40 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Chrisianity such an instrument of torture might well be dispensed with, 

 although by the native it is still regarded as the acme of luxury. 



Housekeeping is simple in happy Fiji, where all is charmingly clean, 

 and thick layers of soft mats invite repose upon the floor. Indeed the 

 natives sleep much by day, for at night there is apt to be a "meke," 

 wherein the maidens of the village, adorned in garlands of flowers and 

 well polished with cocoanut oil, sing far into the small hours, keeping 

 time to their chants by graceful gestures. This, together with the dull 

 beating of the wooden drum, drives all hope of sleep away, but it is to 

 be preferred to the "silent" nights when rats and mice scamper cease- 

 lessly over the floor, contesting their supremacy with an occasional cen- 

 tipede or land crab. Yes, one must live a life of leisure and sleep by 

 day in Fiji. 



The largest edifice in the village is called the "stranger's house"'' 

 for it is here that guests are entertained and fed by the community 

 under orders from the chief. At Mbau the old stranger's house has 

 stood for generations, dating far back into cannibal times, and within 

 its walls the first Christian service was held in 1854. It is about 125 

 feet long and 40 feet wide, being exceeded in length only by the 

 stranger's house at Eewa. 



Carpenters are a highly respected caste in Fiji, and canoe and house 

 building are occupations fit to engage the activities of chiefs. When 

 one desires a house, a whale's tooth or other suitable gift should be 

 presented to the chief, who then engages the carpenters, who in turn 

 may command the services of more than two hundred assistants, all of 

 whom labor so efficiently that in from one to three weeks the house is 

 erected and ready for company. In the South Seas things are done 

 in communal fashion and village labors, such as house building, canoe 

 making, and the gathering of crops are occasions for songs and dances 

 and all manner of merriment and feasting. 



There is much of interest in Mbau, for although the ovens have long 

 ago grown cold, yet the great foundation stones of the old temple of 

 the war god (Na Vatani Tawake) still remain in the center of the 

 village, and in 1898 one could still see the sacred tree upon whose 

 boughs were hung the genital organs of victims who had been sacrificed 

 to the Fijian Mars. 



Close by the side of the foundation of the old temple a sharp-edged 

 column of basalt is set upright within the ground. This is the stone to 

 which victims were dragged by their arms and upon which their heads 

 were dashed. Fragments of human teeth might still be found by dig- 

 ging at the base of this stone, and in many a house in Mbau there were 

 sail needles made from leg-bones of the victims. There was another 

 execution stone which was axe-shaped and thrust upright into the 

 ground near the foot of the hill ; but this now serves as the baptismal 

 font, and is set within the church. The ovens in which victims were 



