168 A MISSION TO VITI. 



remained to enact the closing scene by a great banquet. 

 The women now appeared on the stage. All the young 

 girls had collected in a group, some two hundred yards 

 off, in a grove of palm-trees, each carrying a basket-full 

 of taro. According to their fashion, they wore nothing 

 save a girdle of hibiscus-fibres, about six inches wide, 

 dyed black, red, yellow, white, or brown, and put 

 on in such a coquettish way, that one thought it must 

 come off every moment. The girls (a hundred and fifty- 

 four) walked in single file, and all those wearing girdles 

 of the same colour kept together. When arriving in 

 front of the Bure, young men received the baskets and 

 emptied their contents in a heap, leaves having been 

 spread out to keep them from coming in contact with 

 the ground. We counted as many as two thousand 

 taros, after which the baskets came in so fast that we lost 

 count. The girls, after performing their part, walked 

 away in the same order as they came. Several young 

 men now brought seven large hogs, roasted entire, which 

 were placed on the top of the taro heap. The whole 

 pile of food was then presented to the visitors. The 

 largest pig, and I am almost afraid to say how many 

 hundred taros ready to be eaten fell to our share. 

 It took twenty men to take our share home, for the 

 food was not supposed to be consumed on the spot, 

 everybody being at liberty to do what he liked with 

 his lot, and I saw but very few not taking their por- 

 tion away with them. 



There was a man present at this meeting, Eo Tui 

 Kuku, who had seen five generations of the reigning 

 chiefs family, and could not have been less than a 



