At
Other Times They Would Run Them Down And Spear Them; This Was Hard
And Exciting Work, As I Myself Found On Several Occasions That I Went
Pig Hunting.
One of the most remarkable things that I saw in Taviuni,
from a sporting point of view, was the
Heart of a wild pig, which,
when killed, was found to have lived with the broken point of a
wooden spear fully four inches in length buried in the very centre
of its heart. It had evidently lived for many years afterwards,
and a curious kind of growth had formed round the point.
As for other game, every time I went out in the mountain woods I had
splendid sport with the wild chickens or jungle fowl and pigeons,
and I would often return with my guide bearing a long pole loaded
at both ends with the birds I had shot. The pigeons, which were
large birds, settled on the tops of the tallest trees and made a
very peculiar kind of growling noise. Many years ago (as Ratu Lala
told me) the natives of Taviuni had been in the habit of catching
great quantities of pigeons by means of large nets suspended from the
trees. The chickens would generally get up like a pheasant, and it
was good sport taking a snap shot at an old cock bird on the wing. It
was curious to hear them crowing away in the depths of the forest,
and at first I kept imagining that I was close to some village. I also
obtained some good duck shooting on a lake high up in the mountains,
and Ratu Lala described to me what must. be a species of apteryx,
or wingless bird (like the Kiwi of New Zealand), which he said
was found in the mountains and lived in holes in the ground, but I
never came across it, though I had many a weary search. Ratu Lala
also assured me that the wild chickens were indigenous in Fiji, and
were not descended. from the domestic fowl. We had plenty of fish,
both salt and fresh water, and the mountain streams were full of
large fish, which Ratu Lala, who is a keen fisherman, caught with
the fly or grasshoppers. He sometimes caught over one hundred in
a day, some of them over three pounds in weight. The streams were
also full of huge eels and large prawns, and a kind of oyster was
abundant in the sea, so what with wild pig, wild chickens, pigeons,
turtles, oysters, prawns, crabs, eels, and fish of infinite variety,
we fared exceedingly well. Oranges, lemons, limes, large shaddocks,
"kavika," and other wild fruits were plentiful everywhere.
During my stay here in August and September the climate was delightful,
and it was remarkably cool for the tropics. I often accompanied Ratu
Lala on his fishing excursions, and he would often recount to me
many of his escapades. On one occasion he told me that he had put
a fish-hook through the lip of his jester, a little old man of the
name of Stivani, and played him about with rod and reel like a fish,
and had made him swim about in the water until he had tired him out,
and then he added, "I landed the finest fish I ever got."
I added a good many interesting birds to my collection during my
stay here, among them a dove of intense orange colour, one of the
most striking birds I have ever seen. Plant life here was exceedingly
beautiful and interesting, especially high up in the mountains, palms,
PANDANUS, cycads, crotons, ACALYPHAS, LORANTHS, aroids, FREYCINETIAS,
ferns and orchids being strongly represented, and among the latter
may be mentioned a fine orange DENDROBIUM and a pink CALANTHE. I
found in flower a celebrated creeper, which Ratu Lala had told me
to look out for. It had very showy red, white and blue flowers,
and in the old days Ratu Lala told me that the Tongan people would
come over in their canoes all the way from the Tonga Islands, nearly
four hundred miles away, simply to get this flower for their dances,
and when gathered, it would last a very long time without fading. I
tried to learn the traditions about this flower, but Ratu Lala either
did not know of any or else he was not anxious to tell me about them.
The coastal natives, like most South Sea Islanders, were splendid
swimmers, but, so far as I was concerned, it was dangerous work bathing
in the sea here, as man-eating sharks were very numerous, and during my
stay I saw a Fijian carried ashore with both his legs bitten clean off.
Usually, when out on expeditions, we occupied the "Buli's" hut and
lived on the fat of the land. At meal times quite a procession of men
and women, glistening all over with coconut oil, would enter our hut
bearing all sorts of native food, including fish in great variety,
yams, octopus, turtle, sucking-pig, chicken, prawns, etc. They were
brought in on banana and other large leaves, and we, of course, ate
them with our fingers. Good as the food undoubtedly was, I was always
glad when the meal was over, as it is very far from comfortable to
sit with your legs doubled up under you. Afterwards I could hardly
stand up straight, owing to cramp. I found it especially trying in
Samoa, where one had to sit in this manner for hours during feasts,
"kava"-drinking and "siva-sivas" (dances). Sometimes a glistening
damsel would fan us with a large fan made out of the leaf of a fan
palm,[6] which at times got rather in the way. I never got waited on
better in my life. Directly I had finished one course a dozen girls
were ready to hand me other dishes, and when I wanted a drink a girl
immediately handed me a cup made out of the half-shell of a coconut
filled with a kind of soup.
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