FIJI ISLANDS. 



317 



columns are said to have been taken in war, from some enemies 

 on Viti Levu, and intended to have been used as posts for the 

 king's house. The columns are however said by Dana* to 

 have been brought by a Mbau chief from a small island in the 

 harbour of Kandavu, which is composed of them, and where 

 they were long desperately defended by the inhabitants, who 

 held them sacred. 



The whole mound most strikingly reminds one of ancient 

 stone circles and such erections at home. Were the earth of 

 the mound to wash away, numbers of the stone slabs might 

 remain standing on end. I give a copy of a rough sketch which 

 I took of the place in its present condition. Its condition before 

 its destruction is to be seen in a book entitled " Fiji and the 

 Fijians," by Thos. Williams (London, Hodcler and Stoughton, 

 1870). The tumulus supported a large " Mbure ' : or temple, 

 with the usual high-peaked roof and long projecting decorated 

 ridge pole. 



Now the mound is falling into decay and covered with grass, 

 and a small pony (there are very few horses in Fiji, and of 



Sacrificial Stone. 



NA VATAM TAWAKI, MBATJ, FIJI. 



course only room for this one in Mbau) belonging to Eatu 

 David, the king's eldest son, found the top of it a pleasant place 

 to graze on. The pony had a quiet life, for Eatu David having 



* Dana : " U. S. Exp]. Ex., Geology," p. 348. The columns at Mbau 

 are referred to by Capt. Erskine, "Islands of the Western Pacific," 

 p. 193, London, J. Murray, 1853, who, however, did not recognise them as 

 of unartificial formation. 



