Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/181

 MANNEES AND CUSTOMS. 151 sized squares, arranged diagonally. Common graves are only edged round with stones, or have nothing more than one set at the head and another at the foot. The lady named above was greatly beloved by Tuithakau, and he buried her in costly style. A good double canoe, forty feet long, was placed on a large mound cast up for that purpose, and faced with stones. It was then imbedded in earth, and the decks covered over with fine shingle, on which mats were spread to receive the body, which was covered with sand, and upon it were placed the remains of the boy of whom the Queen had been so fond. The body was further protected with a large roof, made of a kind of mahogany, and orna- mented with pure white cowries. On some graves I have seen large cairns of stones, which are sometimes set up also to mark the spot where a man has died. On some few graves I have observed a bas- ket of sundry ornaments which used once to please the deceased who lay below. Only the burial places of Chiefs are tabuy and those only to natives. A general unwillingness is shown to disturb the dead. On my first going to Somosomo, I entertained a hope that the aged King would be allowed to die a natural death, although such an event would be without precedent. The usage of the land had been to inti- mate that the King's end was near by cleaning round about the house, after which his eldest son, when bathing with his father, took a favour- able opportunity, and dispatched him with a club. On inquiry made on the spot, I found that this, according to the account of the Chiefs of Somosomo, was the practice of their neighbours at Vuna. This state- ment relieved my mind ; for the kind old Chief was a general favourite, and it was painful to think that so cruel an end awaited him. Com- modore Wilkes justly describes him as "a fine specimen of a Fiji Islander ; and he bore no slight resemblance to our ideas of an old Koman. His figure was particularly tall and manly, and he had a head fit for a Monarch." Speaking of him afterwards, the American Commodore says, " He looks as if he were totally distinct from the scenes of horror that are daily taking place around him, and his whole countenance has the air and expression of benevolence." This is all true ; yet there was never a more besotted heathen, or a more invet- erate cannibal, than the man thus portrayed, and whose last hours may fitly be described here. The venerable Chieftain grew feeble towards the middle of 1845, but not so as to prevent his taking an occasional walk. About August, however, he was obliged to keep his mat, and I often called, and endeavoured to instruct without irritating him. I visited him on the 21st, and was surprised to find him much better than he had been