I was in the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Fiji for a good while. I had been severely injured in an accident and, I am told, near death at one time. I survived the immediate trauma and embarked on the long business of mending my body in what was called the Male Paying Ward because we who occupied it could afford the modest fees for our operations and care. The Fijian nurses set about mending my mind with unfailing humour.
My fellow patients came and went, some I fear to their respective heaven or hell depending on their religious preference. In which case the smiling nurses would cut the toenails of the corpses because they continue to grow a while. Sometimes relatives argued across the remains of their late kinsmen about unresolved family matters.
It was inevitable that we patients should talk about death in the circumstances. One of my Fijian neighbours in the ward had an interesting slant on the subject. He was from the island of Bega (pronounced Benga) where members of some families occasionally displayed their immunity to burns by psyching themselves up and dancing on very hot stones. Sadly, some canny folk realised that this might be a profitable tourist attraction so watching the Fire Walkers of Bega found its way onto ‘bucket lists’ along with swimming with dolphins and watching the wildebeest migration on the Serengeti.
My ward neighbour had walked barefooted for most of his life. When he was confined to a hospital bed for a long time the thick skin on his feet began to crack into deep and painful fissures. The famous Bega Fire Walkers may benefit from the extensive callouses on their feet.
He told me the story of the serpent god who lived in a cave in the Nakavada mountains in the interior of Viti Levu, the largest of Fiji’s numerous islands. When you die, he said, your soul journeys into the afterlife via the serpent’s cave where the scaly deity decides if it goes to heaven or hell. He was unable to tell me the criteria the serpent applied when making its decisions. Some modern religions offer more help in this regard by guaranteeing exclusive access to eternal paradise in return for obedience on earth.
DON'T KILL ME NOW 