Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/172

 14:2 FIJI AND THE FIJIANS. heathen life. And this hapless condition they owe to polygamy, which rohs the parent of the comforts and endearments of married life, and gives the child but a slight advantage over the whelp of the brute. ]Iurder, in various forms, is the result of this vicious system. Great numbers produce sterility by drinking medicated waters pre- pared for that purpose, and many more kill their unborn children by mechanical means ; while, in the case of others, death follows imme- diately on birth. Scarcity and war, when they prevail, are often urged in excuse for these crimes. Perhaps the parents belong to two tribes which are at enmity, in which case the mother, rather than multiply the foes of her tribe, will destroy her progeny. In 1850, the Mbua Chief took a principal wife to his home, whereupon another of his wives, in a fit of jealousy, disappointed him by destroying the child which he expected shortly to be born. Nandi, one of whose wives was pregnant, left her to dwell with a second. The forsaken one awaited his return some months, and at last the child disappeared. This practice seemed to be universal on Vanua Levu, — quite a matter of course, — so that few women could be found who had not, in some way, been murderers. The extent of infanticide in some parts of this island reaches nearer to two-thirds than half. Abominable as it is, it is reduced to a system, the professors of which are to be found in every village. I know of no case after the child is one or two days old ; and all destroyed after birth are females, because they are useless in war, or, as some say, because they give so much trouble. But that the former is the prevailing opinion appears from such questions as these, put to persons who may plead for the little one's life : " Why live 1 Will she wield a club? Will she poise a spear?" When a professed murderess is not near, the mother does not hesitate to kill her o'vm babe. With two fingers she compresses its nostrils, while, with the thumb, she keeps the jaw up close ; a few convulsive struggles follow, and the cruel hand of the mother is unloosed, to dig a grave close by where she lies, in which the dead child is placed. Unlike the infanti- cide of the Hindus, that of Fiji is done from motives in which there is no admixture of anything like religious feeling or fear, but merely whim, expediency, anger, or indolence. In connexion with this subject, another proof may be given of the assertion already made, that the Fijians are made up of contradictions. They often adopt orphans, for whom they display far more love than for their own offspring. I should hesitate to give the following illus- tration, were I not well acquainted with most of the parties concerned. Tokanaua was slain in the last Mbua war, in 1844, leaving a son and