I find that Mr Williams, one of the earlier missionaries, took some notes on this subject. He says:— “The Fijian peoples with invisible beings every remarkable spot: the lonely dell, the gloomy cave, the desolate rock, and the deep forest. Many of these, he believes, are on the alert to do him harm; therefore, in passing their territory, he throws down a few green leaves to propitiate the demon of the place. Among the principal objects of Fijian superstition are demons, ghosts, witches, wizards, fairies, evil-eyes, seers, and priests, all of whom he believes to possess supernatural power. A very old Fijian used to talk to me of ‘those little gods,’ with a faith as strong as that of a Highlander in his fairies. And these ‘little gods’ are the fairies of Fiji. ‘When living near the Kauvandra mountains, I often used to hear them sing,’ said the old man; and his eyes brightened as he went on to tell how they would assemble in troops on the tops of the mountains and sing unweariedly. They were all little—‘like little children. I have often seen them and listened to their songs.’ These are the mountain fairies. There are other ‘little gods,’ called _luve-ni-wai_, children of the waters. My list contains more than fifty of their names, but I believe it is incomplete. They are represented as wild and fearful, and at certain festivals they visit their worshippers, who for several successive weeks assemble morning and evening to allure them by drumming with short bamboos. Little flags are placed at various inland passes to prevent these water-gods from passing on to the forests; so they halt at an enclosure where offerings have been prepared for them, and there the worshippers seat themselves and beat their bamboos, and others dance in most fantastic style, while one, called the _Linga Viu_, or shade-holder, dances in a circle all round the others, waving a sunshade which he alone is privileged to carry.” “There is a warlock, called _Ndrudru Sambo_, who is very tall, and of a grey colour, with a wide flat head; he breathes hard, and makes a clattering noise as he moves. He steals fish from the fishermen, and dainty bits of food wherever he finds them. If touched with a spear he instantly takes the form of a rat.” I find that is all I can learn of the fairies at present. Possibly the reward of £100, offered at Max Müller’s instigation, for a collection of such lore, may induce some one to find time to make one before it all dies out, as it invariably does when the people become civilised or Christianised and ashamed of old superstitions. Then good and bad all pass away together. But I must say the missionaries in Fiji have shown superlative common-sense in their method of dealing with native customs, discriminating between the innocent and the evil.