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 Roko Mouta, another 
god, take this walk. 
