Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/191

MANNEES AND CUSTOMS. 161 would not listen to this kind proposal, but said, " Let man die as a rat dies." And he prevailed. The following contains the native reason why " death takes us be- fore we are ready or old." Between Kasavu and Nanutha, off the south- east coast of Vanua Levu, is a small island, which, in the people's imagination, bears resemblance to a canoe, and on this the souls in those parts pass over the river of death. The island lies parallel with the main, the reason assigned for w^hich is as follows. When first brought there, the commander ordered it to be run with its bows on the shore, that the passengers might board it in good order, — the aged first, and so on down to the children. This arrangement was set aside by others, who said that it should rather lie " broadside on," that all ages might come on board indiscriminately. And so it was. Leaving the notions of Fijians about the soul and a future state to be stated in comiexion with their religion, the subject which next demands notice is one of painful and revolting interest, viz., their cannibalism. Until recently, there were many who refused to believe in the ex- istence of this horrible practice in modern times ; but such incredulity has been forced to yield to indisputable and repeated evidence, of which Fiji alone can supply enough to convince a universe, that man can fall so low as habitually to feed upon his fellow-men. Cannibalism among this people is one of their institutions ; it is interwoven in the elements of society ; it forms one of their pursuits, and is regarded by the mass as a refinement. Human bodies are sometimes eaten in connexion with the building of a temple or canoe ; or on launching a large canoe ; or on taking down the mast of one which has brought some Chief on a visit ; or for the feasting of such as take tribute to a principal place. A Chief has been known to kill several men for rollers, to facilitate the launching of his canoes, the " rollers " being afterwards cooked and eaten. Formerly a Chief would kill a man or men on laying down a keel for a new canoe, and try to add one for each fresh plank. These were always eaten as "food for the carpenters." I believe that this is never done now; neither is it now common to murder men in order to wash the deck of a new canoe with blood. This is sometimes the case, and would, with- out doubt, have been done on a large scale when a first-rate canoe was completed at Somosomo, had it not been for the exertion of the Mis- sionaries then stationed there. Vexed that the noble vessel had reached Mbau unstained with blood, the Mbau Chiefs attacked a town, and killed fourteen or fifteen men to eat on taking down the mast for the first time. It was owing to Christian influence that men were not killed at