88 A MISSION TO VITI. 
this lonely spot, far away from human habitations, where 
in the depth of night the heathen priest used to con- 
sult the gods whether it was to be war or peace. If at 
dawn of day blood was found on the path, more blood 
was to be spilt; if no such sign was discoverable, peace 
was the watchword. Several celebrated groves were de- 
stroyed on the introduction of Christianity, and a large 
one near Bau was felled the day after King Cakobau 
had embraced the new faith, the native carpenters trem- 
bling when they had to lay the axe on objects so long 
sacred to them by all the laws of “tabu.” They were 
taught by tradition that when, once upon a time, their 
forefathers felled some of these trees, and repaired the 
next day to the spot in order to square the logs, they 
found the trees again in their proper position, and 
growing as if no sacrilegious axe had ever laid them 
low. 
Besides these groves, there were isolated trees which 
were held sacred; and in days of yore European saw- 
yers came occasionally in unpleasant contact with the 
Fijians when, unknowingly, they had cut them down 
for timber. Vesi (Afzelia bijuga, A. Gray) and Baka 
(Ficus sp.) seemed to have been those principally selected. 
The Vesi furnishes the best timber of the islands, and 
may, as the most valued tree, have been thought the fit 
residence of a god; there is nothing in its appearance 
that is extraordinary, our beech most nearly resembling 
it in look. The Baka is not famous for its timber; but 
its habit is as remarkable as that of the banyan-tree of 
India, aerial roots propping up its branches and forming 
a fantastic maze which no words can describe. At first 
