Directly he started to wash his hands, everyone present, including
chiefs and attendants, would start clapping their hands in even time,
then one man would utter a deep and prolonged "Ah-h," when the crowd
would all shout together what sounded like "Ai on dwah," followed by
more even clapping. I never learned what the words meant. In this
respect Ratu Lala was most curiously secretive, and always evaded
questions. Whenever he took a drink, a clapping of hands made me
aware of the fact.
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.
I noticed that many Fijian women were tattooed on the hands and arms,
and at each corner of the mouth (a deep blue colour). Both men and
women gave themselves severe wounds about the body, generally as a sign
of grief on the death of some near relative. I once noticed a young
girl of sixteen or seventeen with a very bad unhealed wound below
one of her breasts, which was self-inflicted. Her father, a chief,
had died only a short time previously. They often also cut off the
little finger for similar reasons. Like the Samoans, the Fijians often
cover their hair with white lime, and the effect of the sun bleaches
the hair and changes it from black to a light gold or brown colour.
A marriageable young lady in Fiji would generally have a great
quantity of long braided ringlets hanging down on ONE side of her
head. This looked odd, considering that the rest of her hair was
erect or frizzly. It was a great insult to have these ringlets cut. I
heard of it once being done by a white planter, and great trouble
and fighting were the result.
I accompanied Ratu Lala on several expeditions to various parts
of the island, and we also visited several smaller islands within
his dominions. On these occasions we always took possession of the
"Buli's," or village chief's, hut, turning him out, and feeding on
all the delicacies the village could produce. After we had practically
eaten them out of house and home we would move on and take possession
of another village. 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. Several of them waded out into
the sea and embraced little Tersi and Moe. This soon set the children
crying as well, so that I almost began to fear that the combined tears
would sink our boat. Their old grandmother waded out into the sea
up to her neck and stayed there, and we could hear her howling long
after we had got on board the steamer.
