^66 Voyage of the Novara. 



On very important occasions these are intoned through a 

 conk. As soon as all are assembled the king lays the subject- 

 matter of the debate before them, when every one present is 

 at liberty to exj^ress his opinion. Frequently these discus- 

 sions become very animated, especially when the orators 

 happen to have partaken too freely of Kawa, when only the 

 interference of the less excited chiefs can prevent the disput- 

 ants from coming to blows. When we saw it, there were in 

 the hall of justice, as it might be termed, a number of huge, 

 lengthy, but elegant canoes, painted red, which gave it 

 rather the appearance of a shed than a festive hall. 



The footpath to the chief's residence led through a most 

 beautiful tropical landscape. The estate of the Nannekin (as 

 the natives designate a king in their own language) was 

 laid out quite in the European fashion, and the entrance was 

 indicated by a wooden gateway. The house itself, a lengthy 

 oblong of wood and cane-work, with a roof of palm-leaves, 

 and built upon a sort of platform of two or three courses of 

 stone, and furnished in every part with numerous large 

 apertures serving as windows, presented from without a very 

 comfortable, even imposing appearance ; but the interior was 

 bare, ill-equipped, and sadly out of order. A row of wooden 

 columns, irregularly cut, and partially covered with gay- 

 coloured stuffs, running parallel with the thin exterior walls, 

 formed a narrow passage, a closer view of which was, how- 

 ever, shut off by cotton hangings stretching across. The 

 clothes and other property of the family hung here at 



