AMONG THE FIJI ISLANDS. 647 



according to their insipidity and unsatisfying qualities. I tried 

 hard to appreciate these famous vegetables, whose very names 

 recall endless picturesque and savage associations ; but I never 

 succeeded, and hardly know which I disliked the least. 



Sometimes we produced a root of Icava, or, as the Fijians call 

 it, yanggona, always a welcome gift, and handed it to our native 

 companions to prepare the national brew. I suppose most people 

 by this time know the orthodox mode of preparing this. It is 

 chewed, or ought to be, as in Samoa, by young and of course 

 pretty girls, and the masticated stuff being thrown into a bowl 

 and mixed with water, the woody particles are fished out with a 

 wisp of the fiber of vau (a malvaceous tree, Paritium sp.), and 

 the liquor is then carried round to each guest in order. Of course, 

 by the old school this mode of preparation is thought very supe- 

 rior to the Tongan innovation of pounding or grating the root. 

 Certainly, the ingredients differ somewhat, and the dash of human 

 secretion in the orthodox mixture possibly promotes digestion — 

 an effect not to be despised after a square meal of half a dozen 

 pounds of yam ! Even in the humblest menage the national bowl 

 is not prepared without some form and circumstance — elaborate 

 traditional motions of the hands in clearing the bowl and rinsing 

 the fiber, strict attention to precedence in handing the cup to the 

 guests (a matter in which, when Europeans were concerned, I 

 was in other islands sometimes consulted), and to other points of 

 etiquette, the transgression of which is viewed with some severity. 

 Thus, it is de rigueur to empty your cocoanut cup at a single 

 draught. On my first occasion of drinking I had neglected this 

 rule, for the cup was large, and the taste, as I thought, nasty. 

 Accordingly, on returning the cup, which you do by sending it 

 spinning along the floor to the master of ceremonies, the usual 

 quiet clapping of hands and murmur of applause which should 

 follow this were withheld. On discovering the cause of the silence, 

 I hastened to explain that I had never tasted the cup before, and 

 thought it so good that I could not resist prolonging the pleasure, 

 but I saw that my solecism was too great to be easily excused. 



The kava-howl, tobacco, and family prayers exhaust the even- 

 ing's programme; and my companions being all asleep — why 

 people waste so much time in sleep in this interesting world I 

 never understand — I look out some suitable rafter whence to 

 hang my mosquito-screen, and turn in — not, for the first night 

 at all events, to sleep, for Mother Earth, considered as a mattress, 

 is hard, and deficient in spring ; but there is, anyhow, no other 

 impediment to sleep ; the cleanliness inside the houses is remark- 

 able — no fleas or other vermin bred of dirt or carelessness. Flies 

 and mosquitoes are supplied by Providence, and the latter have 

 recently been discovered to be " good for us " ; but as you listen 



