One thing which I do not think I have yet mentioned, is that in every village there is invariably one large house called the _buré_, where all the young men sleep. It would be contrary to all notions of propriety that they should occupy the same house as the women, even their nearest relations. In fact, brothers and sisters, or brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, and various other near kinsfolk, are forbidden even to speak to one another, or to eat from the same dish. For a man to eat food left by a woman would be highly _infra dig._; and to unroll a mat belonging to a woman, or to lie down upon it, would be the height of impropriety. The laws of affinity in regard to marriage are very curious. First cousins, who are children of brother and sister, may intermarry, but the children of two men who are full brothers may on no account do so, indeed, may hardly speak to one another. No word exists to express uncle. All brothers are alike called father by their nephews, but the nephew has various rights greater than those of a son. In the matter of succession it is the brother, not the son, who succeeds as head of the family, and _he_ is succeeded by _his_ brother; finally, the succession reverts to the eldest son of the eldest brother. This order is, however, liable to modification by the rank of the mother, or the personal influence of the nephew, who enjoys most singular privileges. He is called a _vasu_, and in certain districts is allowed the extraordinary prerogative of claiming anything he wishes which belongs to his uncle or the uncle’s vassals, especially the uncle on the mother’s side. If the nephew is a _vasu levu_—_i.e._, the son of a high-born woman by a high chief—there is practically no limit to the exactions to which he may subject his unfortunate uncle. He may appropriate his new canoe, his best garments, his valuable curtains, mats, club, necklace—whatever he covets; and the uncle has no redress,—the action is _vaka Viti_ (custom of Fiji), and that argument is unanswerable. I have even heard of a nephew of a chief of Rewa who, having quarrelled with his uncle, exercised this right to the extent of seizing his store of gunpowder, and employing it against him.