Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/177

 MAl^NEES AND CUSTOMS. 147 tions his foe, that his children may perpetuate his hatred, — it may be against his own son, — and kill him at the first opportunity. The name of the hated one is uttered aloud, if not as the object of immediate vengeance, yet of gloomy and disastrous predictions, which never fail to reach the ears where they are least welcome. Deep concern is often excited by these dying words, and the impressions made on the minds of those to whom the carrying out of their dark purport is intrusted, is indelible. Thus, with the deep marks of a murderous, unforgiving spirit upon him, does the heathen pass away to his account. When a Chief is either dead or dying, the fact is announced to his various connexions ; and should he be of supreme power, the principal persons in his dominions come to pay their respects, and offer a present to him. If he is merely the head of a tribe, the chief members of that tribe assemble for the same purpose. The death of a male is announced by the firing of muskets, or by dolorous blasts on the trumpet-shell. On Vanua Levu, this is the signal for plunder, the nearest relatives rushing to the house to appropriate all they can seize belonging to those who lived there with the deceased. Valuables are therefore removed, and hidden in time. The general custom, however, takes the form of an eastern mourning. The people nearest at hand bewail the dead in a sudden outburst of grief — uncurbed, excessive, and outrageous. Their cries are heard far away, and render needless the solemn tones of the passing bell. Numbers, from all parts, run together to the place where the deceased lies, and from each is required an extravagant demonstra- tion of sorrow, but of short continuance. Some of the women accom- pany their cry with gesticulations indicative of great anguish. " War ! War ! Precious ! Valiant ! " and similar exclamations, rend the air on all sides. I have heard the dead questioned in the style which has pre- vailed among every people where similar modes of lamentation have been observed. " Why did you die 1 Were you weary of us ^ We are around you now. Why do you close your eyes upon us ? " Some- times these wailings continue through the night, and their dreary, dis- mal effect cannot be imagined by any one who has not heard them. The tones are those of hopeless despair, and thrill through "nerve, and vein, and bone." The process of laying out is often commenced several hours before the person is actually dead. I have known one take food after- wards'; and another who lived eighteen hours after. All this time, in the opinion of a Fijian, the man was dead. Eating, drinking, and talk- ing, he says, are the involuntary actions of the body, — of the " empty shell," as he calls it, the soul having taken its departure. Laying out