They Then Unwound The "Tapa" From Their
Bodies And Threw It In A Heap On The Ground, Following This By More
Manoeuvres.
About twenty men came into the square, some with their
faces blacked and their bodies stained red with some pigment, and
wearing only aprons of coconut strings, with bracelets of leaves on
their arms and carved pigs' tusks hanging from their necks.
They went
through some splendid dancing, falling down on the ground and bouncing
up again like india-rubber balls. They sang, or rather chanted, all the
time, and so did a kind of chorus of men who beat on wood and bamboo,
while the dancers danced round them in circles, and squares, and then
bent backward, nearly touching the ground with their heads. As they
danced they kept splendid time, with their arms, legs and heads.
Then amid shrill yells and cries from the crowd, another procession
approached from the far end of the village in single file. First came
several men with spears, which they shook on the ground every now and
then, shaking their bodies at the same time in a fierce manner. Behind
them in single file came a lot of women, each bearing a. rolled-up
mat, which they threw down in a heap. These mats are made from the
dried "pandanus" leaf. Then several men appeared bearing enormous Fiji
baskets full of large rolls of food wrapped up in leaves, also smaller
baskets made of the fresh leaves of the crimson DRACAENA, also full of
food. From the enormous number of baskets, the food supply was enough
to feed a large multitude. They were all put down together by the mats.
Then there was dead silence, in which you could almost have heard
the proverbial pin drop, and an oldish man stepped forward and stood
by the mats and baskets, his body wound round with "tapa" till it
stuck out many feet from his body. The crowd broke silence with an
ear-piercing yell. He then spoke, and was interrupted from time to time
with cries of approval or the reverse, and sometimes loud laughter,
while the "Buli," sitting by me, every now and then shouted out,
or broke into a childish giggle. Then the speaker uttered a lot
of short sentences very fast, and every one present said "Venaka"
(good) at the end of each sentence. Then the old man unwound the
"tapa" around him and threw it on the mats, as did others.
Silence again, and I began to think all was over, but suddenly there
was another shrill sort of yell from the crowd, and from the back of
our hut, amid a tremendous uproar from all present and the beating of
"lalis" (drums), appeared a procession of about fifty warriors in their
usual picturesque get-up, all brandishing large war-clubs. They paraded
into the square in very stately fashion, singing in their curious and
savage discords, and then went through some grand dances, keeping
wonderful time with their clubs and bodies, and from time to time
giving forth a loud yell which was really thrilling.
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