372 FEEJEE GROUP. 



silence, and proceed to where the villagers are assembled, where both 

 parties squat down. The chief of the visiting party then tells ail the 

 news and incidents of the voyage, which done, the chief of the town 

 gives a narrative of events since they last met. All then join in a 

 kind of song of praise, or thanks to their spirit for his protection, con- 

 taining also a welcome to the strangers. They then unite in hauling 

 up their canoes ; and, when this is done, the strangers are taken to 

 the mbure and feasted. Dancing, stories, and ava-drinking succeed. 



The mbure is not only the place where feasts are given, and stran- 

 gers entertained, but is the usual lounge of the chiefs, in which they 

 often sit for hours together, particularly if they can get any one to 

 talk to, or to tell them stories. Among other subjects, they are very 

 fond of asking questions about foreign countries; and in this way 

 they have been told that the world is round — a statement which was 

 observed to be received with incredulity, and an obvious expression 

 of unbelief on their countenances. Their own idea is, that the Feejee 

 Group is the centre of the world, and the term they apply to the 

 whites — Papalangi — signifies "beyond the sky," because they sup- 

 pose that, in approaching their islands, we sail through the visible 

 heavens. 



I was one day amused at an intelligent old chief, who, after many 

 other questions had been put to him, through Whippy, was asked if he 

 could believe that the world was round. After hesitating some time, 

 he said yes ; and on being asked why, he said, because the Papa- 

 langis told him so : it might be true, for the sun, and sometimes the 

 moon, were round ; but he thought the Feejee country was flat, and 

 not like other parts. They could seldom be induced to look at the 

 globes that were hanging up in my cabin, and invariably turned 

 away from them when the Feejee Islands were pointed out. Whippy 

 said they had talked abovit the balls, as they called them, and thought 

 them all lies. 



The mode in which the people of the Feejee Group regulate the 

 distribution of their time, is in conformity to the nature of their cli- 

 mate. They usually rise very early, and, before going to work, wash 

 and take ava. Among the chiefs, the latter is, in some places, 

 attended with great formality, of which an instance has been given in 

 another place. They then go to their work, in which they are engaged 

 until ten or eleven o'clock, when they return to their houses, bathe, 

 and anoint themselves with cocoa-nut oil. When this is done, they 

 take a light meal, which they call " vasse," and their white associates, 



