They were exceedingly fond of merriment and pleasure, and they
seized every favourable opportunity to amuse themselves, feasting at
the same time on fish, fruits and provisions. Gopti or family feasts
were given on the visit of a friend or a stranger ; on the return from
a successful fishing excursion, or on the execution of any great enter-
prise. A solemn festival called gopot, which was always accompanied
by singing and dancing, was celebrated on the occasion of a marriage,
on the birth of a son in the family of the chief, on the conclusion of
peace, on the launching of a canoe, or on the capture of a tortoise or
some gigantic fish. The successful fisherman, who was lucky enough
to catch a fish of great size, made a signal as he entered the port,



CHAMORKES. 389

■which, as soon as it was seen, attracted the whole village community
to the beach, carrying flower garlands and young palm leaves to crown
the favourite of fortune ; and they conducted him home in triumph
amidst loud applause and congratulations. The fisherman, on his
return, presented the colossal fish to his wife who, according to the
prevalent custom, presented it, in turn, to the nearest female rela-
tion of her husband, and in this manner it passed from hand to hand
until it reached a woman that had no friend to whom she could send
it. The fish was then divided between the lucky fisherman, and all
those to whom it had been successively offered. This practice was
strictly followed even if during the time that elapsed in the successive
stages of its wanderings, the fish had commenced to putrify. The
same formality was observed when a tortoise was taken ; if it was
captured by a single person each of the thirteen shells was marked
with a hole, and a new hole was added at each additional capture,
for the increased number of holes increased the circulating value of
the shell. It was also a general custom to send, on all great cere-
monial festivities, cooked rice to the nearest female relation, which
made the prescribed- round like the fish and turtle.
