The Night of Heathenism, 235 
of the people who cried out for deliverance to him, directed 
them to make a boat, or raft, of the fruit of the shaddock, 
but seeing that they could not succeed in this undertaking, 
sent forth two canoes to rescue them. By these means 
finally eight of the drowning Fijians were saved; the boat 
settling at last on the top of a very high mountain in 
Mbengga." From this belief, the Mbenggans claim to stand 
first in rank among the natives. 
Another tradition speaks of the natives of Vanua Levu 
having, long ages back, erected a tower to gain information 
about the heavenly bodies. But when the tower was nearly 
finished, the foundation gave away, and the edifice tumbled 
down, so that the workmen were scattered, and the work 
abandoned. This legend points undoubtedly to the Tower 
of Babel, and the confusion of tongues. It seems certain 
from these and like indications, that some news of the Bible 
records must have been carried to Fiji, in some long-for- 
gotten, far-back period. 
