.")00 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



fortifications still perfect. It occupies an oblong rectangular area, two sides of which are 

 protected by a natural water defence. On the other two a deep ditch is dug and the 

 earth has been thrown up inwards to form a bank, on the summit of which is set a strong- 

 palisade, which extends around the whole area. Three narrow openings, only wide 

 enough to admit one man at a time, give means of access. The openings are guarded by 

 a sort of stile, over which a slab with notches for the foot leads up on one side, a similar 

 one leading down the other. The whole site of the village has been levelled and raised. 

 Nearly all the houses rest upon raised platforms of earth, a foot or six inches in height, 

 the chief's house being especially elevated. Around all the houses were immense heaps 

 of the shells of the fresh water Mussel ( Unio), which is very common in the river. The 

 site of the old village on Mr. Storck's estate was made up of beds of these mussel shells. 

 We saw canoe-building going on at Navusa. For an adze, a broad chisel was used, fixed 

 into what had been the handle of an old stone adze, just as the Admiralty Islanders fix 

 blades of hoop iron into the old handles of their shell adzes. A chisel of hard wood 

 was used for caulking, shaped just like our own caulking irons. 



" Near Nadawa on the road to Nakello is the village of Tongadrava, which has also 

 been strongly fortified. It is of an oval form, with two deep broad ditches encircling it, 

 a zone of flat ground intervening between them ; narrow cross banks on opposite sides 

 of the village lead across the ditches. Formerly all Fijian towns were fortified ; those 

 in the Rewa district appear to have been remarkable for their strength, 1 especially a town 

 called Tokotoko, where there was a perfect labyrinth of moats and ditches. 



" The people of Nakello, a large village, about two miles from Nadawa, according to 

 Jackson's Narrative, were peculiar amongst the Fijians for not eating human flesh, it 

 being forbidden ' tambu ' with them. In the centre of Nakello are the tombs of two 

 chiefs, consisting of two large tumuli of earth, adjoining one another, one being older 

 than the other. The older tumulus is oval in form, about 20 yards in diameter at the 

 base, with sloping sides, and about 10 feet in height. At the top is a flat circular space, 

 which is enclosed by a wall formed of slabs of coral and coral rock, set on edge, none of 

 the slabs being very large. Another line of slabs surrounds the mound about half-way up, 

 and here there is a sort of step on the side of the mound. Within the upper circle of 

 stones are some slabs of tree-fern stems set on end like the stones. The more recent 

 mound has no circles of stones, and is oblong in form. 



"Our object in visiting Nakello was to be present at a grand dancing performance, which 

 happens in each district only once a year, and which we were lucky enough to arrive 

 just at the right time to see. The dance takes place on the occasion of the collection 

 of the contributions made to the Wesleyan Missionary Society by the natives. Such 

 dancing performances used always to be held when the annual tribute was paid over 

 to the chiefs, and dancing on their collection days has been encouraged by the missionaries. 

 1 Capt. Erskine, Islands of Western Pacific, App. A, p. 459, London, 1853. 



