ABSTRACT
Where I lived in Fiji, in the chiefly village of Sawaieke on the island of Gau, people routinely remark on the most ordinary events. So, when the truck that twice a day makes a circuit of the villages is sighted in the distance or its horn heard someone is bound to say, Lori! Or it might be the doctor’s van, or the drum for church, or women returning from fishing, and all of us present can see or hear whatever it is, but even so someone always remarks ‘Doctor!’ or, ‘There beats the drum!’ or, ‘Here come the women from fishing!’ And any walk with others elicits similar remarks as the group passes a landmark: ‘Ia, the old village!’ or ‘Ia, Crabshit Pool!’ or ‘Ia, the school!’
