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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



knew the months, for the scarlet blooms of Erythrina marked the season 

 for the planting of crops. June was heralded by the "tombebe" 

 flowers along the shore, and when the ivi with its violet-scented flowers 

 bloomed in the forest, the natives watched, knowing that it was nearing 

 Xovember when upon the morning of the moon's last quarter the water 



over the reef would be crowded by 

 myriads of the Mbalolo worms swim- 

 ming only to burst and shrivel with the 

 rising of the sun, thus casting forth 

 their eggs into the sea, after which the 

 worms, emptied of eggs, sink as mere 

 translucent skins to die upon the bot- 

 tom. This was the great feast of the 

 Mbalolo, the New Year's Day of former 

 times, when bearers would be despatched 

 to carry the cooked worms nicely wrap- 

 ped in leaves to far-off chiefs among the 

 mountain valleys. 



Once from an old man I gathered a 

 myth of the Mbalolo to the effect that 

 long ago their ancestors were sailing 

 over the sea, while one of the sea-gods 

 guarded the canoe and each day sent 

 food in the form of the Mbalolo, but 

 one old man, fearing it might not be 

 continued, collected more than was re- 

 quired for the day and hid it beneath a 

 mat. Whereupon the god visited the 

 canoe and detected the Mbalolo through 

 the odor arising from its decomposi- 

 tion. In a rage, he swore never again 

 to provide food for the ingrates ; but the 

 old man taunted him, saying that the 

 real reason was he had lost the power to 

 cause the worms to appear. Thus, in 

 order to show that he still had power to 

 produce it, the Mbalolo is permitted to 

 swarm only upon the mornings of the 

 last day of the October, and espe- 

 cially of the November moon. Accord- 

 ingly, October is called Vula i Mhalolo leilei (the moon of the little 

 Mbalolo) and November Vula I Mhalolo levu (the moon of the Great 

 Mbalolo). In Samoa, this worm is called Palolo from Pa, to burst, 



A Maiden of Kambara. Fiji. 

 of the Viti-Tonga race. 



Type 



