Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/216

 186 FIJI AND THE nJIANS. gods, who are more powerful than their own, and likely to be angry if these got the turtles. One evening I walked with Tuikilakila to see a canoe which had been repaired, and was then to be launched. When she was fairly afloat, a shout was raised, and, each person present having picked up a good- sized stone, the house of the canoe was saluted with a smart shower of pebbles, to drive away the god of the carpenters, who had got posses- sion of it while under repair. Certain minerals and vegetables are dedicated to certain demons, but apparently in joke. A simple flower is called the hand-club of Eaula. Ked clay is given as a delicacy to another, and the blossom of .the boiboida, which smells horribly, is named as the favourite nosegay of Ramba. One remarkable religious observance remains to be noticed. Its practice is chiefly confined to youths of the male sex, and in it alone is observable a continuous attention to set forms. In some parts of the group it is known as Kalou rere^ and in others as Ndomindomi. Re- tired places near the sea are preferred for the performance of the cere- monies of this peculiar observance. A small house is built, and enclosed with a rustic trellis fence, tied at the crossings with a small-leafed vine. Longer poles are set up, with streamers attached. Within the enclosure, a miniature temple of slight fabric is constructed, and in it a consecrated nut or other trifle is placed. The roof of the main building is hung with man and scarfs of light texture. The wall is studded with the claws of crabs ; and, after the gods have come together, span-long yams, ready cooked, with painted cocoa-nuts, are disposed at its base, that they may eat and drink. The party occupying this house number twenty or thirty, and, while kept together by the ceremonies, this is their home. To allure the expected gods, they drum with short bam- boos, morning and evening, for several successive weeks. The " little gods " are called luve-ni-wai^ " children of the waters." !My list con- tains more than fifty of their names, and I believe it is incomplete. They are represented as wild or fearful, and as coming up from the sea. I knew one party who, to facilitate their ascent, built, for some dis- tance into the sea, a jetty of loose stones. When it is believed that the luve-ni-wai have left their watery dwelling, little flags are placed at certain inland passes, to stop any who might wish to change for the woods their abode in the sea. On the high day, an enclosure is formed by twelve-feet poles laid on the ground, and piled up to the height of a foot. These are wrapped with evergreens, and spears with streamers at the top are fixed in the four angles. A company of lads, painted and