394 A MISSION TO VITI. 



hung at one end of the building, and from the very ceil- 

 ing, which is also connected with the arrival and depar- 

 ture of the god invoked. The revelations, however, are 

 made by means of the spirit of the god entering the body 

 of the priest, who, having become possessed, begins to 

 tremble most violently, and in this excited state utters 

 disjointed sentences supposed to be the revelations 

 which the god wishes to make by the mouth of his ser- 

 vant. It is the oracle at Delphi over again. Mankind 

 will be deceived, whether by a Fijian priest, a Grecian 

 Pythia, or an American spirit-rapper. 



The conceptions which the Fijians have of the origin 

 of their islands is, that they were made and peopled by 

 Degei. This god, when walking along the beaches, wore 

 long trains of native cloth, like those worn by great chiefs 

 at the present day ; and whenever he allowed them to 

 drag the ground, the beach, becoming free from vege- 

 tation, showed the white sand ; whenever he took them 

 up, and cast them over his shoulder, the trees and 

 shrubs remained undisturbed.* What Humboldt pointed 

 out as one of the characteristics of all religions is not 

 wanting in that of Fiji. There is a tradition of a flood. 

 Degei was roused every morning by the cooing of a 

 monstrous bird, called " Turukawa," who performed his 

 duty well until two youths, grandsons of the god, acci- 

 dentally killed it with bow and arrow, and, in order to 

 conceal their deed, buried it. Degei, accustomed to be- 

 ing roused at sunrise by his favourite bird, was greatly 

 annoyed on finding it had disappeared, and he at once 

 dispatched his messenger, Uto, all over the island in 



* Williams (' Fiji and the Fijians/ p. 250) makes Boko Mouta, another 

 god, take this walk. 



