Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/126

 100 FIJI AND THE FIJIAKS. which those on the canoe are subject, it is expected that they will stop and report their errand : should they neglect this, they are regarded as smugglers, trading for their own independent advantage ; an offence sometimes punished with death. Covetousness will not even let the dead rest. On my last visit to Nai Vuki, I found the lotu people in trouble about a disturbed grave, wherein they had buried a Christian female, wrapping the body in a few yards of calico. The shroud of the dead woman excited the cupidity of the heathen, who resolved to strip the corpse, in which attempt they were surprised and defeated. Theft is regarded in Fiji as a very small offence, and even as none at all when practised on a foreigner. When I was preparing once to visit the Yaro district on Vanuambalavu, a Chief who had some influ- ence there kindly gave me a letter of introduction to the Yaro Chiefs, in which he requested them to " treat me kindly, to prevent their peo- ple being impudent, and stealing the poles, sculls, and ropes belonging to my canoe." Meaner men steal under the direct sanction of the Chiefs, who are quite ready to punish them if detected, as, by so doing, they effect a threefold object : they appear to discountenance the practice, satisfy the plaintiff, and chastise the thief for his unskilfulness. Success, without discovery, is deemed quite enough to make thieving virtuous, and a participation in the ill-gotten gain honorable. The Rewa Chief who told a gentleman of the United States Navy that he wished to send his daughters to the Mission school, but could not because the attendants there were such thieves, used to supply the Missionaries with servants, who had special charge from him to rob those with whom they lived. Boats are often robbed by parties visit- ing them for that express purpose, but ostensibly for barter. Although these cannot be out of sight, and are closely watched, yet, under such circumstances, they are adroit enough to steal a musket or a pig of lead, and drop it overboard. When the boat is gone, a diver brings up the booty. A master of a vessel lately complained of some natives stowing away an iron pot in their sleeping mats ; and the truth of this unlikely trick is countenanced by one played upon us at Lakemba, where a na- tive managed to secrete a dinner-plate under his narrow masi. A list of things stolen from the Missionaries would not be a short one ; and the surprise of Europeans at some of the articles named, would not exceed the perplexity of the pilferers in endeavouring to discover theii use.