Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/201

RELIGION". lYl scription which remind one of the Cronos of Grecian mythology. All though Ndengei ranks as supreme among the gods, yet he is less wor- shipped than most of his inferiors. Except about Eakiraki, he has scarcely a temple, and even there his worshippers do not always use him well. The natives suppose that Uto comes to attend every feast at Rakiraki, and, on his return, Ndengei inquires what portion of food has been allotted to him. The consequent mortification is made the subject of a humorous song, supposed to contain a dialogue between the god and his attendant. Ndengei. — " Have you been to the sharing of food to-day 1 " Uto. — " Yes : and turtles formed a part ; but only the under-sbell was shared to us two." Nd. — " Indeed, Uto ! This is very bad. How is it 1 We made them men, placed them on the earth, gave them food, and yet they share to us only the under-shell. Uto, how is this ? " The other gods are proud, envious, covetous, revengeful, and the subject of every basest passion. They are demonized heathen, — mon- ster expressions of moral corruption. Some of them had a monster origin, and wear a monster shape. Ndandavanua was produced from the centre of a large stone. Eokomoutu was a son of Ndengei's sister, and insisted upon being born from her elbow. Soon after his birth, he assumed " a chief-like appearance," and showed the amiableness of his disposition by threatening to devour his mother and friends, unless they acknowledged him as a god. Thangawalu, his mother's first-born, came into the world a giant, two months afler conception, and rapidly grew to the height of sixty feet. His remarkable forehead — eight spans high — gives him his name. RoKo Mbati-ndua, "the one-toothed lord," has the appearance of a man with wings instead of arms, and emits sparks of fire in his .flight through the air. On his wings are claws with which to catch his victims, and his one tooth, fixed in the lower jaw, rises above his head, LiNGAKAu is the wooden-handed. Kokola has eight arms, indicative of mechanical skill. Matawalu has eight eyes, denoting wisdom. Ra Nambasanga has two bodies — one male and the other female — united after the fashion of the Siamese twins. Waluvakatini, " ten times eight," has that number of stomachs. Then there is Kanusimana, who " spits miracles," i. e., does them easily. Naitoxo is the leper. Mbakandroti is the name of a war-god worshipped at Na Vunindoaloa, and implies that, if he were to use nothing stronger than the pandanus leaf for fortification, it would be impregnable to human power. 12