KALOU RERE. 115 



peated until the crew reached Tonga ; and on being 

 reported to the king, he exclaimed, " Oh, it is men, 

 not women that are tatooed ! well, then, 1 will be ta- 

 tooed at once." The example set was speedily followed ; 

 hence the custom, that in Fiji the women, in Tonga the 

 men are tatooed ; hence also, adds the tradition, the 

 name of the Ogea passage, " Qia na tagane."* 



Kuruduadua accompanied us on an exploring trip 

 down the Navua river, which we found to have several 

 deltas, one of which is called Deuba. We passed the 

 mouth, and went several miles westward, as far as Vanua- 

 clogo point, which is near Qamo peak. Close to one of 

 the villages we stopped at there was a miniature temple, 

 built of tree-fern wood, and thatched with Makita- 

 leaves. Here parties of young men assemble for seve- 

 ral weeks in order to practise certain tricks, which, 

 when they are perfect in them, are exhibited before a 

 numerous audience, but as long as they are practising 

 nobody is supposed to go near them. On the day of 

 the performance, the actors oil their bodies well and 

 dress in white native cloth. The spectators, old and 

 young, having formed a ring around them, the actors 

 commence by chanting songs and beating time on 

 bamboos, until they have worked themselves up to a 

 certain pitch of excitement. Now a spirit (Kalou Eere) 

 is supposed to enter them, and they pretend to be in- 

 vulnerable to spear, proof against musket ball, and safe 

 against the eifects of heat or flame. By sleight of 



* Another version of the tradition is given by Williams, 'Fiji and 

 Fijians,' vol. i. p. 160, where a man, repeating the intelligence, violently 

 strikes his foot against the stump of a tree, and in the confusion ensuing 

 changes its tenor. 



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