The serpentine creator deity of Fiji. The shiftings and turnings of Ndengei in his cave were considered to be the cause of earthquakes. This god was chief of the so-called ‘root gods’, kalou-vu, the indigenous pantheon of the Fiji islands. Another serpent deity was Ratu-mai-mbula, who ruled the land of the dead. His other role was that of a god of fertility; he made the sap run in the trees and the crops sprout.