Land Diving Ritual, Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

In 1952, a land dive was performed for a French resident commissioner. British and French troops attacked some villages based on the rumor of a developing cargo cult. Several older men were arrested, though their sons offered to take their place. The men were let go in return for a land dive performance for the French resident commissioner. During the demonstration, the villagers sang a chant in Sa, incomprehensible to the resident commissioner, which noted the irony that the white resident commissioner thought he was strong, whereas it was the black men who were jumping from the towers.
• Queen Elizabeth II incident
In 1974, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain visited Vanuatu and observed the spectacle. The British colonial administration wanted the queen to have an interesting tour, and convinced the Anglican villagers of the Melanesian Mission at Point Cross to do so. However, the vines were not elastic enough because it was the wrong season, the middle of the wet season. One diver had both lianas broken, broke his back from falling, and later died in a hospital. Until 2006, when a diver broke his spine after landing badly and subsequently died in hospital, this was the only fatality in memory.