Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/144

 118 FIJI AlTD THE FUIANS. capable of the atrocities with which they are charged. But beneath all that apparent pleasantness and repose, there lurks strong elements of disquiet. A misarrangement or impropriety would cause a hundred bright eyes to flash with anger, which, though suppressed then, would burst forth with a deadlier effect on a future day. It would be regarded as extremely wrong for even a high Chief to ask to taste food from the common stock before it had been formally presented to him. The memory of a Vanua Levu Chief is execrated to this day, for having been guilty of this breach of etiquette. The most admirable order is observed at these feasts. Gentlemen of the United States Navy who witnessed the ceremonies of a Fijian entertainment record their opinion thus : " Their feasts are attended with much ceremony and form, and evince a degree of politeness and good breeding that was unexpected, and cannot but surprise all who witness it." That there is sufficient reason for caution in the observance of es- tablished routine, the following facts given by an unquestionable authority, will show. A Naitasiri Chief was on a visit at Makongai, attended by some of his Mbatis. Before one of these he ate part of an old cocoa-nut, which, in the estimation of the Mbati, was a luxury, and, as a piece was not given to him, he deemed himself insulted. Intent on revenge, he shortly joined the enemies of his master ; and a victory which they subsequently achieved, gave the offended IMbati the opportunity he de- sired. He intercepted his former Chief, who was fleeing for life, and who, on seeing him, reckoned on his help, asking to be spared ; but the unforgiving vassal replied, "It is in my mind to spare you; but. Sir, the nut ! Do you not remember the nut ? For that you must die." The word was followed by a death-blow. Another case concerned a Chief of Tai Vungalei. He sat down to eat with his father-in-law, and a cooked guana was provided for each. In passing the one intended for his father, the young man broke off" part of its tail. A dark scowl covered his relation's face at this, and, at an early opportunity, he slew his son, having first told him that he could not brook the insult put upon him by the breaking of the guana's tail! I have often been struck by the promptness with which a party of natives, while eating, have transferred their meal to others passing by ; and, so long as I was a tyro in native matters, I liked to regard this as a sign of the people's hospitality. But the assurance of many among themselves compelled me to believe that this act of seeming liberality