Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/131

 THE PEOPLE. 105 direction, each fearing lest lie should • be clubbedj as a caution to survi- vors to be more careful. Such a feeling of suspicious fear must necessarily accompany the lawless cruelty, treachery, and utter disregard of the value of human life, which are so prominently characteristic of the inhabitants of Fiji. To multiply most terrible proofs of these would be easy. But such details are unnecessary, and only serve to awaken feelings of horror and disgust. Atrocities of the most fearful kind have come to my knowl- edge, which I dare not record here. And it must not be forgotten that, in the case of murder, the act is not a simple one, ending in the first bloodshed. The blow which falls fatally on one man, may be said to kill several more ; for, if the victim is married, his wife or wives will be strangled as soon as the husband's death becomes known, and often ihe man's mother will die at the same time. Then again, if the deed is such as to justify the perpetrator's claim to receiving " a new name," other murders will be necessary to complete the ceremony. He and his friends must silima — " wash " — his club, if possible, within a few weeks of the first csime ; that is, the club must spill more blood. Murder is not an occasional thing in Fiji ; but habitual, systematic, and classed among ordinary transactions. All the evils of the most licentious sensuality are found among. this people. In the case of the Chiefs, these are fully carrjed out, and the vulgar follow as far as their means will allow. But here, even at the risk of making the picture incomplete, there may not be given a faithful representation. After so dark a portraiture as the above, the reader will scarcely expect to find affection much developed in the Fijian heart, at any rate beyond the mere animal attachments, such as are manifested by the lower order of creatures, for instance, towards their young. But some- thing higher than this is really to be found, although not reaching the loftier standard of more enlightened nations. In the case of this people, however, allowance must be made for the manner in which custom and training have directed the expression of their affections, or we shall be in danger of denying the existence of the principle, because developed in a manner different from that to which we are accustomed. To mur- der a wife, that she may be the companion of her deceased husband in Hades, or a mother, that her son may not be buried alone, would be repugnant to every Christian heart ; but not so to the Fijian. I do not doubt that misdirected affection influences some sons to destroy her who bore them, and some daughters to weep when Christian charity has rescued their mothers from the fatal noose. But the exhibition of