Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/155

 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 127 message, singing, for the rest of his journey, " Tattoo the men, but not the women." And thus the Tongan Chiefs heard the report ; and thus it came to pass that the smart of the qia tooth was inflicted on the Tonga men, instead of their wives. Sleep and tobacco are among the leading comforts of the Fijian. He follows activity with slumber, from w^hich he hates to be aroused. Tobacco, though known only for about thirty years, is in such high fa- vour, that its use is all but universal, children as well as adults indulg- ing in it freely. The native method of smoking is decidedly social. A small cigarette, formed by folding leaf tobacco in a strip of dead banana leaf, is lit, and passed to four or six persons in succession. Having to swim across a river does not interrupt this transfer ; for the same cigar may be conveyed from one bank to the other in several indifferent mouths. The habit of smoking is strengthened by much leisure, to which may be attributed the filthy practice of eating the ver- min with which their heads are often largely stocked. Even this custom is put by the natives to the score of revenge, and many spare moments are devoted to it, the produce being shared between the capturer of the game and the owner of the preserve. Many of their vacant hours are filled up by the Fijians in sports some of which closely resemble the innocent games of English chil- dren ; such as " hide and seek," " blind-man's buff, " making " ducks and drakes," etc. Others are more boisterous ; as the veiyama, a sham fight among children ; the veimoli, pelting each other with bitter oranges ; wrestling, and the cere, or race, the runners being persons who have been employed in digging a garden, the 0"svner of which offers the prize — generally masi — for their competition. Mock battles are also fought, which sometimes become too real, and loss of life is the result. The swing supplies a favourite amusement to children and young people. It consists of a single cord, either a rope or a strong vine, sus- pended from a tree, and having at its lower end a loop in which to in- sert one foot, as in a stirrup, or a knot, on which both feet rest. Grasp- ing at a convenient height the cord, which varies in length from thirty to fifty feet, the swinger is set in motion, and rejoices to dash through the air, describing an arc that would terrify a European. A very great favourite is the game of veiieqi vutu, which consists in throwing the fruit of the vutu {^Barring tonia speciosa). This fruit is also used as floats for their nets. Veikalawanasari is a species of hop, skip, and jump. Lavo, a game at pitching the fruit of the walai (^Mimosa scandens).