Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/182

 152 FIJI AOT) THE riJIANS. two days before. We talked a little, and he was perfectly collected On being told, therefore, on the morning of the 24th, that the King was dead, and that preparations were being made for his interment, I could scarcely credit the report. The ominous word preparing urged me to hasten without delay to the scene of action ; but my utmost speed failed to bring me to Nasima — the King's house — in time. The moment I entered, it was evident that, as far as concerned two of the women, I was too late to save their lives. The effect of that scene was overwhelming. Scores of deliberate murderers, in the very act, sur- rounded me : yet there was no confusion, and, except a word from him who presided, no noise, but only an unearthly, horrid stillness. Nature seemed to lend her aid to deepen the dread effect : there was not a breath stirring in the air, and the half subdued light in that hall of death showed every object with unusual distinctness. All was motion- less as sculpture, and a strange feeling came upon me, as though I was becoming a statue. To speak was impossible ; I was unconscious that I breathed ; and involuntarily, or, rather, against my will, I sank to the floor, assuming the cowering posture of those who were not actually engaged in murder. My arrival was during a hush, just at the crisis of death, and to that strange silence must be attributed my emotion ; for I was but too familiar with murders of this kind, neither was there anything novel in the apparatus employed. Occupying the centre of that large room were two groups, the business of which could not be mistaken. All sat on the floor ; the middle figure of each group being held in a sitting posture by several females, and hidden by a large veil. On either side of each veiled figure was a company of eight or ten strong men, one company hauling against the other on a white cord, which was passed twice round the neck of the doomed one, who thus, in a few miimtes, ceased to live. As my self-command was returning, the group furthest from me began to move ; the men slackened their hold, and the attendant women removed the large cover- ing, making it into a couch for the victim. As that veil was lifted, some of the men beheld the distorted features of a mother, whom they had helped to murder, and smiled with satisfaction as the corpse was laid out for decoration. Convulsive struggles on the part of the poor creature near me showed that she still lived. She was a stout woman, and some of the executioners jocosely invited those who sat near to have pity, and help them. At length the women said, " She is cold." The fatal cord fell ; and, as the covering was raised, I saw dead the obedient wife and unwearied attendant of the old King. Leaving the women to adjust her hair, oil her body, cover her face with vermilion,