SACKED STONES. 89 



living as an epiphyte on other trees, it soon acquires such 

 dimensions that it kills its supporter, and henceforward 

 must draw its nourishment from the soil. There are 

 fine specimens of the Baka on the Isthmus of Kadavu ; 

 and on an islet belonging to Mr. Hennig the aerial 

 root of the Baka formed a cabin in which Mr. Pritchard, 

 myself, and all our boat's crew took shelter during a 

 heavy tropical shower ; and twenty persons might have 

 found room there. The crown of this tree was one hun- 

 dred and fifty-two feet in diameter, or four hundred and 

 fifty-six feet in circumference. The horizontal branches 

 and the large roots issuing from all parts of the stem, 

 and more sparingly from the branches, rendered this 

 tree a noble object, well calculated to inspire pleasure or 

 awe. The Rev. W. Moore lamented the destruction of 

 one of these fine trees near Rewa, committed by a sick 

 man in hopes that it might be pleasing to the Christian 

 God, and incline him to favour his convalescence. These 

 sacred groves and trees were not worshipped as gods, 

 but, as in the Odic religions of our ancestors, looked 

 upon as places where certain gods had taken up their 

 abode. 



Sacred stones, to which the natives pay reverence, 

 exist in Fiji ; for instance, near Vuna and Bau, as well 

 as in many other parts of Polynesia. Fully granting 

 their being the supposed abode of certain gods and 

 goddesses, as has been contended, we can only hope to 

 arrive at their real meaning and primaiy origin, by con- 

 sidering them in connection with the ideas associated 

 with or represented by other monoliths. I would par- 

 ticularly direct attention to their peculiar shape, of 



