Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/202

 172 FIJI AND THE FIJIAl^S. The names of some gods indicate their habits. Tlius, Tunambaxga is the adulterer. Ndauthina steals women of rank and beauty by iiitrht or torch-light. Kumbunavanua is the rioter; ^Ibatimona, the brain-eater ; Ravuravu, the murderer ; Mainatavasara, fresh from the cutting up or slaughter ; and a host besides of the same sort. Among the loYer order of gods, imagination finds less scope. These are generally described as men of superior mould and carriage, and bear a close analogy to the lares, lemures, and genii of the Romans. Their influence is of the same limited kind ; but they are never repre- sented by images, and have not always shrines. Admission into their number is easy, and any one may secure his own apotheosis who can insure the services of some one as his representative and priest after his decease. The rank of the gods below Ndengei is not easily ascertained, each district contending for the superiority of its o^vn divinity. Tokairambe and Tui Lakemba Randinandina seem to stand next to Ndengei, being his sons, and acting as mediators by transmitting the prayers of sup- pliants to their father. Ndengei's grand-children rank next, and, after them, more distant relations, and then " legion." Some of the gods confine their attention to this earth, the higher presiding over districts and islands, and the rest over tribes and families, their influence never reaching beyond their own special jurisdiction. Others, as Ravuyalo, Lothia, and some few more, find employment in Hades. Nearly every Chief has a god in whom he puts special trust ; and a few are of opinion that their god follows them wherever they go. Dif- ferent classes have their own tutelary deities. Rokova and Rokola are trusted in by the carpenters, and Roko Voua and Vosavakandua by the fishermen. The same deity is worshipped in different places by different names. Ratu Maimbulu of Mbau is known at Somosomo as. , Ratu Levu, and on Vanuambalavu and other places as Mai "Wakolotu. It has already been asserted that the Fijians are acquainted with idols properly so called ; but they reverence certain stones as shrines of the gods, and regard some clubs with superstitious respect, like the Scythians, who treated a scymitar as the symbol of their war-god. In addition to these, certain birds, fish, plants, and some men, are supposed to have deities closely connected with or residing in them. At La- kemba, Tui Lakemba, and on Yanua Levu, Ravuravu, claim the hawk as their abode ; Viavia, and other gods, the shark. One is supposed to inhabit the eel, and another the common fowl, and so on until nearly every animal becomes the shrine of some deity. He who worships the