One Day, When They Had Chanted After A Meal As Usual, Ratu Lala Turned
Around To Me And Mimicked The Way His Jester Or Clown Repeated It,
And There Was A General Laugh.
This jester, whose name was Stivani,
was a little old man who was also jester to Ratu Lala's father.
Ratu
Lala had given him the nickname of "Punch," and made him do all
sorts of ridiculous things - sing and dance and go through various
contortions dressed up in bunches of "croton" leaves. He kept us all
much amused, and was the life and soul of our party, but at times I
caught the old fellow looking very weary and sad, as if he was tired
of his office as jester.
The "angona" root (PIPER METHYSTICUM) is first generally pounded,
but is sometimes grated, and more rarely chewed by young maidens. It
is then mixed with water in a large wooden bowl, and the remains of
the root drawn out with a bunch of fibrous material. It is then ready
for drinking.
On gala and festal occasions the Fijians were wonderfully and
fantastically dressed up, their huge heads of hair thickly covered
with a red or yellow powder, and they themselves wearing large skirts
or "sulus" of coloured "tapa" and PANDANUS ribbons and necklaces of
coloured seeds, shells, and pigs'-tusks. In out-of-the-way parts the
"sulus" are still made of "tapa" cloth, and the women sometimes wear
small fibrous aprons. They also often wear wild pigs'-tusks round
their necks.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 23 of 217
Words from 6223 to 6477
of 59060
