Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/39

OEIGm AND POLITY. 19 worshippers. Eepublicanism is held in contempt by the Fijians, and even the United States have a King when American citizens speak of their President to a native of the islands. The King is supposed to im- part a degree of sacredness to whatever he may wear or touch. Hence arise some amusing scenes. A poor man was ordered to carry a chair on which Tuithakau was accustomed to sit ; he first encased the palms of his hands with green leaves, then, taking the chair by two of its legs, lifted it above his head to avoid further contact, and ran off at full speed, as though in so doing lay his only chance of completing the journey alive. One day on leaving the house of the same Chief, I held in my hand a ripe plantain w^hich I gave to a child outside ; but an old man snatched it away with a countenance expressive of as much anxiety as if I had given the child a viper. His fear was, that the fruit had been touched by the King, and would therefore cause the child's death. This King took advantage of his hallowing prerogative in an odd way. He used to dress an English seaman in his masi (dress), and send the man to throw the train over any article of food, whether dead or alive, which he might happen to come near. The result was that such things were at once conveyed to the King without a word of explanation being re- quired. The duties of a King allow him abundant leisure, except when he is much engaged in feasting or fighting. Like potentates of ancient times, he knows how to reconcile manual labour with an elevated position and the afiairs of state. With a simplicity quite patriarchal, he wields by turns the sceptre, the spear, and the spade ; and, if unusually indus- trious, amuses himself in-doors by plaiting sinnet. Should he be one of the rare exceptions who see old age, he exists, during his last days, near a comfortable fire, lying or sitting, as his humour may prompt, in drowsy silence. Royalty has other distinctions beside the name. In Somosomo, as in eastern countries, the King only is allowed to use the sun-shade : the two high-priests, however, share the privilege by favour. In Lakemba none but the King may wear the gauze-like turban of the Fijian gentle- man during the day-time. In Mbua he only may wear his masi with a train. A particular kind of stafi* — Matana-ki-lagi (point-to-the-sky) — used to be a mark of royalty. Certain ornaments for the neck and breast are said to become Kings alone. Invariably His Majesty has two or three attendants about his person, who feed him, and perform more than servile offices on his behalf. A thumb-nail an inch long-er than is allowed to grow on plebeian digits is a mark of dignity. An at tcndant priest or two, and a number of wives, complete the accompani-