Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/176

 14:6 FIJI AND THE FIJLysrS. house, who made no secret of her errand. " I came," said she, " to see my friend, and inquire whether she was ready to be strangled ; but, as she is strong, we shall not strangle her yet." Soon after, her friends changed their minds, and deprived her of life to hasten her funeral. If sick persons have no friends, they are simply left to perish. Should they be among friends, they are cared for until they become troublesome, or, through weakness, offensive ; whereupon they are gen- erally put out of the way. The people near to Vatukali decide the question of a sick person's recovery by a visit to a famous mulamula tree, which is the index of death. If they find a branch of the tree newly broken off, they suppose that the person on whose account they pay the visit must die. If no branch is broken, recovery is expected. When a warrior meditates a daring deed, he says, " I shall come near to break- ing a branch of the mulamula to-day." The death of the patient being once determined, any appeal on his part is useless. Eatu Varani spoke of one among many whom he had caused to be buried alive. She had been weakly for a long time, and the Chief, thinking her likely to re- main so, had a grave dug. The curiosity of the poor girl was excited by loud exclamations, as though something extraordinary had appeared, and, on stepping out of the house, she was seized, and thrown into her grave. In vain she shrieked with horror, and cried out, " Do not bury me ! I am quite well now ! " Two men kept her down by standing on her, while others threw the soil in upon her, until she was heard no more. On Kanda^-u, sick persons are often thrown into a cave, where the dead are also deposited. It makes one sad to think that there is truth in what the people allege, as one reason for their anxiety to get rid of their sick. The malignity of the afflicted ones does not seem to be diminished by their bodily weakness ; for, when left alone, they will lie on the mats of their friends, and leave saliva on their drinking vessels, or even in their food, that they may thus communicate the disease to the healthy members of the household. When the hour of death is allowed to approach naturally, and the dying one is respectable, or the head of a family, the scene is certainly affecting. The patriarch calls his children around him, that he may say farewell, and give his parting advice. Tliis is generally commenced in the same way : '• I am going. You will remain." He then states any alteration he may wish in family affairs, or expresses his satisfaction with them as they are. At that hour of death, he never forgets an enemy, and at that time he never forgives one. The dying man men-