The Waikare's Excursion to Fiji.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue II, 12 July 1902, Page 105

The Waikare's Excursion to Fiji.

(Continued from page 95.) . small a place. Natives and whites have all given themselves up to enjoyment with tropical abandon. Night and day we heard the hollow lali, the bugle calls, the firing of guns from the warships, the chanting and shouting of natives, and the strain of the nailill band. The harbour has been alive with boats, excursion parties coming and going in the interinsular launches, natives in the ir dug-outs, and outriggers, yachts and steamers. The Fazilka has just brought from Calcutta between 700 and 800 Indians. There are two Japaneses training ships anchored in the stream, and the British man-of-war I’ylades, and an American vessel. Tn the streets and under the avenue of trees along Victoria Parade there has been such a throng of various races as a homekeeping New Zealander must find astonishing. The distinction between the Germans, Jews, and British is quite lost in comparison 'with the difference between all the whites and the islanders. Besides the thousand of half naked Fijians roaming along the shore there are the Hindus,'the women and children in dirty coloured garments, but loaded with ornaments. Amongst the Islanders are a fair number of copper coloured Samoans, Tongans and men brought from the Solomons. The Japanese tars rambled about in bands like a lot of inquisitive schoolboys bavin; a holiday, trafficking with the natives and playing pranks. The tourists and townpeople were offered entertainments in endless variety, and the only difficulty was in making a choice. The great event on Monday was the Burna at Bau. On Wednesday there were horse races, and in the afternoon pole exercises and native choir singing. Thursaay (Coronation Day) was fixed on for the installation of the King, a Coronation service, grand mekes, review, and Government House ball. On Friday should have taken place the firewalking, or vilavilairevo, Government house garden party, official dinner and fireworks, while Saturday was to be occupied by the regatta. The King’s illness stopped all public functions, but a concert was given on the Waikane on Thursday evening. On Friday launches crowded with the tourists set off for a picnic to Tamavua, a charming creek bordered close by tropical vegetation. On Saturday the Rewa picnic was followed by a ball. On shore there were equal attractions for those who wanted gaiety, the Warden’s dance, a smoke concert, the Valdares’ Circus, private mekes and parties, so that in spite of the disappointment about the vilavilairevo and the regatta people could not complain of finding time hang heavy on their hands. On board nearly every hour of the day was filled in. After the tourists had returned from the Tamavua picnic the Nailili Band came and placed on the Waikare. The evening of that day was spent in listening to the Wesleyan choirs (natives) singing on deck. The passengers took the greatest interest in the natives, mixed with them, got them to write their names, and talked to any that understood a little English. A. very good speech was made by Mr Allen, expressing- the pleasure felt in the singing and in the sight of the orderly natives, whose ancestors had been fierce cannibals. Before they left the captain had a brilliant display of fireworks. The effects were best seen from the shore, but the most interesting part of the performance to a New Zealander was the unrestrained rapture, astonishment and terror of the throng of natives who watched the ascending fiery snakes and red and green stars and balls, and gave vent to their emotions in simultaneous shouts and tremendous exclamations. On Sunday a portion of the native (Jubilee) church was reserved for Europeans, who had an opportunity of hearing again the native choir singing. Whatever the Fijians may become they certainly have the capacity, being fine musicians. There is a peculiar quality in their voices, different from anything heard amongst Europeans, and possessing the same fascination that the music of a new masterdoes when we hear it for the first time. ~ '

SCENES AT MBAU. The picnic to Mbau was an excursion into the realm of the wildest and strangest romance of the South Seas. It was rather like a fantastic dream or the scenes of a grotesque pantomime than n bit of every-day life. The canoes, the thatched houses, the thousands of natives, the weird chanting, the extrordinary costumes and war- paint, the ‘dances and the stacks of food were so utterly unlike our quiet hum-drum life in New Zealand towns that they seemed hardly to belong to reality at all Mbau itself is not a very beautiful island; in fact, it is rather bare and dry for this part of the world. But it is impossible to approach its strip of shore and its one hill without some emotion. This little island in the early days deserved a place in the kingdom of hell. Not even the pen of Dante could describe the horrors of the past, scenes more terrible than those he saw on the “sea of everlasting ice,” or among the burning tombs. Here the tormenting devils were men wholly given over to the worship of evil. Fearful tales have come d< wn to us from missionaries who were eye-witnesses, but even they tell us it was impossible for them to describe the worst. Here old Tanoa reigned, the cannibal king, who had an offending relative of his slowly dismembered, and drank his blood. This was the king who returned from war with numbers of infants dangling from the masts of his boat. His son, who afterwards became famous as Thakombau, king or overlord of all Fiji, at five years old, murdered his first victim, who was held down while the boy clubbed him to death. When Tanoa died it fell to Thakombau’s 10l to strangle his own mother. In his days, even after the missionaries had arrived, fearful cannibal orgies were held, and hundreds of human victims were tortured, butchered and then cast into the ovens. Yet this terrible chief became converted, and died a devout Christian amidst the prayers and tears of his family and friends. The former things have passed away, and to-day there is not a heathen left amongst the thousands assembled at the old capital. As the steam launch, Andi Raronga, got near Mbau, we saw a small fleet of boats, yachts, launches, row-boats, and the queer canoes and outriggers of the natives, with their one triangular mat-sails. The Fijians were gathered on the shore in great numbers, while others were wading over across the shallow water from the mainland. The native town has larger and finer houses than those of the other Fijian villages. They are all of the tent-shaped pattern, with a projecting ridge pole. One I saw had its sides covered with a well-de-signed matting, another had both roof and outside walls thatched with dry leaves, another was of reed and grass. In the middle of the town, taking the place of our town square, is a green or common used for openair gatherings. In the centre is a large bure, lately built for Council meetings, or for entertaining visitors. It stands high up on the site of Vatuni-Tawaki, the heathen temple of the god Tawaki. It has raised foundations of earth faced with stones, in two circular teraces from about eight to twelve feet high, with two flights of ladder steps leading up to the top. The ceremonies of the day were begun when a pathway was cleared for the Acting-Administrator, Mr. Allardyce, and his party. Bong rolls of tappa (the printed native cloth made of the bark of a tree) were laid down, and rows of natives and Europeans stood on either side. The Governor and his aide-de-camp —resplendent in cocked hat and uniforms, loaded with gold laia -ascended the bure, and on entering sat down on chavs at the farther end. On the matting that covered the floor a number of native chiefs sat in a crouching attitude, used with them to denote respect, before a chief, while the Waikane’s white passengers crowdci in at the numerous doors and stood round the walls. The interior of this bure is of beautiful workmanship. The roof is formed of crossed beams, bound together with sinnet, plaited in shades of colour varying from red to yellow and brown. The side walls , also arc dc-

corated with this sinnet, which in the hall-light has almost the effect of carving. All the proceedings were in the Fijian tongue. This language has been called the Italian of the Pacific, on account of its flowing vowel sounds. The Administrator spoke a few words, the chiefs replying with deep, long-drawn exclamations. Fijian voices, especially when they break gradually out into chanting, have the vibration of some organ notes. ‘ When you have heard them once or twice you seem to catch in them the sound of tropical seas and trade winds in the palms. After the speech an old chief approached in a bending, half-kneeling, posture, and presented some polished whales’ teeth strung together on sinnet. This was the customary present to a great chief, and whales’ teeth were at one time the most valuable of all possessions. The public were then turned out. and the chiefs, in presence of the Administrator and his party, threw off their clothes in token of having ended their mourning for the late Queen. The scene then shifted to the open green, where the vice-regal party sat at one end of a circle. Next to Mrs Allardyce, chatting familiarly with her and laughing affably, was the greatest princess of the Isles, Andi (Lady) Thakombau, a grand-daughter of its last King. Andi Thakombau is a handsome woman, with an expression of intelligence and amiability. She wore a loose black skirt and a loose, frilled chemise of black silk, quite in the native style, only better made, and her head, feet and arms were bare. A new mat, fringe I with red wool, was unrolled in front of the party, and on it sat, the Governor's native A.D.C., Deve Togaivalu. a fleshy native with rather an agreeable face, A circular space was left vacant, and round it crouched hundreds of natives. Ou all sides one could see the ring of heads, surmounted by mops of furry hair, dyed flaxen reu. and trained to stand on end. One head-dress that 1 saw must have, been nearly two feet, high. Round this extraordinary circle of heads stood the excursionists, girls in light prints and muslin blouses and gauze veils, and young men in spotless tropical suits of white, while everywhere the photographers and their cameras were pushing in to the front, and the cinematograph was busily clicking away. At the opposite end from the Governor three fine young native men, glistening with cocoanut oil, decorated with thick wreaths of ornamental grass, ginger flowers and coloured leaves, and wearing- stilus of printed tappa, began pounding the yangona root. It was thrown into a great bowl, water was brought in vases of Fijian pottery, poured in, and mjxed by the hand. Two other natives kept straining it through fibres of the van bark, and, after a lengthy process of mixing and clearing, while the circle of natives around chanted at intervals, a cup formed of half a cocoanut, glistening inside, was filled and offered to the Governor. The native A.D.C. was next served, and then came other chiefs, the Roko Tui Mbau and the patriarchal Roko Tui Bua, a man of the highest character and intelligence. A few other Europeans drank. Each, as he drained the cup, threw it dotvn with a' twirl, the natives clapping their hands together. Throughout the ceremonies, including a short speech by the Roko Tui Bua, and a long one by the Administrator, dwelling on the late Manama and the new Tui Viti, the Fijians behaved with the greatest propriety, and even solemnity. The chiefs presented in turn whales’ teeth, food, and also a velvet bag containing (Soins to the value of £1603, collected among the natives, towards the Queen’s Memorial Fund. While this drama was going on there were to be seen in the background, like the soldiers and pilgrims who march through at the back of the stage during a performance, n stream of natives, principally women, passing down to the shore, bearing loads of food in baskets covered with banana leaves and slung at each end of a bamboo pole. The assembled people then dispersed in various directions, most of the tourists going down to the beach to enjoy the lunch provided

by the Waikare’s officers, while a few of the more eager sightseers .strolled about to see the natives dressing for. the meke. In full dress they are such sights as one could not dream of without seeing. Thex are oiled all over, thelg faces are painted with a soiotblack powder made of crushed seeds. Some had their bodies, especially the upper part, brilliant crimsonred, dyed with tumeric. Some had the red in spots, others had dabs of it on their faces, one or two having jet black faces and crimson noses. Their, hair stood straight up on end, and in it was stuck waving plumes of wiry grass and twisted coloured wool. Wreaths hanging from the shoulders to the waist were made of all sorts of materials, ornamental bark of the van tree, lace bark strips, some their natural colour, some dyed orange or red, forest leaves, great and small, green or variegated, flowers (some artificial), shejls, whales’ teeth, all served for decoration. The fringed aulus, formed of plaited belts and long fringes, were of similar material, but even more extraordinary, somo having immense bows of tappa, like huge bustles. Necklaces, armlets, and bracelets of beads and shells, wit h polished white cowries, finished the most extraordinary costume the brain of man could devise. As they moved they rustled like the palm branches in the wind. In their hands they carried palm fans, fringed with coloured wool. They approached each other in two companies, differently attired, red predominating in one, yellow and black in the other. They a sort of club dance, advancing in measured tread with resounding shouts, their limbs working in a convulsive agitation. Then followed the waving of their curved and polished clubs. The scarlet and black faces and bodies, the gleaming white of eyes and teeth, the waving arms and poised clubs, and the sudden twirl round with stilus and wreaths quivering and shaking, was like a fairy pantomime or a scene out of a child’s picture book. It was difficult to realise that these extraordinary beings were human and not creatures of the imagination.. This meke, for which great preparations had been made, was practically the end of the performance, but even the few steps down to the boat were full of entertainment. The Fijians, including some of the meke dancers, thronged round the tourists, selling shells, pineapple clubs, yangona bowls, baskets, and even the gay clothes they had danced in. A royal feast had been piled up near the shore, .great stacks of yams, as high as a email house, half-cooked turtles, pigs roasted whole, and cooked puddings wrapped in green banana leaves. Our stay was only too short for all there was to be seen. , THE FIRE WALKERS OF MBENGA. The greatest “draw” amongst the Fijian celebrations w.u the vilavilairevo, or fire-walking. Some of the passengers from Australia had come almost entirely for the purpose of seeing it. As a spectacle it is not remarkable, but it is something in the nature of a miracle, so that there was very great disappointment when the. official performance at Suva was stopped by the news of the King’s illness. Mr Dunean, the manager of the Union Company at Suva, made every effort to prevent the tourists returning ’home disappointed, and on Saturday it was announced that lie had made private arrangements with the chief of the fire-walkers to have the “miracle” at Mbenga. The passengers were taken off in the Kia. Ora, and carried ashore through the shallow water by the natives. The smoke of the fire could be seen some distance away as the Kia Ora got near Mbenga. We examined the “oven” at our leisure, as there was an hour or more to wait before the preparations were completed. It was a circular pit about 15 feet or so across, situated in a palm grove close to a littla stream. In the pit were great branches blazing away, and thb heat was so fierce that it was impossible to stand near for more than a minute, or two. Stones from the rocks and shore were piled high upon the wood, the flames were leaping amongst them, and in some parts they were red hot. While wc were waiting one

of the stones exploded, and fell in pieces out of the oven. About 200 Europeans gathered round in a circle, just far enough off to prevent being scorched. Several natives sat up in trees and in the palm branches to get a good view. A number of brawny Fijians came out from the trees and hauled out the big logs, raising them by means of long piles at the end of which were nooses made of a forest creeper like our supplejack. This noose was thrown round some projecting branch and the whole log was hauled out with the peculiar chants and deep “00-00, ah-11-h” characteristic of this people. Next the poles were placed in between the stones, and bj- a very ingenious method they were turned over and the pile reduced to a level. The fire walkers now made their appearance, well oiled with cocoanut oil and decorated with fringe sulus and massive wreaths of leaves and flowers, but otherwise naked. Dr. Fulton examined closely the feet and hands of one of the fire’ walkers, but could detect nothing on The twelve Fijians then stept»ed on the smouldering stones, walked round them the whole circle, and then left the oven. Other natives now threw green branches on jttnd the fire walkers entered the oven hgain and this time sat down on the Stones. More green boughs were thrown on, and a dense smoke arose. The fire walkers jumped out of the thick cloud somewhat hurriedly. Their faces during the performance looked “intense,’.’ and they walked rather quickly. The green boughs were smouldering around them, but neither their skin nor their sulns were injured. They walked about amongst the people and had their photographs taken. One of them afterwards carried me through the sea to the boat. I tried to test the heat of a stone on the oven, cooler than those farther in, but it was too hot to do more than touch it for an instant with the tip of the finger. Several passengers (including myself) brought away bits of the hot stone as mementos. They were placed in split cocoanuts, or suspended in green withes to be carried, and partly cooled by dipping them in the stream. One' faet, of which the most sceptical must be convinced, is that the fire is real fire. The Fijians brought baskets of draoena roots to be roasted on the stones after the fire-walking was over, heaped on more leaves, and covered it over with earth their ordinary method of roasting. But even so, we saw some smoke still rising as we left Mbenga. The vilavilairevo does not seem to be a ceremony or to*have any religious significance in Fiji. Only one tribe in the entire group possesses this extraordinary power. Sir James Thurston, while Governor of Fiji, had the ceremony performed by men of this tribe, in the presence of 500 spectators. He also had translated into English the Fijian legend of the origin of fire walking. In the olden days, says the legend, the men of Navakesese, a village of Mbenga, used to meet at a bure to listen to a famous storyteller, to whom each in turn gave free gifts of food. One day it was the turn of the chief,Tut Qalita, .who promised to dig out a great eel from a hole. But when he set to work, be had to dig and dig a long time before he could reach anything. He then put in his arm, and pulled out first some hibiscus leaves, then some tapa. Digging the hole still depeer he felt the hand of a man, then his throat, and at last hauled trim out by the arm.

The man, whose name was Tui Namoliwai, elapped hands in front of Qalita, in the fashion of a Fijian suppliant, and begged that his life might be spared, promising Tui Qalita that he would be his god of war or of tiqa (a game of skill), of calling or of women. But Tui Qalita •said he could do and get all he wanted by himself, and must give Namoliwai to the storyteller. TO BE EATEN.

The captive god then promised him the power of being roasted in an oven for four days without being hurt. The oven was prepared; Namotiwal descended into It, and called to Qalita to follow. He did bo and re-

malned unhurt. Namotiwai’s Hfe was spared, aud he granted to Qalita and Ills descendants for ever the power of walking through the oven without receiving any injury.

One of the first to witness firea wiki ng in the Islands was Miss Tenira Henry, of Honolulu, but her account was received with incredulity, and the Polynesian Society refused to guarantee its truth. From a scientific point of view the most remarkable exhibition was that at Rarotonga, when Colonel Gudgeon, the well-known British Resident of the island, and three other Europeans, followed by 200 Maoris, walked across burning stones. All but one were unscathed, and this man got badly burned. Colonel Gudgeon says that the sensation was like that of electric shocks. Half an hour after he had crossed the priest threw a green branch on the oven, and in a quarter of a minute it was blazing. The interest of this occasion arises from its disproving altogether two theories by which people often try to explain away the performance. The power has nothing to do with hardness of the feet, nor with any special preparation, for Colonel Gudgeon, whose authority is above dispute, mentions that the soles of his feet were particularly tender. The Maoris claim that their ancestors performed the feat, but said that it had long gone out of use. Scientific investigation proved it to be widespread in India, Japan and Mauritius. In India it is a religious ceremony, connected with the worship of Kali, or of Draupati, and it is also performed by the priests in Japan. Harding suggests that it may have originated among the Egyptians, and have been one of their religious “mysteries,” acted like the Christian “mysteries” in the Middle Ages. In that case it would be a representation of the judgment of departed spirits, who are said to anoint themselves, and in pure white garments, holding a palm branch, to cross over inextinguishable fire. In some places the fire-walkers still carry green boughs in their hands. He also connects it with the ordeal by fire, practised in the Middle Ages. Fire-walking is as near as we can get to a miracle in our days. I have, however, seen a cook often pick up a lump of redhot coal in her hands and throw it back on to the fire, without suffering the slightest injury, and I have heard of similar feats performed by people accustomed to furnaces. The most we can say about fire-walking is that it is a matter of faith, or an example of the power of mind over matter, and when we have said that no one is any the wiser than before. It remains still an unexplained mystery. INSTALLATION OF THE KING. Thursday morning, 26th June, was the time appointed for installing King Edward as Tui Viti, Supreme Chief in Fiji. The significance of the ceremony could not be appreciated without a brief backward glance at Fijian history. Fiji, which had been divided amongst numerous bribes, found its first supreme chief in the great Thakombau the first to receive the title of Tui Viti. But towards the close of his reign Thakombau fell into many troubles. The usurping* Tongan chief, Maafu, wrested half the islands from him, and on the occasion of some injury being done, the Americans almost ruined him with claims for heavy compensation. He first attempted to cede Fiji to Britain in 1859, but the offer was refused, and it was not till 1874 that Sir Arthur Gordon formally accepted Fiji as a possession of Great Britain. Grand ceremonies were held then amongst tile natives, many of them identical with those which were performed to-day. Thakombau, after addressing the assembled natives, asked Sir Arthur to be present at the native ceremony of drinking yangona, among the chiefs at Mbau, while they saluted him with their hands as a superior. On the Governor’s arrival Thakombau led him through the streets by the hand to his ow n residence. The next morning took place the solemn yangona drinking, Fijian speeches, and presentation. The deed of cession had previously been signed by all the high chiefs of Fiji, beginning

with Thakombau and Maafu. The gathering to-day was on a far larger scale than that of Cairty years ago. The crowd was a mingling of nearly a score of race* and nationalities, predominant amongst them the Fijians in white shirts and sulus, the Indians in many coloured garments, head dresses and ornaments, the little olive-skinned Japanese tars, and Europeans, the ladies and children in dainty summer muslins and laces. Processions of people kept passing in towards the- end of the rara. The Native Constabulary arrived, dressed in uniforms of dark blue shirts and white sulus. About a quarter of an hour later came the Catholic Bishop, Vidal, in his purple robes followed by priests in black; then a procession of Catholic school children, first the English in white and blue, then a stream ci native little ones, alSo in white, accompanied by the sisters and Mother Superior. Next to arrive was the Nailili Brass Band, fine native musicians. A high turbaned Hindu Sirdar stood near keeping watch over his own raceAbout ten o'clock the Administrator, dressed in black military uniform, entered the booth, which had been turned into a bower of tropical greenery for the occasion. He was accompanied by his suite, and by the Japanese captain, Iwasaki. These all took their seats on the platform. On the mats in front of them sat aU the chiefs, in a series of semi-circles. Just outside were piled the love-gifts to the Amministrator, as representative of the Tui Viti. There was enough South Sea merchandise here to stock a store with, but it seems it is all a matter of display and is re-distribut-ed afterwards amongst the nativesThere were about a dozen large turtles, one still moving convulsively; piles of yams, and rolls of sinnet. One roll had been made into an ornamental monument, twisted in patterns of brown and white sinnet, aud ornamented with a spire of polished white cowries. There were also innumerable mats, baskets of nativeprepared salt, and heaps, of tappa. The scene was opened by the yangona makers, fine men, well-oiled and wreathed, moving forward and mixing and straining the yangona. It was served in the "same manner as at Mbau, first to the Governor, then to Ratu Tavita (Mata, in Vanua, literally, eye of the land), then to the chief of Mbau, Ratu Khandavu Levu. The Japanese officers drank with many grimaces, and amongst other Europeans the cup was drained by Ratu Woods, the only white man who has ever been adopted as a Fijian chief. The usual clapping (with the hollow of the hand) went on, and the usual shouts and deep breathing of “ah oo” sound. One or two of the chiefs; notably Ratu Joseph Lala, who was educated ’in Sydney, and usually dresses like a white man, were rather ashamed of reverting to Fijian dress and ways, and most of the chiefs throughout looked awkward, and scarcely raised their voices above a whisper. An exception was the Roko Tui Bua, who made an excellent speech in Fijian, outlining the history of Thakomfoau’s cession of Viti. “We are all, but one,” he said, “of a younger generation than the chiefs who signed the deed, but we rejoice to be called children of the King.” The solitary survivor of the chiefs who signed sat behind, the Roko Tui Dreketi, bald and withered, like a mummy. The Administrator in his speech told the people that the King they had come to crown was ill, and that the Coronation service would be postponed. He gave the natives the King’s thanks for the honour done to the late Queen's memory, in the Bitrua held at Mbau, and read them the Royal letter, saying that since the day when they put themselves under her, she, the ruler of an Empire that stretched from the rising to the setting sun, had never ceased to watch over them, and had never forgotten that she was Tui Viti. The letter concluded by urging the natives to pay all dues, to obey the Governor, and his laws, as belonging to the King, and not to listen to anyone who would stir them up to disobedience. The Administrator then declared that on this day of rejoicing the expatriated chiefs (who had been deported for getting up a petition

to the King) had been recalled After the speeches, the chiefs came up one by one, repeated the oath of allegiance in low, tremulous tones with as much nervousness as if they were all being married, put their noses (the Fijian way of kissing) to the Sacred Book, signed their names, and received their staffs of office as Rokos of their province®. In the afternoon a still greater crowd, some say about a thousand whites and nine thousand Fijians, assembled to see the mekes, for which elaborate preparations had been made. The white and coloured garments produced quite a different colour effect from that of a mass of blackclad colonials. Under the shade of the spreading tui and mango and breadfruit trees, along the shore, and in the paddock the dancers were finishing their costume. Their appearance simply baffles description, aud I can only refer you to pictures of wood sprites and imps and demons. Some had boars’ tusks, some shell breastplates; all wore immense frills of green leaves, roots or a kTnd of lace-bark; all were painted in patches soot-black or crimson, and wore extraordinary top knots. The wrong was eagerly waiting for them, and the non-human figures began to move through the trees towards tho grassy circle, when suddenly all was stopped. A cable had come to Government House. The uncrowned King was dying. All festivities were put away. No ball, no garden party, no fire walking, or regatta. Suva sank into a state of collapse. The meke dancers rubbed off their war-, paint, put off their fringes and wreaths, and donned shirts and sulusNatives and Europeans wandered aimlessly back to town. The sun, which had been shining brilliantly, became sympathetically hidden, and big masses of tempestuous looking vapour, streaked with sword flashes of silver, rolled up from behind the hills. A more abrupt and sensational conclusion has seldom overtaken such extensive preparations.