Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/187

 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 15T cover over the grave, went singing in a clear tone, " E-ui-e^^ while another party answered " E yara ; " thus producing a solemn and agree- able effect on the mind of a stranger. While still ignorant of Fijian manners, I approached such a company as I should a funeral procession at home ; but a loud burst of laughter told me that it was mere cere- mony without feeling. In the case of a Chief drowned at sea, or slain and eaten in war, the loloTcu is carefully observed, as well as if the deceased has died natur- ally and been buried in a strange land. But in these instances the grief of the survivors is more impassioned, and their desire to manifest it by dying, more enthusiastic. When Ea Mbithi, the pride of Somosomo, was lost at sea, seventeen of his wives were destroyed, After the news of the massacre of the Namena people at Viwa in 1839, eighty women were strangled to ac- company the spirits of their murdered husbands. Before leaving this dark subject, it demands more full and explicit examination. It has been said that most of the women thus destroyed are sacrificed at their own instance. There is truth in this statement ; but, unless other facts are taken into account, it produces an untruthful impression. Many are importunate to be killed, because they know that life would thenceforth be to them prolonged insult, neglect, and want. Very often, too, their resolution is grounded upon knowing that their friends or children have determined that they shall die. Some women have been known to carry to the grave the mats in which they and their .dead husbands were to be shrouded, and, on their arrival, have helped to dig their own tomb. They then took farewell of their friends. Some have submitted their neck to the cord, or seated them- selves in the grave, in silence. Others have spent their last breath in wishing for their friends success in war, plentiful crops, and whatever might make them happy. Generally such courage is forced, or the re- sult of despair. Death offers an escape from the suffering and wrong which await the woman who survives her husband ; and the dark grave is an asylum into which she hastens from " the bitterness and sting of taunting tongues." If the friends of the woman are not the most clamorous for her death, their indifference is construed into disrespect either for her late husband or his friends, and would be accordingly resented. Thus the friends and children of the woman are prompted to urge her death, more by self-interest than affection for her, and by fear of the survivors rather than respect for the dead. Another motive is to secure landed property belonging to the husband, to obtain which they are ready to