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were being vigorously sounded to summon the people to the feast.
Subsequently the old king shook himself together, came out from
the hut, and standing in the open surrounded by a large and
picturesque assemblage of his subjects, and assisted by his three
big sons, distributed large rolls of “ tapa ” (native cloth made from
the inner bark of the paper mulberry) to several leading personages
of the strange tribe. These presents were valuable, for some
of these pieces of “ tapa ” measured eighty yards in length by
about one yard in width.
About two months before the time of our visit, there had been
a great fire at Bau, which destroyed and reduced to ashes about
one-third of the town, and compelled some of the inhabitants to
move over to the main island of Viti Levu. Among the buildings
destroyed by this fire was the great Bure Kalou, or native temple,
where even so recently as thirty years ago the great cannibal
feasts used to take place. Close to one angle of the square mass
of earthwork on which the temple was raised, we saw a stone slab
projecting from the ground in a nearly upright position. This
was one of the famous stones— incorrectly styled “ sacrificial ”
against which the unfortunate people who were to be cooked for
“ bakola ” (human meat) had their brains dashed out. This interesting
relic of cannibalism has not escaped the ravages of modern
vandalism, numerous fragments having been chipped off as curios.
Indeed, we were told that quite recently one of the white traders
of Levuka had been endeavouring to carry off this stone altogether,
with a view to making money by exhibiting it at Sydney
and such places.
We saw another and somewhat similar stone near the water
side, and close to the remains of the Bure Kalou of the tribe of
fishermen, where the bodies of prisoners of war, brought in by
the “ Lasikaus,” or fishermen, were landed and mutilated. The
upright slab was worn quite smooth on one side, presumably by
the friction of human heads.
Certain honeycombed slabs of coral here formed a pavement
of a few square yards in extent, and until recently it was usual
to find human teeth imbedded in the pores of the coral. They
have probably all been removed by curiosity hunters, for we
looked in vain for a single specimen.
In a few years hence the old Fijian double canoe (consisting
of two canoes placed side by side, and connected by a bridge)
will be seen no more ; but we were lucky in having an opportunity
of seeing one good specimen at Bau. It was hauled up
on a slip beneath a large thatched shed, and although by no
means one of the largest of its kind, yet it greatly exceeded my
expectations. The depth of hold was about five feet, so that
standing on the bottom of either canoe, my neck was just on a
level with the edge of the hatch, and the total length of each
canoe was 72 fe e t ; but what most surprised me was the enormous
size of the mast, which lay alongside the vessel. It was
about the size of the Alerts spanker boom. This canoe was
intended to carry 250 men, and I have no doubt it would hold
that number.
Single outrigger canoes are still largely used. We saw several
in course of construction on the small recessed slips which indented
the sea-wall of the island.
The genuine old native implements and weapons are now getting
very scarce, the demand for these articles in Lurope having created
a trade which has almost exhausted the supplies of the country.
I inquired for stone adzes, and, after some difficulty, obtained one,
for which I paid a shilling ; but on subsequently groping for myself
amongst the ruins of the burnt huts, I succeeded in finding several
perfect and imperfect specimens.
In the evening we witnessed the ceremony of angona drinking
in the king’s state residence, where our friend the Ratu Joe presided
on this occasion instead of his father. The performance
began with a long monotonous chant, which was maintained
alternately by an elderly man, who seemed to hold the office of
master of the ceremonies, and by a body of elderly men, amounting
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