56 



ETHNOGRAPHY. 



Another story, which has been, no doubt, derived from their Poly- 

 nesian neighbours, refers to the existence of an island called Mburdtu, 

 situated somewhere in the ocean, but in what direction they do not 

 know. It is represented as a terrestrial paradise, in which every 

 species of fruit is produced without cultivation. They do not, how- 

 ever, like the people of Samoa and Tonga, represent this island 

 (Pul6tu] as the abode of their gods, or the place from whence their 

 islands were peopled. 



There is no regular hierarchy in this group. Every town has its 

 mbete or priest, whose business it is to consult the gods when required, 

 and to perform various religious ceremonies. In the capital towns 

 there is usually a mbete levu, or high priest, but it does not appear 

 that he has any peculiar authority over the rest. Neither is the office 

 hereditary, or confined to any particular class. When a priest dies, 

 some individual who possesses more than ordinary shrewdness, and 

 desires to lead an easy, indolent life, determines to succeed him. He 

 puts on a heavy, melancholy air, and pretends to dream of an event 

 which is shortly to occur. He tells his dream, and if the event turns 

 out accordingly, the chiefs and people begin to consider him a priest. 

 By way of trying him, they bring him a bowl of kava (or anggdna] 

 after the usual form, and desire him to consult the gods about some 

 business in which they are engaged. If he goes through the cere- 

 mony to their satisfaction, and the oracle proves correct, he is forth- 

 with installed in the vacant mbure. 



The usual form of invocation is as follows. When a chief wishes 

 to supplicate a god for the recovery of a sick friend, or the return of 

 a canoe, or any desired object, he takes a root of kava and a whale's 

 tooth to the temple, and offers them to the priest. After the kava has 

 been brewed and drunk, the priest takes the whale's tooth in his hand, 

 turns it over, gazes steadily at it, and then appears to be seized with a 



which, taking its rise with the shock of an earthquake in Chili, was felt as far as the 

 Bonin Islands. At the Sandwich Islands, according to the account given by Mr. Jarvis 

 in his History, p. 21, the water rose, on the east coast of Hawaii, twenty feet above 

 high-water mark, inundated the low lands, swept away several villages, and destroyed 

 many lives. Similar undulations have been experienced at these islands on several 

 occasions. If we suppose (what is no way improbable) that, at some lime within the last 

 three or four thousand years, a wave of twice this height crossed the ocean, and swept 

 over the Vitian Islands, it must have submerged the whole alluvial plain on the east side 

 of Viti-levu, the most populous part of the group. Multitudes would no doubt be 

 destroyed. Others would escape in their canoes, and as Mbengga is a mountainous 

 island, in the neighbourhood of this district, it would naturally be the place of refuge for 

 many. 



