d and the way thither. After death the
souls of the departed were believed to set out for Bulu or Bulotu, there
to dwell with the great serpent-shaped god Ndengei. His abode seems to
have been generally placed in the Nakauvandra mountains, towards the
western end of Viti Levu, the largest of the Fijian Islands. But on this
subject the ideas of the people were, as might be expected, both vague
and inconsistent. Each tribe filled in the details of the mythical land
and the mythical journey to suit its own geographical position. The
souls had generally to cross water, either the sea or a river, and they
were put across it by a ghostly ferryman, who treated the passengers
with scant courtesy.[773] According to some people, the River of the
Souls (_Waini-yalo_) is what mortals now call the Ndravo River. When the
ghosts arrived on the bank, they hailed the ferryman and he paddled his
canoe over to receive them. But before he would take them on board they
had to state whether they proposed to ship as steerage or as cabin
passengers, and he gave them their berths accordingly; for there was no
mixing up of the classes in the ferry-boat; the ghosts of chiefs kept
strictly to themselves at one end of the canoe, and the ghosts of
commoners huddled together at the other end.[774] The natives of
Kandavu, in Southern Fiji, say that on clear days they often see Bulotu,
the spirit land, lying away across the sea with the sun shining sweetly
on it; but they have long ago given up all hope of making their way to
that happy land.[775] They seem to say with the Demon Lover,

"O yonder are the hills of heaven
Where you will never win."

[Sidenote: The place of embarcation for the ghosts.]

Though every island and almost every town had its own portal through
which the spirits passed on their long journey to the far country, yet
there was one called Nai Thombothombo, which appears to have been more
popular and frequented than any of the others as a place of embarcation
for ghosts. It is at the northern point of Mbua Bay, and the ghosts shew
their good taste in choosing it as their port to sail from, for really
it is a beautiful spot. The foreland juts out between two bays. A
shelving beach slopes up to precipitous cliffs, their rocky face mantled
with a thick green veil of creepers. Further inland the shade of tall
forest trees and the softened gloom cast by crags and rocks lend to the
scene an air of solemnity and hallowed repose well