Bau - Settlements

Although the focus of the chiefdom was Bau Island, there were many tributary towns and villages, each with their own territory up and down the Tailevu coast, along the north coast of the delta, and on nearby islands in the Koro Sea. During the period of greatest turbulence, villages were Elaborately defended. Those in the swamplands of the delta, in particular, were surrounded with impenetrable barriers of fences and ditches strengthened with concealed and upraised spikes. Special structures included the temple to the ancestral god of the paramount chiefs, the house sites of the most important families, which were built on rock-stepped platforms, and the stone-bordered canoe docks, representing political supremacy. In order to provide more land, terraces were leveled and foreshore reclaimed, and a bridge was built to connect the islet with the mainland more than a kilometer away. During the time of friendship with Rewa, a 2-kilometer canal was dug linking adjacent channels of the great river to provide easier access between the two centers of power.