650 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gentle clapping of hands, or of some other naked part, either in 

 unison or a sort of running fire, but in a quiet ceremonious man- 

 ner, as indicating formal rather than enthusiastic approval. Then 

 the immense heap was divided into portions by a mata ni vanua 

 — a hereditary official combining the duties of herald, embassador, 

 and master of the ceremonies — who then proclaimed the name of 

 the place for which each portion was destined. This is obviously 

 a very delicate, not to say critical, operation, and to perform the 

 division to the general satisfaction requires tact and discrimina- 

 tion of a high order. Finally, the parties representing each of the 

 places named stepped forward and carried off their allotted por- 

 tions. There is considerable feasting on these occasions, and 

 sometimes, with such vast piles of food, considerable waste. They 

 are enormous eaters, and constantly at it. One morning our share 

 of the offering was brought in — a turtle and a mountain of dalo, 

 then a little later a pig and another vast heap of dalo and yams ; 

 and before evening our crew of five had accounted for it all, with 

 the very slight assistance we could give them ; but the national 

 vegetables have, of course, very little substance. Sometimes one 

 sees fine -looking poultry and even turkeys, and one often gets 

 very fair fish. 



The sea, indeed, in some places, teems with life. You sail 

 through masses of little white jelly-fish, or of a larger brown 

 kind, besides a magnificent species of a rich purple color. Then 

 there are multitudes of a diminutive flying-fish which I have not 

 seen elsewhere. To the usual perils of the deep must here be 

 added the shoals of gar -fish — a creature usually some fifteen 

 inches long, with a long, sharp, bony snout-^which at times take 

 to whizzing through the air in all directions. You can not avoid 

 them, for you can not tell from what direction one may be com- 

 ing, and the snout, if it hit you fair, would go through your face 

 or give a very ugly wound. One of our crew was struck and 

 wounded, but he only threw the fish to the bottom of the boat, 

 and said quietly, " I shall take it out of you for this to-night." A 

 woman in the neighborhood had recently been struck by one in 

 the breast, and died of the wound. A curious sight I saw one 

 day, which I could not understand. Two large fish rose together 

 about a yard from each other, shot straight up into the air, and 

 then, sheering off in opposite directions, fell into the water a long 

 way from each other. I asked what this meant — had they quar- 

 reled ? " No," said one of the sailors, " it is not that. I have seen 

 it before. It means a fair wind to-morrow." So next day, the 

 wind being the reverse of fair, they put him into the bows to 

 get the benefit of the water as it broke over us — hardly the way 

 to encourage a study of natural phenomena ! 



The Fijians are a grand-looking race, splendidly made, and well 



