Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/120

 112 FEEJEE ISLANDS still be regarded as the national standards of Feejee. Capt. Wilkes says of them : " They are truly wretches in the strongest sense of the term, and degraded beyond the conception of civilized people." Strangulation of women, especially widows, infanticide, and other enor- mities prevail to a frightful extent. Fore- most among their describable vices stands can- nibalism ; not only are prisoners taken in war consumed, but persons of the same tribe and village fall victims to the greed of their neigh- bors. The cooked human body is termed in the Feejee language lakolo or "long pig." As an English gentleman may send a choice haunch of venison as a present to another, so one Feejee chief will send a stalwart subject roasted entire like an ox, carefully trussed, and escorted by a procession to the residence of an ally. The epicures of Feejee prefer the flesh of women to that of men, and deem the thick of the arm and the thigh the tit-bits of the lalcolo. The women are seldom allowed to taste it. The flesh of white men is held in low repute ; it is said to be comparatively insipid or tainted with tobacco. A Feejeean is always armed, and war is the normal condition. The mountain fastnesses are well fortified with strong palisades and stone breastworks, pierced with loopholes. The arms chiefly used are clubs, spears, battle axes, the bow, the sling, and the musket. A peculiar weapon is the missile club, which is worn in the girdle, some- times in pairs. It is a short stick, with a knob at one end, is hurled with great precision, and is a favorite weapon with assassins. The sick and aged request their sons to strangle them, or, if they are too slow to make this request, their sons suggest to them that they have lived long enough. To be strangled or buried alive by one's children is considered a most honor- able death. They expect to be in the next world exactly as they were here, and affection- ate children are unwilling to have their parents pass into the next world in an infirm state, and therefore strangle or bury them alive out of kindness. The relatives hold a wake over the intended victim while living and anointed for the sepulchre, and go into mourning after the entombment. The signs of mourning are the cropping of the hair and the joints of the small toe or little finger. Another remarkable custom is the loloku or strangling of the wives and next friends of the deceased. Abortion is practised to a great extent by medicated waters or mechanical means. Boys are circumcised when from seven to twelve years old. The native religions are local ; each island has its own gods, traditions, and superstitions. All the systems belong to the lowest types of poly- theism, and all are impregnated with the filth and savageness which characterize the actual existence of the people. The mythologies have some features in common ; they retain the dis- tinction between dii minores and dii majores, between gods and demigods. The latter class is made up chiefly of deceased chiefs and re- spected ancestors. Monsters and other objects of wonder are admissible to this class. Most of the gods are supposed to have jurisdiction only over the tribes, islands, or districts where they are worshipped. Each trade has its tu- telary deities. The Feejeeans have no idols, but reverence certain stones as shrines of the god, and hold certain birds and fishes as sacred. Every Feejeean considers himself under the protection of some special god, and refrains from eating the animal which is his symbol. Each chief has his ambati, or priest, who acts in concert with him, and helps him govern his clansmen. The priests are known by an oval frontlet of scarlet feathers, and a long-toothed comb made of several pieces of wood fastened together with much ingenuity. There are priestesses, but few of sufficient importance to have a temple. The priests are consulted as oracles; the responses are given after convul- sions, supposed to be caused by the presence of the god. There are various modes of divina- tion, all of the most childish character, such as by biting a leaf or pouring water down the arm. They have a strong belief in all sorts of apparitions, witches, ghosts, wizards, and the evil eye. They believe in a sort of fairies who dance on the hills by moonlight and sing songs. The future world in their opinion is much the same as the present. But concerning the doc- trines of the Feejeean religion it is scarcely possible to learn anything. The people know nothing, and the priests dislike to communicate their knowledge. Burotu is the name of their place of departed spirits, and is said to be a most delightful abode ; but the Feejeeans be- lieve that, except for great chiefs, it is very difficult to pass into it. The only way by which an inferior naan can hope to gain admis- sion is by telling a lie to the god, and proclaim- ing himself a chief with so much apparent truthfulness that he is allowed to enter. In a large number of the islands, a particular town in Vanua Levu is thought to be the entrance to the spirit world. The houses in this town are built with their doors opposite to each other, so that the shade may pass through without interruption. The inhabitants speak in low tones, and if at a little distance commu- nicate their thoughts by signs. Sneezing is ominous, and varies in its luck, according as it proceeds from the right or left nostril. The temples, lure, or fully ~bure Icaloo (anything wonderful, whether good or bad, is denoted by Icaloo), are built on a mound of earth, and found in every village, and some of the villages have many of them. No labor is thought too great for the decoration of a bure. Their marvellous skill in plaiting sinnet is best shown in such a building ; every beam, post, and pil- lar is entirely covered with the most beautiful patterns, chiefly in black and red ; even large cords are made of sinnet and hung in festoons from the eaves. But these bures, though con- sidered temples, are mostly used for secular purposes. Visitors are generally quartered in