supposed never to have been men; but in their
account of the religious ritual they do not distinguish between the
worship which was paid to such deities and that which was paid to
deified men. Accordingly we may infer that the ritual was practically
the same, and in the sequel I shall assume that what is told us of the
worship of gods in general holds good of the worship of deified men in
particular.

[Sidenote: The Fijian temple (_bure_).]

Every Fijian town had at least one _bure_ or temple, many of them had
several. Significantly enough the spot where a chief had been killed was
sometimes chosen for the site of a temple. The structure of these
edifices was somewhat peculiar. Each of them was built on the top of a
mound, which was raised to the height of from three to twenty feet above
the ground and faced on its sloping sides with dry rubble-work of stone.
The ascent to the temple was by a thick plank, the upper surface of
which was cut into notched steps. The proportions of the sacred edifice
itself were inelegant, if not uncouth, its height being nearly twice as
great as its breadth at the base. The roof was high-pitched; the
ridge-pole was covered with white shells (_Ovula cypraea_) and projected
three or four feet at each end. For the most part each temple had two
doors and a fire-place in the centre. From some temples it was not
lawful to throw out the ashes, however much they might accumulate, until
the end of the year, which fell in November. The furniture consisted of
a few boxes, mats, several large clay jars, and many drinking vessels. A
temple might also contain images, which, though highly esteemed as
ornaments and held sacred, were not worshipped as idols. From the roof
depended a long piece of white bark-cloth; it was carried down the angle
so as to hang before the corner-post and lie on the floor. This cloth
formed the path down which the god was believed to pass in order to
enter and inspire his priest. It marked the holy place which few but he
dared to approach. However, the temples were by no means dedicated
exclusively to the use of religion. Each of them served also as a
council-chamber and town-hall; there the chiefs lounged for hours
together; there strangers were entertained; and there the head persons
of the village might even sleep.[706] In some parts of Viti Levu the
dead were sometimes buried in the temples, "that the wind might not
disturb, nor the rain fall upon them," and in order that