IN TIM OS. 445' 



me by the guide who was accompanying me, and who himself 

 in a late war had been an actor in the scene, of the selecting 

 by Heaven of those who were to sustain the honour of 

 their country in the field. On the eve of a war, he told 

 me, messengers are sent to every corner of the kingdom 

 and country to summon from wherever he is, and from 

 whatever he is employed, every man who owes alle- 

 giance to their Kajah. From the Uma-Luli near which we 

 stood, the hill sloped up in a vast shallow, natural amphi- 

 theatre, bounded on all sides by precipitous and inaccessible 

 valleys. " Here," he said, " every man of the kingdom assem- 

 bled, each with a fowl in his hand on which to read his fate, 

 until the whole of this hill was full, sitting close together in 

 silence, each man dressed in his war attire, with his gun on his 

 shoulder, his sword by his side and his spear in his hand ; they 

 sat row upon row from the bottom all the w-ay up to the top 

 there, round and round." As he spoke his eyes flashed up, 

 and I could picture to myself the wild and expectant mien of 

 the half-savage crowd. '" The Daio-LuH," he continued, " then 

 appeared at the door of the great LuU house in all the awesome 

 vestments of his office, with the sacred spear and the gun and 

 the shield beside him, and before them all he sacrificed a buffalo. 

 After placing a piece of its flesh, along with siri and pinang on 

 the Vatu-luli, or altar-stone, he invoked the spirits of our dead 

 forefathers, then on Maromak of the heavens (in other districts 

 the deity is known by the name Urubatu and Laraula, signifying 

 sun and moon) and on Him of the earth. Then in turn he called 

 out every man present singly, who, advancing to the high 

 priest each with his fowl in his hand, gave it to the Dato-Luli, 

 who slayed it in presence of the assembled company. According 

 as the animal dies with its right foot or its left foot elevated, 

 and according as the colour of the siri juice which the Dato 

 expectorates on the brow and breast of the man before him is 

 brio'ht scarlet or dark, does the Maromak indicate whether the 

 man is chosen to fight for his kingdom or destined to stay at 

 home and guard the women. If the fowl die with its right leg 

 elevated, and the siri spittle be bright scarlet, the omens are 

 in favour of the consultor, who then, turning from the Dato- 

 Luli, draws his sword, and, brandishing it wildly in the air, 

 exclaims — ' I'm a Man ; I'm a Brave,' and takes his place on 

 30 



