Funeral Rites For A Fijian Chief
pp. 43-44 · Read in the full issue
WHEN Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba, Tui Nayau and paramount chief of the Tongan influenced Lau islands of Fiji, died on his 69th birthday in October he received a funeral befitting his high rank. Before his body was ceremoniously taken by sea to the chiefly burial grounds of Lakeba, it lay in state in Suva at the house of his son, Ratu K. K. T. Mara. Women dressed in black lined the sides of the great carpet of tapa outside the house as the casket arrived (below) and sombre Fijians, carry ing war clubs, stood guard in the grounds during the lying-in-state. Thousands of Fijians paid homage by bringing gifts of tabua (whale's teeth), mats, tapa and food.
P hotos: J. P. Sinclair (top) and P-NG Extension Services.
Wau, centre of the Morobe goldfields of New Guinea, seen from the air, its famed uphill airstrip dominating the valley.
Today, timber is taking over from gold, and at nearby Bulolo a million pine-tree seedlings are raised in nurseries each year.