oppression, and desired his removal. It is the custom for a wizard who has compassed the death of a man to appear at the funeral with blackened face as a sign to his employ ers that he has earned his reward and ex pects it. The accused attended Buli Bemana's funeral with blackened face; more. over, an old woman of Bemana had dreamed that she had seen Natombe bewitching the Buli, and the little fingers of several Bemanas had itched unaccountably. These last, the witness considered were convincing proofs. The accused, in reply, stated that he was excessively grieved at the Bull's death, and that his face at the funeral was no blacker than usual. Several witnesses followed who deposed that the accused was celebrated throughout the district for his skill in witch craft, and that he boasted openly in days gone by that he had caused the death of a man who died suddenly. The belief in witchcraft among Fijians is so thorough, and the effects of a spell upon the imagination of a bewitched person so fatal, that the English government has found it necessary to recognize the existence of the practice by law.
After some cases of larceny have been heard, the crier proclaims the court ad journed for three months. The spectators troop out to spend the rest of the day in gossiping- about the delinquents and their cases. The men who have been sentenced are already at work weeding round the court house, subjects for the breathless interest and pity of the bevy of girls who have just emerged from the court, and are exchanging whispered comments upon the alteration in a good-looking man when his hair is cut off. The table is removed, and the room cleared of the paraphernalia of civilization. Enter two men bearing a large carved wooden bowl, a bucket of water, and a root of yagona. Conversation becomes general, witchcraft is discussed in all its branches, and compassion .is expressed for the poor scep tical white man; salukas (cigaretes rolled in banana leaves) are lighted; the chewed masses of yagona root are thrown into the bowl, mixed with water, kneaded, strained and handed to each person according to his rank to drink; tongues are loosened, and the meeting is drawn to a close.
