Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/115

 THE PEOPLE. 89 The islands named as the most favoured abodes of the muses are Nairai and Thikombia-i-ra : on the former a man, and on the latter a woman, is blessed with the spirit of poesy — a poesy most difficult to define or describe, and which refuses to come within even the widest signification to which that much abused term is often stretched. The accounts which the poets give of themselves and their productions is amusing. They say that, while asleep, they visit the world of spirits, where a poetic divinity teaches them a poem, while, at the same time, they learn a dance corresponding to the song. The heaven-taught minstrels then return to their mundane home, and communicate the new acquisition to their friends, by whom, on their trading or festive visits, it is spread far and wide through every town and island. No alteration i^ ever made in the meTce — a word applied indifferently to both song and dance — however the language may differ from the dialect of the people among whom it is introduced : hence the natives are often ignorant of the meaning of many of their most popular songs, and express surprise if any one should expect them to understand them. The privilege of visiting the spirit-world is said by some to be hereditary. But there are many composers in Fiji who lay no claim to this distinction, but whose productions are nevertheless quite equal to those of the more honoured bards. These are generally a detailing of common events, varied with an occasional episode of fiction. Metre and rhyme are both aimed at, but neither secured with invariable success. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the natives judge of the merit of a composition by the uniformity of metre throughout, and the regularity with which each line in a stanza ends with the two same vowels. The great difficulty of such style is partly removed by the plentiful use of expletives, abbreviated or prolonged words, the omission of articles, or other most free poetic licence ; but a stanza of any length is rarely completed without some change of rhyme. Fre- quently the first of the two vowels is dropped, and the rhyme sustained with the last only. The best specimen I have seen, was the production of a youth under my own care at Tiliva : it contained eighteen lines, each of which, without th3 use of expletives, ended in the diphthong au. One example from the Fijian Hades is rhymed by a consonant fol- lowed with the vowel a ; this fails in four lines. Some mehes are in triplets. Fijian poems may be divided into dirges, serenades, wake- songs, war-songs, and hymns for the dance. The last class is most numerous, and includes many th t might be termed historic. In legendary songs, the native love for exaggeration is freely indulged. One, for instance, tells of a crab so large that it grasped in its claw