!" and the man would announce the departure of the spirit by
throwing himself on his mat or striking the ground with his club, while
blasts on a shell-trumpet conveyed to those at a distance the tidings
that the deity had withdrawn from mortal sight into the world
invisible.[710] "I have seen," says Mr. Lorimer Fison, "this possession,
and a horrible sight it is. In one case, after the fit was over, for
some time the man's muscles and nerves twitched and quivered in an
extraordinary way. He was naked except for his breech-clout, and on his
naked breast little snakes seemed to be wriggling for a moment or two
beneath his skin, disappearing and then suddenly reappearing in another
part of his chest. When the _mbete_ (which we may translate 'priest' for
want of a better word) is seized by the possession, the god within him
calls out his own name in a stridulous tone, 'It is I! Katouviere!' or
some other name. At the next possession some other ancestor may declare
himself."[711]

[Sidenote: Specimens of the oracular utterances of Fijian gods.]

From this last description of an eye-witness we learn that the spirit
which possessed a priest and spoke through him was often believed to be
that of a dead ancestor. Some of the inspired utterances of these
prophets have been recorded. Here are specimens of Fijian inspiration.
Speaking in the name of the great god Ndengei, who was worshipped in the
form of a serpent, the priest said: "Great Fiji is my small club.
Muaimbila is the head; Kamba is the handle. If I step on Muaimbila, I
shall sink it into the sea, whilst Kamba shall rise to the sky. If I
step on Kamba, it will be lost in the sea, whilst Muaimbila would rise
into the skies. Yes, Viti Levu is my small war-club. I can turn it as I
please. I can turn it upside down." Again, speaking by the mouth of a
priest, the god Tanggirianima once made the following observations: "I
and Kumbunavannua only are gods. I preside over wars, and do as I please
with sickness. But it is difficult for me to come here, as the foreign
god fills the place. If I attempt to descend by that pillar, I find it
pre-occupied by the foreign god. If I try another pillar, I find it the
same. However, we two are fighting the foreign god; and if we are
victorious, we will save the woman. I _will_ save the woman. She will
eat food to-day. Had I been sent for yesterday, she would have eaten
then," and so on. The woman, about whose case the deity was consulted
an