FUNERALS IN TA VIUNL 83 



couch-chair, and was accompanied by his chaplain and native 

 police magistrate, besides other attendants. 



' Leaving Levuka in the morning, we arrived at Taviuni at 

 dusk, and lay a short distance from the shore, just abreast of 

 the village or town of Somo-Somo. It was almost dark when 

 we got there, and the first thing I heard was a succession of 

 curious noises from the shore, which I discovered were pro- 

 duced by the wives of the late chief blowing large conch sheUs. 

 These manifestations of regret were not conducive to the 

 repose of Prince Joseph, King Cacobau's second son, who had 

 received his education in Sydney, and spoke English well ; he 

 was obliged by etiquette to sleep on shore, in the house specially 

 set apart for royalty. 



' Next day I landed with two friends to see the town, and 

 what we could of the island. The temperature was 86, so we 

 strolled leisurely about the village. The first house we entered 

 was that of the late chief. It was a large barn, with four doors, 

 remarkably well put together, and exquisitely thatched. The 

 pillars supporting the sides were of cocoa-nut palms, and the 

 rafters of bamboo ; mats, made of rush or reed, lined the lower 

 part of the walls, and large pieces of tappa, the native cloth, 

 made by beating the bark of a tree, divided the building into 

 two parts, in one of which was the chief in his coffin, bound 

 up in innumerable mats ; in the other his wife (a daughter of 

 Cacobau) sitting on the ground fanning herself. She was a 

 remarkably fine specimen of a Fijian, and, although she had 

 been crying a good deal, looked really very nice. I was told 

 that she had looked even better before her hair was cut off. 

 This had only just been done as a sign of mourning. Every 

 one in the village who had acknowledged Cakau as chief had 

 cut his or her hair for the same reason. 



'After leaving the chief's house, we walked through the 



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