BEING STRAY NOTES OF FIVE YEARS OF TRAVEL

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 1, 6 January 1909, Page 31

BEING STRAY NOTES OF FIVE YEARS OF TRAVEL

By

WINIFRED H. LEYS AUCKLAND.

FIJI DURING THE CORONATION CELEBRATIONS OF KING EDWARD VII.

BUSINESS ami financial affairs made it impossible for all of ns of the Antipodes to trot up to London to see King Edward crowned, hi New Zealand, the celebrations promised to he of the ordinary sth of November type —plenty of gunpowder and firework—so when an excursion was arranged by the I nion Steam Ship Com-

pany to convey New Zealander” to Fiji, where the natives had been for months preparing a unique* demonstration for the 26th dune. 1902. all berths were Looked in a few days. Besides the interest aroused in the Fijian demonstration, there was the fact that it was winter in the Southern Seas, and we all felt cheered at the thought

of leaving the rain behind for a few weeks June and July in New Zealand are usually very rainy months—and. again, it is only temperate enough during the winter in Polynesia to make the climate endurable for white visitors. So we waved a willing farewell to rainy skies. ami gladly set our faces towards sunnier Southern Islands.

Four «ia\” of ”torm\ w *ather made mo*! of ii” wel<oiti«* th - ”ight of <uva. the chief town in the Fijian i'laml”. It i” quite .1 Eui'opea ni”e<l little town, yet po- M *””e” much of th.it wonderful glam our that hang” about all the Sea Glands, (hi one ”ide of the harbour there ri”C” a range of high ”ei rated ami very rocky hill”, that form a niO”t 'tart ling contrast to the brilliantly green slope of cocoa nut and banana palni” ami bread fruit trees, among which the town it”dt is built. \ long, straight road rilll” along”ide the beach to the cable station, ami on to the magnitieent gar dens that ”iirr<»und the Government House. w here grow . witii almost a-tound ing vigour, the plants that even in New Zealand need the warmth ami protection of a glass house. Our tii”t ”top at Suva was of only a few hour” duration, as tin* ”.s. Waikare left that ”ame night for tin* tiny island of Ban (pronounced MBaui. which had been, in the days of ( akobau the residence of the king, and w here once none but chief- ami their slaves lived. Her mxt day. in the meeting lioum- of the village, were assembled all the great chiefs of Fiji, squatting on mat” on thfloor, and they filled the greater part of tin* building: while seated on chair-, facing them, were the ading Governor and his -.tali' the Governor hinmelf being absent in England. In a monotonous chant, repeated with many long pauses by each man present, the chief” mourned the death of tin* great Queen. under who”«* rule they had lived so happily. Down the centre of each chief’” forehead, from tM • hair to the nose, was a broad black smudge that had been worn as a mark of re-pect ami mourning for the late Queen \ ir toria all the month” ”im-c the new- hail come of her death. \ll native races are fond of repetition, and their ceremonies are often, to our mind”, drawn out to

an unnecessary length; so it was with this one. The next important event was the swearing of allegiance to King Edward, which was done in accordance with the old Fijian custom and ceremony. To each chief in turn the Governor passed the whale’s teeth, and as the chief accepted them a chant arose from the lips of all in the house. This passing and accepting of a whale’s teeth has prevailed in Fiji for many generations. He who accepts such a tooth from the hands of another, by his acceptance swears to do the other’s bidding in all matters; so the chiefs of Fiji swore allegiance to King Eil ward VII. The chiefs were many, and in their aeeptance of King Edward as their King there was so mueh repetition of his titles and greatness that most of the morning was occupied in this swearing of allegiance to the English Crown.

At last however, it was concluded, and all moved out into the open space in the centre of the village, where the ceremony of kava-making was gone through: the placing of the' grated root in a huge bowl, the mixing with water and the straining through a fibrous root. Nothing was hurried; in spite of the sun that blazed down on their woolly heads every act of that long day was carried through with a stateliness and dignity that surprised all present who had never before witnessed a celebration among the South Sea Islanders. When the kava had been strained to perfection, a cup of the mixture was handed by a man of high rank to the Governor, and then refilled for each important personage present. No ceremony in the South Sea Islands is complete without the drinking of the kava. Now a days, the preparation of the

drink is more speedy than in olden times when the root from which it is made

was first ehewed by some village girls especially chosen for their beauty and cleanliness, and. when expectorated by them into the bowl, was mixed with water, and at last strained through a fibre. The chewing of the root has now teen replaced by the use of graters, which, to Europeans, appears a more cleanly method of preparation, though it is possible the village girls resent the dis carding of their assistance in this important ceremony. If you mix a little toilet soap with water and add some grated nutmeg you will get all the flavour of the mueh relished kava. The drink is non-intoxicating so far as the brain is concerned, and many an unsuspecting white man who has imbibed a little too freely, is astounded to find on rising that his legs are more or less unmanageable, being for a while partially paralysed. I here are among the South Sea natives, —although happily such eases are rare—kava drunkards, bloated and tremulous, whom the sober natives hold in as much contempt as we regard the habitual sot. The more 1 saw' of these fine healthy Fijians the better pleased I was to think that for anyone to give them alcoholic liquor is a punishable offence. The kava drinking being concluded, each chief next handed to the Governor a bag of money amounting in all to some hundreds of pounds, and to be used for

the erection in Fiji of a memorial to Qu:en Victoria. During the early part of the afternoon, some hundreds of warriors, dressed in wonderful costumes of coloured tapa

eh th. the upper part of their bodies being smeared and daubed with black, red, or white paint, danced club and spear and fan dames. Largely intermingled with the Fijians are natives of the Polynesian race, straight haired and handsome, who came in the course of a successful invasion from Tonga. The true Fijian, however, belongs to the Melanesian or woolly haired race; he is dark in colour, and his thick curly black hair is brushed straight up. until it often stands some six inches above his forehead. His features are heavy and promi nent and his stature unusually tall. Dressed and painted as lie appeared that day for the dances at ’Ban. he was a most blood thirsty-looking ruffian. In the centre of the open square squatted the native band, beating time to the dancing on sticks of bamboo. The I’ijians arc great admirers of dancing, and some hundreds were grouped round the dancers following every movement with the keenest appreciation. Tn each dance one hundred and seventy or one hundred and eighty men took part, and in all their swaying movements or sudden rushes to and fro no one was ever out of time or line. The swish, swish of the tapa fringes they wore round their waists was as the rustling of the wind in a thousand trees: but. unlike the Maoris, and most other native races, these men maintained an

unmoved solemnity of face. W hen the*dancing was over, we moved about the village. Here and there large turtles lay on th;ir backs, or paddled lazily round in pools of water. Before

the end of this memorable feast, which would last many more days, all these would be consumed, besides the great

heaps of yams. taro and cocoanuts. and pins that were stacked all over the village. The 25th of June, the unhappy day on which news came of the King’s illness, we were at Levuka: such a pretty little town, nestling under precipitous and densely-wooded hills, and holding the honour, owing to its central position in the group, of having attracted the largest number of while settlers in the early days. During the afternoon, when the heat of the sun was a little less intense, some of the passengers took boats, and rowed over to the coral reefs that run along one side of Levuka harbour. Each time 1 approach a eoral reef, I am struck by the peculiar colour of the water; it is a blue, yet possesses all the red and green of an opal. Exactly what causes this colour effect. 1 cannot say, but it only pertains to the sea near a coral reef. In many Polynesian legends there is mention of a “blood-red wave.” and, as one watches variations of colour in those waters, the appellat ion of “blood-red” to the sea does not seem so extraordinary. Glass-bottomed boats, such as one finds on the sea coasts of California, ought to be adopted al Levuka, for the (oral reefs and siirounding waters are the homes of the (piecrest shaped and most brilliantly coloured fish that -a man’s nightmare ever conjured. Some are orange, and some arc blue. and some are scarlet: some are all one colour, and gome arc patched and sjmtted and striped with several vivid ’and contrasting colours: some arc oblong in shape, and some are square: some have wee bodies and great long beaks, while some have huge bodies and tiny mouths;

in fact, the beat description of many of these fishy nightmares, both for colour and shape, is that they resemble a brilliantly daubed map drawn by a child. And all these funny denizens of the sea go bobbing in and out of the coral branches like a multitude of fairy creatures in an equally unreal and fairylike forest. {Some of these fish, 1 am told, are good to eat, but not many; a few are absolutely poisonous. During our voyage that night from l.evuka hack to .Suva, a euchre party wus in full swing in the saloon, but, on arrival at Suva, all festivities were brought to an abrupt end by the distressing news of the illness of King Edw aid. The 26th of June—that day so much anticipated by English-speaking people the world-wide —dawned gloriously in Suva. It was decided by the Governor that, while all the expected festivities at Government House must be abandoned, it would still be advisable to carry out the installation of King Edward as Tui Viti. or King of the Fiji Islands. The ceremony took place in a huge corrugated iron shed especially erected for the purjHvse in the Government House grounds, platforms being placed tor the European spectators. and the natives squatting on mats on the ground. Kava, having been made and accepted by the Governor and the chief officials, his Excellency made a short speech, which he delivered in the Fijian language, and concluded by reading to the assembled natives u letter addressed by King Edward to his Fijian subjects. After this had been somewhat lengthily answered by one of the chiefs, there followed the presentation and acceptance of the whale’s teeth, the chiefs thus again swearing the loyalty of themselves and of their people to the King across the seas. All over the grounds surrounding the Installation House were heaps and heaps of mats and tapa cloth, bags of salt, clusters of bananas and eocoanuts. piles of yams and taro, live turtles and shellfish. fowls and pigs, all brought by the people as presents to the King’s representative. All was graciously accepted by the Governor, ami later on. as is the custom among South Sea Islanders, it was divided among the assembled natives, so that he who had come laden did not return home empty-handed.

Fur the afternoon celebrations mekemekes, or native club and spear dances, had been arranged; and as there was some doubt whether these had been abandoned or not, great crowds gathered in the A.N.C. Kara. The dancers themselves seemed uncertain as to what had been decided, ami some hundreds of these enormous fellows, dressed in all their festive array, with bodies oiled and painted red and faces blackened with soot, moved restlessly about the Kara. Away in their villages, in every corner of the islands, these men had spent part of each day for months and months practising their club and spear dances and fattening themselves to a state of required perfection, as no under-sized or skinny native could Im? permitted to dance on that 26th of June, for it had been prophesied that in the annals of Fiji no such stirring sight would again be seen. Never before had so many natives assembled in Suva, and of these some thousands were strutting about with hearts beating and bodies arrayed for the dances. As the word was passed round that the Kokos (or Chiefs) forbade the dancing, a murmur of discontent arose on all sides. The disappoint ment was a bitter one. I honestly do not believe that half the natives understood why the dancing was forbidden. They were told that by the order of certain great chiefs there were to be no meke-mekes: that was all they knew. Think of the months these poor fellows had worked in anticipation of this very event: think of the talk and the boasting there had been over the triumph they would achieve: why. their eyes had been blazing with excitement as they came on to the grounds; surely it is easy to understand the wave of discontent that swept over all Suva on that unhappv day. A little while they stood in groups murmuring: then, with one accord, they pushed ami elbowed their way along the beach road to the town. All the usual good manners and respect for white people were forgotten, and. crushing their greasy, painted bodies against one and sundry, these hundreds of disappointed grown-up children wandered feverishly to and fro. Those who understood the Fijian language say they heard many such remarks as "Why can’t we meke? If they won’t let us meke. let us kill them.” Whether these threats were being hurled

against the unoffending white folk or at the Chiefs, who in loyal sympathy for their King, had forbidden the dances, it is impossible to say. 1 cannot vouch for the truth of these alleged threats, but I do know that the authorities in Suva considered it inadvisable to keep such hordes of angry war-painted natives wandering about the streets. So the services were enlisted of every available boat, and that very night some hundreds of these warriors and their friends were despatched to their various villages. In this way ended for the poor Fijians the day of days, in anticipation of which so much energy had been expended, ami from which so much excitement had been expected. I believe, when some months afterwards the real coronation celebration took place, many of the warriors who had entered so heartily into the preparations for June 26th could not be induced to even leave their villages and come to Here were we, too, landed in Fiji, ami much of our expected entertainment impossible. It is only due to the I nion Steamship Company’s agent i Mr. Dun can) to say that he did his very best to fill our time pleasantly. Picnics were arranged and carried through splendidly. One day we manned the boats and proceeded up the Tamavour Ki ver. where, in the shade of a banana plantation, luncheon was spread. On another day little launches conveyed us up the Rew a River, where, landing at the Co’onial Sugar Company’s mill, the various intricacies of sugar-cane crushing and the evaporation of the juice were explained. Higher up the Rewa we were entertained at luncheon in the house of one of the Chiefs. And when it was rumoured round the deck of the Waikare that on the Monday we were to be taken to ’Benga. and that arrangements had been made with the tire-walkers to perform, for the benefit of the Waikare’s passengers, the firewalking ceremony that had been one of the most anticipated features of the hoped-for Suva festivities, we felt that, in this last arrangement, we were faring much better than we could possibly have done among the crowds that would have flocked to see the performance in Suva. ’Benga. the home of the tire-walkers, is one of the greenest and most delightful islands we visited in the Fiji Group. Quite close to the shore, a deep pit had

been dug and partially tilled with wood; on the top of this was placed a great layer of stones, and then more branches of trees, the wood around the stones being then lit and allowed to burn from twelve to sixteen hours, until, in fact, there were but a few charred branches left; these, when the tire-walkers were ready, were carefully draggd from the stones by means of twisted creepers and the roots While these preparations were going on. two doctors who were passengers on the Waikare. carefully examined the tirewalkers. but could find no evidence on their feet or bodies that anything had been used to deaden the pain.. When all was ready, in answer to a speech from one of the native chiefs, we grouped ourselves round the pit in breathless silence. Suddenly the Chief gave a queer long cry. and up sprang the tire-walkers from the bushes w here they had been in hiding, and without the slightest hesitation ten gaily-decorated warriors walked straight on to the stones. Never wavering, they pro reded twice round the pit: then the onlooking natives raised a great shout, and flung leaves on the stones, the tirewalkers proceeding to the centre of the pit. where thy sat down, completely enve’oped in the cloud of steam and smoke that rose from the smouldering leaves. The preparation of the stones had taken quite sixteen hours, and the actual tirewalking scarcely more than fifteen seconds: but if anyone is inclined to jeer at the short time the tire-walkers were on the stones. 1 may tell him that two hours after the ceremony I was given a piece of the stone to ho’d. but the heat even then was so intense that 1 was compelled to drop it. \\ hen the tirewalkers left the stones, one or two were again examined by the doctors, but no trace of burning was found —even the hairs of their legs remained unsinged. Among native races, the world wide, this trial by tire seems to be a wellknown ceremony, but no European has solved the mystery as to how it is accomplished. One feasible explanation is that some kinds of stone give off heat very slowly. This would account for the quick manner in which the natives walk when on the stones, never keeping