Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/175

 MANNERS AND CrSTOMS. 145 two-fold escape, rejoiced greatly, brought him home, attended him. for nearly two months, and had the satisfaction of witnessing his recovery. Soon after, through eating a piece of fowl, he suffered a relapse, so that his body became swollen, and his friends said that his breath smelt bad. They had received orders to go on a voyage the next day, and, as no one could be spared to look after the invalid, and to take him on the canoe might give him pain, and inconvenience his friends, they concluded that it would be best to strangle him ; which purpose, with his own consent, they carried out. His relatives kissed and wept over him ; strangled, buried, and mourned for him ; and the next day set out on their voyage. In the destruction of their decrepit parents, the Fijians sometimes plead affection, urging that it is a kindness to shorten the miserable period of second childhood. In their estimation, the use of a rope instead of the club is a mark of love so strong, that they wonder when a stronger is demanded. In many cases, however, no attempt is made to disguise the cruelty of the deed. It is a startling, but incontestable factj that in Fiji there exists a general system of parricide, which ranks too, in all respects, as a social institution. The ill-concealed cruelty of the people is further sho^vn in their treatment of the sick. Unless the afflicted one is of high rank, or valued for his services, the patience of his friends will be exhausted in a few days. Great effort was made on behalf of a Lakemba Princess who was sick, during my second year's residence on that island. The aid of the best native doctors was called in, and large offerings made to the gods, and a new temple begun, to secure their divine favour, but all in vain. Rich puddings, from sixteen to twenty-one feet in circumference, proved insufficient to attract the benignant notice of the gods j and, when all hope from that quarter was gone, the " lotu " was tried. The sick wom- an made a profession of Christianity, and, being placed under the kind care of Mr. and Mrs. Calvert, by God's blessing recovered. But very far different is the treatment of common people. Mr. Lyth found a woman in Somosomo who was in a very abject state through the protracted absence of her husband. For five Aveeks, although two women lived in the same house, she lay uncared for, becoming reduced to a mere skeleton. After this, she had food and medicine from the Mission Station, and improved. One morning, a servant of mine was taking her breakfast, but was met by her friends as they returned from her interment, who told him to take the food back. On reaching home he said that, on the previous day, he had found an old woman in the