Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/166

 136 FIJI A^'D THE FIJIA2s"S. the wishes of the female concerned, who, in these matters, may have no will of her own. I saw a daughter of the King of Lakemba leave for Mbua. She was a fine girl, of very amiable manners, and a general favourite. Her intended husband was Tanoa, a man quite old enough to be her great-grandfather. There was something really affecting about the separation from the companions of her girlhood; and how she managed to bear such a weight of grief, aggravated by the hugs and embraces of a dozen persons at once, for so long a time, and in such hot weather, I could not understand. Such ladies are under the care of a duenna, who accompanies them, together with the servants given by the bride's father. A Princess of first rank had ten female servants from her father, and five from her husband. One, two, or three, is more com- monly the number. These attendants are sometimes called the tauvaki, a, word which combines the meaning of " menial " and " pet." I saw a young girl of good family, who was given to the daughter of Tuikilakila, brought in form to that Chief. As she was presented in the way usually observed in giving a bride, I will describe the ceremo" ny. She was brought in at the principal entrance by the King's aunt and a few matrons, and then, led only by the old lady, approached the King. She was an interesting girl of fifteen, glistening with oil, wear- ing a new likv, and a necklace of carved ivory points, radiating fi-om her neck, and turning upwards. The King then received from his aunt the girl, with two whales' teeth, which she carried in her hand. When she was seated at his feet, his Majesty repeated a list of their gods, and finished by praying that " the girl might live, and bring forth male chil. dren." To her friends — two men who had come in at the back door — he gave a musket, begging them not to think hardly of his having taken their child, as the step was connected with the good of the land, in which their interests, as well as his own, were involved. Tlie musket, which was about equivalent to the necklace, the men received with bent heads, muttering a short prayer, the close of which was exactly the same as they had offered for years, " Death to Natawa ! " Tuikilakila then took off the girl's necklace, and kissed her. The gayest moment of her life, as far as dress was concerned, was past ; and I felt that the untying of that polished ornament from her neck was the first down- ward step to a dreary future. Perhaps her forebodings were like mine, for she wept ; and the tears which glanced off her bosom and rested in distinct drops on her oily legs, were seen by the King, who said, " Do not weep. Are you going to leave your own land? You* are but going a voyage, soon to return. Do not think it is a hardship to go to Mbau. Here you have to work hard ; there you will rest. Here you