Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/188

 158 FIJI AND THE FIJIANS. sacrifice a daughter, a sister, or a mother. Many a poor widow has been urged by the force of such motives as these, more than by her own ap- parent ambition to become the favourite wife in the abode of spirits. The husbands of two Na Sau women were shot in war, and they were doomed to be strangled. They had a slight acquaintance with the truths of Christianity, and feared the future ; besides this, one of them was with child. A Native Teacher begged their lives on these consid- erations. The women wished to live, and said, " Our case is one to cause pity ; but we dare not live ; our friends dare not save us." Very few escape through a failure on the part of the executioners. It is said that one such case occurred on Ovalau. While the people sung their mournful dirges over a man and his wife, they were surprised by the latter showing signs of life. A messenger was at once sent to the Chief of the place, to inquire what was to be done. As he had already ex- perienced some trouble in the case through foreign intervention on be- half of the woman's life, he returned the following answer : " If any of you so love the woman as to die with her, strangle her again ; for I have made up my mind that those who kill her shall be buried with her." No one was found to insist upon her death, either for affection or in- terest. Some women, it is said, submit to be strangled, that they may prove thereby the legitimacy of their children. This particularly refers to such children as are Vasus. Cases in which women would not be saved have sometimes come under my notice. When Mbati Namu was killed, the relatives of Sa Ndrungu, his chief wife, brought and offered her to his friends. I pre- sented my soro for her life, but it was neutralized by her friends pre- senting one to " press it down." I made another offering, gained my point, and sent the disappointed murderers about their business, — one holding a bottle of oil, another turmeric powder, and a third the instru- ment of death, — ^all sad at heart that these were not to be used. A short time after, in consequence of the dissatisfaction of her friends, the woman left the Christian village, crossed the river, and entered the house of the man who was most anxious to destroy her, taking her stand in the midst, so as to intimate that she gave herself up to his will. I followed, and got permission from the dead Chief's brother to take her back with me, and, by taking my proffered hand, she might have lived. She intimated her sense of my kind intention, but declined to accompany me. Next morning she was strangled. Many, however, were saved through our efforts, and some were thankful for the deliverance. A Somosomo woman received a reprieve