230 The Triumphs of the Gospel in Fiji, 
handed ; KoJzola^ with eight arms ; Waluvakatini, the god 
with eighty stomachs; MBatimona^ the brain-eater, — the 
brain being the human sacrifice offered to this god ; Ravu- 
ravu, the murderer ; and JVaitono, the leper. But the most 
renowned god, and the one most generally worshipped, is 
Ndengei^ or the eternal one. The symbol of this god is, 
in some places, a serpent, in other places a stone; both 
symbols being intended to represent his eternal duration. 
None of these deities had any quality of mercy, or pity, or 
beneficence ascribed to them ; they were simply the repre- 
sentatives of unspeakable cruelties, lusts, and horrible prac- 
tices. The worship of a Fijian was something demoralizing; 
it pandered to all the low, fierce, cannibal propensities ot 
his nature. Some chiefs and tribes adopted certain gods 
as their own; so that m various islands, different beliefs 
and practices were observed. At Vuna, were a few conse- 
crated stones, considered to be shrines of the god wor- 
shipped there. These stones were very like a round black 
millstone, in size and shape, and were adorned with girdles, 
fringes, and other votive offerings. Other gods were sup- 
posed to inhabit land-crabs, eels, and nuts : in consequence 
of this, a man who worshipped a god of this kind, regarded 
the thing, or animal so inhabited, as tabu^ or sacred. This 
practice of tabu largely referred to their religion, although it 
was, in many cases, turned to personal account by chiefs. 
Possessions of every kind came under the influence of this 
system of tabu. Thus, in certain districts, canoes, or yams, 
or pigs, or tares were laid under a ban, by the priests or 
chiefs, and none of the owners would dare to appropriate 
them. In one district the priests placed a tabu upon all 
the one-eared pigs ; but as few were born literally with one 
ear, the prohibition was made to extend to all pigs possess- 
ing one ear shorter, or narrower than the other. In some 
