The Inhabitants Did Not Seem To Mind This; In Fact,
They Seemed To Enjoy Our Visit, As It Was An Excuse For Big Feasts,
"Meke-Mekes" (Dances) And "Angona" Drinking.
One of the most enjoyable expeditions that I made with Ratu Lala
was to Vuna, about twenty miles away to the south.
A small steamer,
the KIA ORA, which made periodical visits to the island to collect
the government taxes in copra, arrived one day in the bay. Ratu Lala
thought this would be a good opportunity for us to make a fishing
expedition to Vuna. We went on board the steamer while our large boat
was towed behind.
At the same time Ratu Lala's two little children, Moe and Tersi,
started off, in charge of Ratu Lala's Tongan wife and other women,
to be educated in Suva. It was the first time they had ever left home,
but I agreed with Ratu Lala, that it was time they went, as they did
not know a word of English, and, for the matter of that, neither did
his Tongan wife. When we all arrived at the beach to get into the
boat, we found a large crowd, chiefly women, sitting on the ground,
and as Ratu Lala walked past them, they greeted him with a kind of
salutation which they chanted as with one voice. I several times
asked him what it meant, but he always evaded the question somehow,
and seemed too modest to tell me. I came to the conclusion that it
ran something like "Hail, most noble prince, live for ever." The
next minute all the women started to howl as if at a given signal,
and they looked pictures of misery.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 25 of 217
Words from 6744 to 7028
of 59060
