MELANESIA. 67 



the chiefs, these new names answer for so many titles of nobility. 

 Tanoa (kava-bov/l) was the original name of the present king of 

 Mbau. He afterwards acquired that of Ndrendre-ni-ak, literally, diffi- 

 cult to throw away, which was explained from the fact that in one 

 of his warlike expeditions he slew so many of his enemies that his 

 people had some difficulty in disposing of the dead bodies. His third 

 name was obtained in an attack upon Verata, in which he destroyed 

 many of their canoes by fire, and was thenceforward known as Viso- 

 wangga, or canoe-burner. A chief or landholder frequently receives 

 his title from the name of his house, as noble families in Europe are 

 named from their estates. Thus a chief of Mbau, whose proper ap- 

 pellation was Veikoso, having had a house called Nggara-ni-kuli (lite- 

 rally, dog's cave), was usually spoken of under the respectable title of 

 Ko-mai-na-nggara-ni-kuli, He of the dog's cave. 



The taking of a certain fish or sea-slug, is attended with some sin- 

 gular rites, and is important as connected with the diversions of the 

 year, not only in this group, but also in some of the Polynesian 

 islands. This animal, which is called mbaldlo, is described as some- 

 what resembling in shape a large centipede, being about three inches 

 long, with a soft and gelatinous body, and innumerable legs. It is 

 taken only on a single day in the year, usually in the latter part of 

 November, when it makes its appearance, at a certain period in the 

 last quarter of the moon, and at the time of "young flood" in the 

 morning. The fish come out in dense swarms from holes in the 

 coral, and spread out on the surface of the water. A bushel or more 

 are sometimes caught from a single hole, by scooping them up as they 

 ascend. As they will keep but a few days, they must be eaten with- 

 out delay, and the day of their appearance is the commencement of a 

 general feast at those places where they are taken. For four days no 

 warfare is carried on, and a tambu is laid to prevent noise or distur- 

 bance of any kind. No labour must be done, and no person must be 

 seen outside of his house. In Ovolau, the ceremony begins as soon 

 as the mbaldlo is brought in, by a matanivanua ascending a tree, and 

 invoking the kalou ni langi (spirit of the skies) to be favourable to 

 them throughout the year, grant them fine weather, fair winds, &c., 

 ending his prayer with the words sa oti ! sa oti ! sa oti ! (it is 

 finished.) Thereupon a tremendous clatter, with drumming and 

 shouting, is raised by all the people inside of the houses for about half 

 an hour, and then a dead quiet ensues for four days, during which 

 they are feasting on the mbaldlo. If in any dwelling a noise is made, 



