Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/178

 14:8 FIJI AND THE FUIANS. consists in removing any old clothes which may be about the sick man washing him, if needful, oiling his body, and covering the upper part with black paint, so as to give him the appearance of a warrior. A large new 77iasi is thrown loosely round his loins, a clean head-dress put on, and his lower extremities are covered with a kind of sheet. Orna- ments on the arms and forehead are often added. When these dec- orations are complete, the surrounding friends think of nothing but the man's death, acting as though his recovery would disconcert their plans, and therefore be by no means desirable. When really dead, a ponderous club, newly oiled, is laid by his right side, and the lifeless hand holds 'one or more whales' teeth. This custom is analogous to that of the ancient Greeks, in placing an oholus on the lips of the corpse ; but, instead of the sweet cake taken to propitiate Cerberus, the Fijians dispatch a strong man to Secure the infernal guard until the chiefly ghost has passed by. The next step is the preparation of the loloJcu. This word expresses anything done out of respect for the dead, but especially the stran- gling of friends. This custom may have had a religious origin, but at present the victims are not sacrificed as offerings to the gods, but merely to propitiate and honour the names of the departed. It is strengthened by misdirected affection, joined with wrong notions of a future life. The idea of a Chieftain going into the world of spirits un- attended, is most repugnant to the native mind. So strong is the feel- ing in favour of the lolohu, that Christianity is disliked because it rigor- ously discountenances the cherished custom, yhen the Christian Chief of Dama fell by the concealed musketry of the Nawathans, a stray shot entered the forehead of a young man at some distance from him, and killed him. The event was regarded by many of the nominal Christians as most fortunate, since it provided a companion for the spirit of the slain Chief. Ordinarily, the first victim for. the lolohu is the man's wife, and more than one, if he has several. I have knovm the mother to be strangled too. In the case of a Chief who has a confidential compan- ion, this his right-hand man, in order to prevent a disruption of their intimacy, ought to die with his superior; and a neglect of this duty would lower him in public opinion. I knew one who es- caped ; but the associate of Ra Mbombo, the Chief of Weilea, was, together with the head wife of the deceased, murdered, to accompany him into the regions of the dead. The bodies of these victims are called " grass " for bedding the Chief's grave. When ^Mbithi, who was a Chief of high rank and greatly esteemed in Mathuata, died, (1840,)