Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/168

 138 FIJI AXD THE FIJIAXS. erallj the women suffer little in parturition, and the aid of a native midwife is rarely needed, and, when given, is rather injurious than oth- erwise. A wide difference exists between the observances of Tongan and Fijian women at this time. The Tongan mother, on the birth of a child, gets up directly, and bathes in some pond or river, and, on her return, eats freely of food : if fish, poultry, or pork is provided, so much the better. Fijians profess to keep the house a few days, and some lie at their ease a full month. They are forbidden the free use of animal food and fish for a long time, being well supjDlied with vegetables ; un- ripe bananas and greens being esteemed excellent for women at this time. A Tongan babe is anointed with oil and turmeric, and fed with old cocoa-nut chewed, the juice being passed from the mouth of the nurse into that of the child. This continues until the mother is fit to nurse. The Fijian infant is kept from the mother three days, and is suckled by another woman, or fed with sugar-cane juice, administered in the way just described. It also receives a coating of oil and turmeric. It is an ill-omen if a child does not cry soon after it is born ; and the male child born in the day-time is expected to prove a great warrior. The Fijian father must celebrate the birth of a child by making a feast ; and, if it is the first-born, sports follow, in one of which the men imitate on each other's bodies the tattooing of the women. The name of this feast is a tunudra, and seems to regard the woman rather than the child. Friends seek the place where the babe lies, and present love-tokens, receiving some presents in return. On Vanua Levu, the woman's friends plait small mats, measuring about two feet by one, for the mother to nurse her babe upon. Tlie name of the visit imports that the women will take the child in their arms ; and those who do so always kiss it. Next in order is the feast given at the falling off of the umbilical cord, which is sometimes buried, together with a cocoa-nut, to grow for the future use of the little stranger. A tribe on Yiti Levu take the food prepared on this occasion to the priest, who notifies the event to their god thus : " This is the food of the little child ; take knowledge of it, ye gods ! Be kind to him. Do not pelt him, or spit upon him, or seize him, but let him live to plant sugar-cane." Food is again made ready on the first bathing of the child, and there is another little feast on the event of its first turning over without help. The women seem fond of their offspring ; but an English mother finds it difficult to reconcile the thought of much affection, with so much dirt as is often allowed to collect on the child. The naming of the infant takes place very early, sometimes before birth, but generally within two or three days after. Longer delay