ཨུདམསཀཏཏམཱངྒ ན ས ཝནས། ནཡས་་་་་་་
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by piles of taro, woven mats, pigs' carcasses and turtles to make short speeches of presentation, which were acknowledged on behalf of His Royal Highness by a Fijian spokesman. As a climax to the welcome, yaqona (or kava) was prepared to the accompaniment of appropriate chants. One felt that the Chiefs' customary acclaim to the Prince as he drank this forbidding-looking brew without raising the coconut cup from his lips was well matched by the unspoken admiration of all the overseas visitors present.
3. These ceremonies were followed by Fijian and Indian dances. It was the first time that the Indian community had been associated with traditional Fijian welcoming ceremonies and the decision had not been taken lightly by the Fijian Chiefs.
4. After Prince Charles had made a short speech of thanks the retreat ceremony was impeccably performed by the band of the Fijian Military Forces and the Union flag was lowered as the flag of Fiji for the last time. The flag used is likely to be preserved in the Fiji Museum.
5. On 10 October the crowds and the visiting dignitaries reassembled in the Albert Park for Independence Day itself. The Prince of Wales read a personal message from Her Majesty The Queen and presented the Fiji constitutional instruments to the Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. In his speech of thanks the Prime Minister looked forward to maintaining after independence "the warm feelings of our people for the Crown, the United Kingdom and its people ". He went on to lay stress on the need for tolerance, goodwill and understanding between the races of Fiji. "We not only take on responsibility for ourselves" he said, "we take it on for each other."
6. As the new flag of Fiji was raised, aircraft of the New Zealand Air Force flew by overhead, a battery fired a salute and flags broke simultaneously all around the park and on Government offices and other buildings nearby. The Prime Minister had decided to follow the Australian and New Zealand precedents in retaining the Union flag in the top left-hand quarter of the Fijian flag but, so that it could be more easily distinguished, he chose a background of light rather than dark blue. The effect is not only pleasant but gives greater prominence to the Union flag. Indeed, after the flag raising one visitor remarked that there seemed to be more Union Jacks in Suva than ever before.
7. His Royal Highness then followed a very full day's programme.
He attended a luncheon party given by Sir Robert Foster, the Governor-General, an afternoon's "Festival of Youth", a young people's buffet dinner and finally (wearing a flowered bula shirt) an evening of informal entertainment by representatives of the various communities making up the population of Fiji. The day concluded with a firework display, the final set piece incorporating the Fiji flag, a depiction of Her Majesty The Queen and the words “God bless Fiji ”.
8. On Sunday 11 October the Prince of Wales attended an ecumenical service in which religious leaders of the Protestant, Roman Catholic, Hindu, Sikh and Moslem communities participated and led their congregations in prayers of dedication to the new nation.
9. On 12 October His Royal Highness embarked on HMS Charybdis for a visit to Levuka, the old capital of Fiji, in the course of which he unveiled an independence plaque near the spot where the Deed of Cession was signed in 1874. The afternoon had been set aside for a fish-drive on Toberua reef. But rough seas made it impossible for fishermen to see the fish. The open punt carrying the Prince received a buffeting and was caught in the reefs by the receding tide,
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