386 A MISSION TO VITI. 
presented by a chameleon and four other species. The 
largest is Chloroscartes fasciatus, Giinth., with a body two 
feet long, and of a beautiful green colour, somewhat like 
that of the German tree frogs ; indeed, the Chloroscartes 
inhabits trees, and I had one alive for some time. Cro- 
codiles are not indigenous, but about the beginning 
of this century a large one made its appearance in Fiji, 
probably having been drifted thither from the East In- 
dies. The natives, as related by Mariner (‘Tonga,’ vol. i. 
p. 334), fancied it had come from Bulu,—from heaven, 
—and they had some difficulty in catching it, not, how- 
ever, before it caused some mischief. 
There is a great variety of both salt, fresh-water, and 
land shells, probably several hundred species, and a 
number of them are quite peculiar to Fiji. The collec- 
tive name for shells is “Qa ni Vilivili,” Vilivili being 
the animal, Qa the shell. The most famous Fijian shell 
is the orange cowry (Cyprea aurantium, Martyn), which 
is found in no other part of the world, though some 
works state it to have been found in Tahiti—an error 
originating in Mr. Cuming having purchased a single 
specimen in that island. There are several other cowries 
also used, as the orange cowry is, for necklaces and 
ornaments by the natives. Canoes, houses, temples, and 
churches are frequently decorated with the Buliqaqau 
(Ovulum ovum, Sowb.), not the Cyprea ovula, as stated 
in some works. Several other species of shells are 
also used for ornamental purposes; the Sébi or Sovui 
is on that account much valued. Armlets (Qatos) are 
made of the Sici, Taluvi, Tebe, Tebetabe, or Toru 
(Lrochus Niloticus, Linn.). A pearl-oyster shell, Civa 
or Cove of the natives, is ground, and serves for orna- 
