160.
236 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
frequency. Revenge thus becomes the dominant
motive in cannibalism. Consequently, one of the
worst insults that could be offered to a Fijian would
be to say, " I would like to eat you."
Revenge occupied a peculiarly large place in the
Fijian community. The people were bitterly vindictive.
This is curious when we contrast their past with their
present temperament. In these days no more affable,
generous race could be found. Yet Dr. Fison is able
to record the following words, which are quoted by
Dr. Codrington. They constitute a prayer for ven-
geance offered by a Fijian. " Let those that speak
evil of us perish. Let the enemy be clubbed, swept
away, utterly destroyed, piled up in heaps. Let their
teeth be broken, may they fall headlong into a pit.
Let us live and let our enemies perish." x
The desire for vengeance became an inherent part
of the Fijian's nature, and was increased constantly
by ever-fermenting tribal wars. This fact is noticed
by Tylor — " The rancorous hatred between neigh-
bouring tribes keeps savages in ceaseless fear and
trouble."2 The Fijian never forgot an insult paid
him by a member of another tribe, although he might
have to wait years for the accomplishment of his
purpose.
There is a unique element in the history of Fijian
revenge which should not be overlooked. It has
already been made clear that the natural life of the
1 Codrington, " Melanesian Anthropology and Folklore," p. 147.
2 " Anthropology, " p. 416.
xxn CANNIBALISM 237
clan and family is kindly enough. But it often hap-
pened that, in tribal wars, brothers and relatives were
separated and opposed to each other in battle, on
account of the distracting influences of marital con-
nections. Not only so, but brothers sometimes grew
up to hate one another as rivals for chiefly power.
I quote a statement illustrating the foregoing from
Dr. Fison's " Tales from Old Fiji."1 " Dhadha-
veitadhini signifies murderous hate between brother
and brother." In the days of polygamy, sons of equal
rank by different mothers were natural rivals. The
mothers had from the birth of the children fostered
this deadly feeling of antipathy. And from the time
the children were able to think, they were scheming to
murder one another. It is reported by Dr. Fison
that, when Dhakombau and Raivalita were unbrotherly
rivals, the former sprang out from behind a house, and
seized Raivalita, crying out at the same time to two of
his followers, " Strike." They struck, and Raivalita
fell. The dying man recovered consciousness, and
looking up, saw Dhakombau standing with a triumphant
smile upon his face. Raivalita thereupon partially
raised himself, and clutching a handful of bloody dust,
threw it in his brother's face with a curse as he fell
back and died.
A similar bitter hate was often engendered between
father and son, uncle and nephew. The natural
fountain of love and respect was broken up, and}
instead of the sweet waters of harmony, a great flood
1 " Tales from Old Fiji," Intro, p. xxxiii.
238 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
of horrible hate and venomous rage flowed over the
family and tribal life.
To sum up, the desire for vengeance in the Fijian
breast has been most intensely developed by (a) con-
stant tribal war lengthened out by repeated insult and
injury, and (b) malignant hatred which sprang up
between rival relatives and chiefs.
As noted above, the desire so caused was
strengthened by intense hunger in times of siege,
amongst a people who already knew from ages past
the superstitious custom of eating portions of the
human body, for the sake of the energy supposed to
reside therein. Considering the strength of the motive
passions, it would be no great step to the eating of
human flesh for food. An appetite would be created
which could easily be aroused again even in times of
peace, in view of the fact that the desire for vengeance
is one of the most persistent passions of human nature.
And especially the appetite would be excited in the
native at the sight of his bitter enemy, on account of
the close association originally formed between hunger
and revenge in times of siege.
Finally, the horrible custom was systematised.
Certain utensils were used for cannibal feasts alone,
such as pots and forks. Also, particular ceremonies
were monopolised by it. A fearful drum-beat was
evolved, which, by the way, is sometimes used even
now when the turtle is captured. Weird and revolting
chants were composed, and all great occasions were
marked by the presentation of a human body. Dis-
xxii CANNIBALISM 239
crimination as to victims became more defined, and
inferior tribes forbore to eat the members of the more
chiefly tribes, and some clans were looked upon as the
proper food of their superiors. Women were generally
excluded from the feasts.
One more word in respect of the custom remains to
be said. Offerings of the slain were made to cannibal
gods. How did these gods become cannibals ? The
answer is that if the gods acquired an appetite for
human flesh it could only have happened after the
appetite of the people had been to some extent formed.
Let it be remembered that priests were recipients of
gifts to the gods ; and it is but natural that they should
so conduct their religious ceremonies that the gods'
share of the gruesome repast should be allotted to
themselves. Such a matter was simple enough. It
was sufficient to spread a report that the god would be
angry if his supply were not forthcoming. The god's
appetite was a reflection of the abnormal desire of his
devotees, and the priest was the interested custodian
of it.
The conclusion that we have come to shows that the
unnatural growth was a result of definite circumstances
in the social and material environment of the Fijian.
We who have lived in Fiji have reason to believe, from
the evidence which is to be seen in Fijian society to-day,
that, if circumstances be changed, the appetite caused
by them dies away also. These people, like the
Tongans, are heartily ashamed of their past evil habits.
The Mbauans, who were the worst of all in their desire
240 FIJIAN SOCIETY chap.
for human flesh, are exceedingly humiliated if visitors
are shown, in their presence, the stone upon which the
cannibal victims used to be dashed before being placed
in the oven. The recurrence of anthropophagy is
therefore quite improbable, so long as the present
regime is continued.
Our study of the Fijian is for the time being at an
end. At present old things are passing away and all
things are being made new. The discussion has been
chiefly of things that have been, and of such things as
are resultant from, or typical of, the past. Here and
there references have been made to the new order of
things, and we are conscious that with a changing
society, a new character is being formed in the Fiji
islander. He is in a stage of transition, and is
extremely liable to be overcome by the temptations
and dangers of the period. The dangers are to be seen
in the possibility of extinction, arising from indulgence
in vices unknown to the native before, vices which are
peculiar to civilisation. We are also aware that lassitude
and laziness may yet prove fatal to many both in
social life and moral character. Disintegration of
classes is also surely setting in ; for gradually there is
coming into view a richer and a poorer class, a law-
breaking and a law-abiding class, and a religious as
against a sceptic section of the community. What the
outcome will be, not even the keenest mind can
positively assert. During the last seven years the
population has been gradually increasing except
xxn CANNIBALISM 241
during the influenza outbreak of 191 9. Further, a
reaction against the communal bonds is in evidence.
Companies for the production and sale of the fruits of
the soil make sporadic appearances and then lose
energy. That the people are not inherently lazy
seems to be proven by the fact that the contingent of
natives sent to France did good work behind the lines,
also by the achievements of a few who have been able
to cut aloof from the commune. With a good govern-
ment, and wise teaching, both of the moral and spiritual
kinds, they will probably survive in the long run.
If they eventually die away, the Fijians will not have
lived wholly in vain. For during the past fifty years
some good, noble, and clean men have been produced,
who have had a worthy object in life. Some choice
spirits have been found, free from avarice and self-
seeking, who, considering the pit from which they were
dug, have given estimable lives and characters to the
service of their fellows. And what more could be
said of the best of us ?
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FIJI
Compiled by Mr. P. S. Allen in the " Handbook of the Pacific,"
and printed here by his courtesy.
All those marked with an asterisk deal with the ethnology of the
Fijian People. Most of the books mentioned are in the Mitchell
Library, Macquarie St., Sydney, N.S.W.
Adams, Emma H. " Jottings from the Pacific ; Life and Incidents
in the Fijian and Samoan Islands." Oakland, Cal. : Pacific
Press Co., 1890.
Allen, Percy S. (Editor). " Cyclopedia of Fiji." Sydney :
McCarron, Stewart and Co., Ltd., 1907.
(American Claims.) See appendix to later editions of Williams and
Calvert's " Fiji and the Fijians."
Anderson, J. W. " Notes of Travel in Fiji and New Caledonia."
London : Ellisen and Co., 1880.
Arthur, William. " What is Fiji ? " London : Hamilton,
Adams and Co., 1859.
Aylmer, (Captain) Fenton. " Fiji " (in his " Cruise in the
Pacific "), i860.
(Brett.) " Brett's Guide to Fiji," edited by H. C. Thurston.
Auckland: H. Brett, 1881.
Britton, H. " Fiji in 1870." Letters of The Argus special
correspondent, with a map and gazetteer of the Fijian Archi-
pelago. Melbourne : Samuel Mullen, 1870.
Burnett, Frank. " Fiji " (in his " Through Tropic Seas "), 1910
Burton, (Rev.) J. W. " The Fiji of To-day." London : C. H.
Kelly, 1 910.
" Fiji " (in his " Call of the Pacific "), 1912.
♦Calvert, (Rev.) James and Rev. T. Williams. " Fiji and the
Fijians." Two vols. London : A. Heylin, 1858. New York :
Appleton and Co., 1859. Revised edition in one vol., with
introduction by Miss Gordon Cumming. London : C. H.
Kelly, 1885.
(Calvert.) For life of Rev. James Calvert, see G. Stringer Rowe.
»43 R 2
244 BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Ceres.) " The Fiji Islands, with Maps ; Commercially considered
as a Field for Emigration." Melbourne: Sands and McDougall,
1869.
(Cession.) Message from Sir John Young, Governor of New South
Wales, to the chiefs, declining, on the part of Her Majesty's
Government, the offer of the Cession of the Sovereignty of the
Fiji Islands ; and Colonel Smythe's report on same subject.
See appendix, Mrs. Smythe's " Ten Months in the Fiji Islands " ;
also Moss's and de Ricci's books.
(Colony of Fiji.) " Handbook." Suva, 1912.
Cooper, H. Stonehewer. " Fiji " (in his " Coral Lands and the
Islands of the Pacific "), 1880, 1882, and 1888.
" Our New Colony, Fiji ; its History, Progress and Resources."
London : Mortgage and Agency Co., 1882.
Coote, Walter. " Fiji " (in his " Western Pacific "), 1883.
Cumming, (Miss) C. F. Gordon. " At Home in Fiji." London :
Blackwood and Sons, 1884.
Deane, (Rev.) W. " The Strange Adventures of a Whale's Tooth .'
a Missionary Story of Fiji for Young People." Sydney : The
Methodist Book Depot, 1919.
(Decrease of Population.) Report of the Commission appointed
to inquire into the Decrease of the Native Population. Suva :
Government Printer, 1896.
Des Vceux, (Sir) G. Williams. " Fiji " (in his " My Colonial
Service "), 1903.
Dewar, J. Cumming. " Fiji " (in his " Voyage of the Nyanza ")
1892.
Erskine, Captain J. B. " Fiji " (in his " Western Pacific "), 1853.
Eykyn, J. (See " A Peripatetic Parson.")
(Federation.) " Federation of Fiji with New Zealand," reprint of
articles from Fiji Times. Suva : G. F. Griffiths, 1901.
Festetics de Tolna, (Count) Rodolph. " Fiji " (in his " Chez
les Cannibales "), 1903.
*Fison, (Rev.) Lorimer. " Tales from Old Fiji." London : De La
More Press, 1904.
Forbes, Litton. " Two Years in Fiji." London : Longmans,
Green and Co., 1875.
Gaggin, John. " Old Levuka," etc. (in his " Among the Man-
Eaters "), 1900.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 245
(Gazetteer.) See Britton's " Fiji in 1870."
Girard, Jules. "La Colonisation Anglo-Saxonne aux lies Fidji."
Paris, 1874.
Gordon, (Sir) Arthur. " Letters and Notes Written during the
Disturbances in the Highlands (known as the ' Devil Country ')
of Viti Levu, Fiji," 1876. (Two vols.) Edinburgh: R. and
R. Clark, 1879.
Gordon Cumming, Miss. See Cumming.
Grimshaw, Beatrice. " From Fiji to the Cannibal Islands."
London : Geo. Bell and Sons, 1907.
" Fiji " (in her " Three Wonderful Nations "), 1910.
Guppy, (Dr.) H. B. " Vanua Levu, a Description of the Leading
Physical and Geological Characters " (in his " Observations of
a Naturalist in the Pacific "), 1903.
Hall, D. B., and Osborne, Lord Albert. " Fiji " (in their
" Sunshine and Surf "), 1901.
Horne, John. " A Year in Fiji ; an Inquiry into the Botanical,
Agricultural, and Economical Resources of the Colony." London :
Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode, and published by E.
Stanford, 1881.
Lady, A. (Mrs. Wallis.) " Life in Feejee, or Five Years among the
Cannibals." Boston : W. Heath, 1851.
La Farge, John. " Fiji " (in his " Reminiscences of the South
Seas "), 1914.
Lucas, (Dr.) T. P. " Cries from Fiji." Melbourne : Dunn and
Collins (no date).
Macdonald, John Denis. " Exploration of the Rewa River and
its Tributaries." Paper read before the Royal Geographical
Society of London, 1857.
Marin, Aylie. " Fiji " (in his " En Oceanie "), 1888.
M.A.T.E. " Fiji of To-day." Sydney : G. Robertson and Co.,
1886.
Moss, Frederick J. " Old Fiji, With an Account of Cakobau's
Reign and the Proclamations and Government Gazettes in
connection therewith " (in his " Through Atolls and Islands "),
1889.
" A Planter's Experience in Fiji." Auckland : Jones and
Tombs, 1870.
Parr, W. F. " The Bane of Sir Arthur Gordon's Disingenuous
Utterances and the Antidote of the Fiji Times Editorial Com-
ments and Exposure." Sydney : Gibbs Shallard and Co., 1883.
246 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Peripatetic Parson, A. (J. Eykyn.) " Fiji " (in his " Parts of the
Pacific"), 1896.
Reeves, Edmund. " Fiji " (in his " Brown Men and Women "),
1898.
Ricci, J. H. de. " Fiji : Our New Province in the South Seas."
London : Edward Stanford, 1875.
♦Rivers, W. H. R. " Fiji " (in his " History of Melanesian Society")
1914.
♦Romilly, Hugh H. " Fiji " (in his " Western Pacific "), 1886 and
1893-
Ross, C. Stewart. " Fiji and the Western Pacific." Geelong
(Vic.) : H. Thacker, 1909.
Rowe, G. Stringer. " James Calvert of Fiji." London, 1893.
Russell, (Rev.) M. " Introduction of Christianity into Fiji " (in
his " Polynesia "), 1853.
Scholes, S. E. " Fiji and the Friendly Isles." London : T.
Woolmer.
(Seddon.) " The Right Hon. R. J. Seddon's Visit to Tonga, Fiji,
Savage Islands, and the Cook Islands." Wellington : Govern-
ment Printer, 1900.
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Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands in 1860-61." Cambridge :
Macmillan and Co., 1862.
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and Appendix by Colonel W. J. Smythe." Oxford and London :
John Henry and James Parker, 1864.
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1883.
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1897).
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♦Thomson, Basil. " The Fijians, a Study of the Decay of Custom."
London, 1908.
Thomson, J. P. " Island of Kadavu." Scottish Geographical
Magazine, December, 1889.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 247
Thomson, J. P. " The Land of Viti." Scottish Geographical Magazine,
March, 1894.
Union Steamship Company. " A Cruise in the Islands — Tonga,
Samoa, Fiji," 1895.
" Three Wonderful Nations — Tonga, Samoa, Fiji " (by Beatrice
Grimshaw), 1910.
Walker, H. Wilfred. " Fiji " (in his " Wanderings among South
Sea Savages), 1909.
Wallis, Mrs. See A Lady.
*Waterhouse, (Rev.) Joseph. " The Kings and People of Fiji."
London : Wesleyan Conference Office, 1866.
Watsford, (Rev.) John. " My Life and Work in Fiji and Aus-
tralia." London : C. H. Kelly, 1901.
Webb, (Rev.) A. J. " The History of Fiji," with an Appendix by
F. P. Winter. Sydney, 1885.
Whetham, J. W. Boddam. " Fiji " (in " Pearls of the Pacific "),
1876.
♦Williams, (Rev.) Thomas and Rev. James Calvert. " Fiji and
the Fijians." Two vols. London : A. Heylin, 1858. New
York : Appleton and Co., 1859. Revised edition in one vol.,
with introduction by Miss Gordon Cumming. London : C. H.
KeUy, 1885.
Wilkes, (Admiral) Charles. " Fiji " (in his " Narrative of the
United States Exploring Expedition "), 1845.
To which the Author adds : —
Bennett, W. E. (in "A Century in the Pacific," edited by James
Colwell).
♦Corney, B. S. " Certain Mutilations practised by Natives of the
Viti Islands." Aust. Assoc, for Adv. of Science, vol. ii., 1890.
*Fison, (Dr.) L. " Land Tenure in Fiji." Journ. of Anthrop.
Inst., 1881.
" The Nanga," 1884.
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♦Hocart, A. M. (in " Man," 1913, 1914. I9I5-)
American Anthropologist, 1915.
Journ. of Anthrop. Inst., ig1^ I9J3-
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*Im Thurn, (Sir) E. F. " Address to Anthropological Section of
British Association for the Advancement of Science." Medical
Journ. of Aust., 1914.
♦Lindt, J. W. " Fire Ordeal at Beqa." Royal Geog. Soc. of Aust.,
1893.
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INDEX
INDEX
Afiti, witches of, 32
After-life, belief in, 41
Ai mbtilumbulu, 81
Ai ringurhigu, 80
Ai rdnggordnggo, 80
Ancestor-worship, 4, 38, 39 ff.
Andi ni Wdimardu, 71
Animism, 39 ff.
Aryans, megalithic, 1
B
Baker, Rev. Thos., 81, 83
Banks' Island, spirit possession in,
36
Berkeley, Mr. H., on Nggdlongga-
Idvi, 82
Bread-fruit, 211
British Guiana, spirits in, 27
Brown, Prof. Macmillan, on Oriental
lying, 135
— on cannibalism, 224
Calvert, Mrs., 84
Cannibalism, 223 ff.
— amongst the gods, 239
— ancient practice of, 223
— drum-beat of, 203, 238
— flesh hunger theory, 231-2
— Mbauans ashamed of, 239-40
— simple hunger theory, 230-31
— sympathetic magic in, 223-6
— utensils of, 238
— women excluded from, 239
Chiefs,
— as leaders, 104-8, 111-12
— change of attitude in, 8
Fijian Society.
Chiefs,
— failure of, 113
— feasts offered to, 209
— status of, 7
— terms of respect to, 94-6
— their power to confiscate goods,
119
— titles of, 90-91
Children,
— birth of, 10 ff.
— birthday gift of, 11-12
— entrance into house of, 12
— feeding of, 11
— firstborn, 13
— mortality of, 10
— new, 13
— of Mbauan chiefs, 10
— superstitions about, 155-6
— vomiting, 13
Christianity, triumph of, 139
Christians and superstition, 163-4
Circus acrobats, 36
Clubs, as symbols, 75
Cocoa-nuts, as symbols, 72
Communism, lack of initiative and
incentive under, 109 ff.
Conscience, Fijian words for, 142
Conus Marmoreus, as symbol, 74
Crane, as travelling sign, 153-4
D
Dead, gifts to the, 40, 43, 44
DhadhavHtadhini, 237
Dhakaundrove, chiefs of, 45, 93
Dhakombau, 64, 104, 112
DMva, as charm, 76
Dholo, dark skin of natives in, 8
Diet, articles of, 210 ff.
— coastal and interior, 213
Dreams, 41
Duk Duk society, 35
251
252
INDEX
Etiquette, 130 ff.
— in yanggdna-dxmking, 134, 157-8
Fish- traps, 172-3
Fison, Dr. L., on cannibalism, 225,
231, 236
Food-prohibitions, 219-22
Feasts, 207 ff.
— Mangiti ni yavdu, 20
— Mb&ngitini, 12
— Tdvundiki, 13
— Tiinundrd, 12
Fiji, union of Polynesian and
Melanesian in, 1-4
— population in, 228
Fijians,
— Christianised, 11 3-1 5
— confessions of, 144
— courtesy of, 130 ff.
— crime rare amongst, 146-7
— curiosity of, 24
— dependence on superiors, 103
— diplomacy of, 136
— early character of, 146
— environment and mentality of,
98 ff.
— eschatology of, 116-18
— fear in, 25 ff.
— fear in Christian, 26-7
— ingenuity of, 182
— interdependent spirit of, 102-3,
106
— lack of an ideal, no
— lack of wonder in, 24-5
— laxity of, 124
— lying of, 135-9, 140 ff.
— obedience to chiefs of, 106-7, IIX
— revenge and cannibalism among,
233 ff-
— self-control of, 2
— sense of shame in, 143
— voluble in preaching, 114
— wealth of, 122
— work in numbers, 101-2, 106
Fish-fence, 174
Fishing,
— bait in, 172-3
— carried on by clans, 166-7
— carried on by women, 167 ff.
— superstitions connected with,
167-8, 169, 170-74, 177-9, 181
— use of oil in, 169
— use of spear in, 168
Games,
— a dhiri, 18
— drawing the reed, 17
— hiding the shell, 17
— Idvo, 16
— - tupe, 17
— v&itingga, 15
Ghosts, obsession by, 44
H
Halley's comet, as sign, 153
Hervey Islands, war in, 228, 234
Hocart, Mr. A. M., on Vdsu, 6 n.
Images in Dholo, 70
— superstition about, 71
Initiation ceremonies, 18 ff.
— of circumcision, 19
— luva mdsi, 19
— of tattooing women, 23
— of Vdkamdsi, 19
— of Vdkatdkayddha, 21-3
— of Waimar6u clan, 18
Ironggele, 191
Javan Murex, as symbol, 74
Jevons, Proi. F. B., on taboo, 125-6
K
Kaisi, 8
Kaldu Vu, 39, 40. 45 ff-, 58 ff.
— connected by marriage, 62
— priest of, 58
Kaldu Vu vdta, 59, 60
INDEX
253
Kalou Vu vdta as clan-bond, 100
— discussion on, 6ik.
— instances of, 59-60
Kandavu, confinement of women
in, 11
— etiquette in, 132
— rock at, 38
— superstition in, 152, 155
— tests after death in, 117
— turtle-fishing in, 176, 180
Kandavu Levu, Ratu, 153
Kdto tdmbu, 177
Kdva, as symbol, 75
— as lustration, 76
Kdwa, 172-3
Kir&kiri, 120-23
— amusing instances of, 122-3
— evil effect of, 120-21, 123
KiviMvl, 12, 13
Kuila, 191
Lakemba, rocks at, 37-S
Ldla, 104 ff.
— cause of trouble, 105
— personal, 105
Ldli, 191, 196 ff.
Land, as property of clan, 118
— disputes over, 58
Langham, Rev. F., 69
Ldsu, 140
Lau, chiefly language in, 94-6
Ldwa Dhirt, 185
Ldwa ni mbaldlo, 1S4
Ldwa Sukdu, 186
Leweti, rock at, 53
Lila mbaldvu, 228
Ltivi ni Wai, 32
— guild of, 34-5
— obsession by, 35-6
— secrecy of, 34, 35,
Lyth, Mrs., 84
M
Madhuata, animal-worship in, 30
— cannibalism in, 227
— spirit-worship in, 34
— superstition in, 151
Mdna, 4, 87-8
Mandrdi vtindi, 51
Mdnumdnu ni SingalSvu, 33
Maoris, cannibalism amongst the,
226, 234
Mardma, 91
— Polynesian use of, 93
Marquesas Islands, cannibalism in,
227
— war in, 234
Mdsi, as symbol, 72 ff.
— as turban, 73
— doffing, 73
— in installation of chief, 73
Mataiasi Vavi, 164
Mdtanggdli, 100 ff.
— at work, 101-2
— boycott by, 103
Mdta ni vamia, 73, 160, 196
Matriarchate in Kandavu, 12
— in Vanua Levu, 3
Mba, ndrdunikdu in, 164
— superstition in, 151
Mbau, descent through mother at, 3
— etiquette in, 132 ff.
— food-prohibition in, 219-20
— sacred stone at, 65
— signs of grief in, 193
Mbengga, god of, 30, 32
Mbdseyawd, 67-8
Mbukete vdtu, 94
Mbure, 20
Messengers, 195-6
Meteors, as signs, 153
Mddhdmddhd, 12, 13
Mothers, bathing of, 14
— salute of, 15
N
Naidhombodhombo, warriors from,
48
Nainggoro, ferry at, 43, 50
Nakasaleka, 51
Nak6rosule, stone-god of, 67-8
Nambukelevu, 42, 48, 51
Namiisi, Rewa god at, 67
Nangga, the, 40-41
Nangganangga, 117
Narik6so, rock at, 53-4
Nassau. Dr., 137
Naus6ri, superstition in, 151-2
Ndaudht'na, 32
Ndawani, Tanovu's slide at, 54
Ndengei, 39, 63-4, 226
— in form of snake, 64
— tatdu of, 42
Ndrdunikdu, 161-5
Nets, netting, net-making, 169 ff-,
182 ff.
254
INDEX
o
Omens, 28, 152. ff.
Ono, Nddlinddli at, 56
Orion, 29
Osiris, 91
Owl, as sign, 31, 160
Patriarchate, in Viti Levu, 3
Property, personal, 1 18-19
Puddings, Fijian, 214 ff.
Stars,
— Aldebaran, 29
— Corona Australis ; Na L6vo, 29
— Hyades ; Na Lddha, 29
— Milky Way, 30
— Orion ; Na hi, 29
— Pleiades ; Na tdrawdu ; Soso
tdrawdu, 29
— shooting, 29-30, 153
— Southern Cross ; Na Nga, 29
Stewart, Mr. J., his opinion of
K&rekirb, 120, 122
Superstitions, 149 ff.
Susu, 172
R
Ra, 91
— Polynesian use of, 93
Ra, superstition in, 156
Rahu, 92
Rajah, 92
Rama, 92
Rameses, 92
Ranee, 92
Rewa, etiquette in, 132
— superstition in, 150, 151
— vHmbatiki in, 221
R6i, as symbol, 74-5
R6ho, 93
Rtisa, 172
Rycroft, Rev. H. R., on canni-
balism, 225
Sabbath, magical character of,
128-9
Sdki, 184
Sdla ni Ydlo, 43
Sdra, 175
Saulile, 185-6
Savage, Charles, 228
Sex question, 147-8
Sharks' teeth as ornaments, 78
Signs and omens, 152 ff.
Sika ni Idwa, 183
Snakes, superstitions about, 154
Spirit-worship, 31 ff.
— lack of ritual in, 33
— Liive ni Wai, 32, 34, 35, 36
Taboo, 125 ff.
— as preparation for development
of character, 125-6
— kinds of, 125
— lack of ethics in, 125
— religious aspect of, 128
Tahiti, chiefs in, 93-4
Tdma, 131
Tamdta ndina, 35
Tambua, 76, 77 ff.
— as heirloom, 87
— brought to Fiji, 86
— ceremony of presenting, 87
— general uses of, 79 ff.
— origin of, 77-8
— the death tambua, 83
Tanoa, 84
Tanovu, 39-40, 47^.
— kitu of, 47-8
— sharpening stone of, 55
— slingstone of, 55
— wives of, 48-9, 56
Tardki, 184-5, l&9
Tdrawdu, 29, 84
Tatdu, the, 41
Tautaumolau, 48-51
Tawdkb, 1 9 1-3
Tingga, 16
Tod, 16
Toga virilis, 73
Tonga, chiefs in, 93, 94
Tdra, 74
Totemism, 30
Tuninddu, 176—9
Turtle, fishing for, 175 ff.
— killing the, 181
Turtle-net, making the, 186-9
INDEX
255
Vdkadhda tawdki, dance of, 192-3
Vdkarordngo, 104
Vambea, Tanovu's army at, 52
Vaniia Levu, absence of legend in,
2-3
— matriarchate in, 3
Vdsu, and matriarchate and patri-
archate, 4-7
— the first, 7
— of Heaven, 5
VHmbatiki, 221
Verata, food-prohibition at, 221
— signals in, 193
— superstition in, 151
— viimbatiki at, 221
Virgins, 195
Vudka ni Veikdu, 31
Vunikaldu, 19-20, 21, 22
Vunivdlu, 229
Viitu, 34
Viiya, 33
W
Willcox, Lieut., 137
Williams, Rev. Thos., on canni-
balism, 232
Ydka, 183-4
Yauravu, grave offerings at, 40
Ydva ni lawa, 183-4
Yanggdna, chewing of, 20
— etiquette of drinking, 134, 157-8
— superstitions concerning, 157-60
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