Legend - Sacred Turtles of Kadavu

On the island of Kadavu (pronounced Kandavu) one of the larger islands of the Fiji Group and some fifty miles by water from the capital city of Suva, is the Fijian village of Namuana. Namuana nestles at the foot of a beautiful bay adjacent to the Government Station in Vunisea Harbour. Here the island of Kadavu narrows down to a very isthmus and by climbing the hill behind Namuana village one can stand on the saddle and look out to the sea to the south and to the north. Legend says that in the days gone by the warriors of Kadavu slid their canoes on rollers up over the narrow neck of land to save the long journey around the east and west of Kadavu island.

The women of Namuana village still preserve a very strange ritual, that of calling turtles from the sea. If you visit Namuana village to see the turtle calling, your schooner anchors in a beautiful bay right under the cliffs of a rocky headland. You land on the beach and then either sit on the rocks under the bluffs on the beach or climb a rocky tract to a point some 150 or 200 feet up the rock face. Here you have a splendid view and find assembled all the maidens of the village of Namuana singing a strange chant. As they chant, if you look very carefully down into the water of the bay, you will see giant turtles rise one by one to lie on the surface listening to the music.

This is not a fairy tale and actually does take place and the water in this area is forbidden for the fishing of turtles.

Another interesting sideline to this performance is that if any member of the nearby village of Nabukelevu is present, then the turtles will not rise to the surface of the bay and turtle calling will have to be abandoned.

As is usually the case with such strange ceremonies and customs in Fiji, the turtle calling is based on an ancient legend of Fiji still passed on from father to son among the Fijian people of Kadavu.

Many, many years ago in the beautiful village of Namuana on the island of Kadavu, lived a very lovely princess called Tinaicoboga who was the wife of the chief of Namuana village. Tinaicoboga had a charming daughter called Raudalice and the two women often went fishing on the reefs around their home.

On one particular occasion, Tinaicobaga and Raudalice went further afield than usual and waded out onto the submerged reefs which is just out from the rocky headline to the east of the bay on which Namuana village is situated.

They became so engrossed with their fishing that they did not notice the stealthy approach of a great war canoe filled with fishermen from the nearby village of Nabukelevu. This village is situated in the shadow of Mount Washington, the highest mountain on Kadavu island. Today, Mount Washington is well known to mariners because there is a splendid lighthouse there warning them of the dangers of the rocky coastline.

Suddenly the fishermen leapt from their canoe and seized the two women, bound their hands and feet with vine and tossed them into the bottom of the canoe and set off in great haste for home. Although they pleaded for their lives, the cruel warriors from Nabukelevu were deaf to their pleading and would not listen to their entreaties.

The Gods of the sea, however, were kind and soon a great storm arose and the canoe was tossed about by huge waves which almost swamped it. As the canoe was foundering in the sea the fishermen were astounded to notice that the two women lying in the water in the hold of the canoe had suddenly changed into turtles and to save their own lives, the men seized them and threw them into the sea.