Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/192

 162 FIJI AND THE FIJXAJSTS. every place where the canoe called for the first time. If a Chief should not lower his mast ^vithin a day or two of his arrival at a place, some poor creature is killed and taken to him as the " lowering of the mast." In every case an enemy is preferred ; but when this is impracticable, the first common man at hand is taken. It is not unusual to find " black- list " men on every island, and these are taken first. Names of villages or islands are sometimes placed on the black list. Vakambua, Chief of Alba, thus doomed Tavua, and gave a whale's tooth to the Nggara Chief that he might, at a fitting time, punish that place. Years passed away, and a reconciliation took place between ISIba and Tavua. Unhappily the Mba Chief failed to neutralize the enCTa^ement made with Ns^ara. A day came when human bodies were wanted, and the thoughts of those who held the tooth were turned towards Ta^^ua. They invited the people of that place to a friendly exchange of food, and slew twenty- three of their unsuspecting victims. When the treacherous Nggarans had gratified their own appetites by pieces of the flesh cut ofi" and roast- ed on the spot, the bodies were taken to Yakambua, who was greatly astonished, expressed much regret that such a slaughter should have grown out of his carelessness, and then shared the bodies to be eaten. Captives are sometimes reserved for special occasions. I have never been able, either by inquiry or observation, to find any truth in the assertion that in some parts of the group no bodies are buriecl, but all eaten. Those who die a natural death are always interred. Those slain in war are not invariably eaten ; for persons of high rank are sometimes spared this ignominy. Occasionally, however, as once at Mbouma, the supply is too great to be all consumed. The bodies of the slain were piled up between two cocoa-nut trees, and the cutting up and cook- ing occupied two days. The valekarusa, or trimk of the bodies, was thrown away. This native word is a creation of cannibalism, and alludes to the practice of eating the trunk first, as it will not keep. When the slain are few, and fall into the hands of the victors, it is the rule to eat them. Late in 1851, fifty bodies were cooked at one time on Namena. In such cases of plenty, the head, hands, and intes- tines are thrown away ; but when a large party can get but one or two bodies, as at Natewa in 1845, every part is consumed. Native warriors carry their revenge beyond death, so that bodies slain in battle are often mutilated in a frightful manner, a treatment which is con- sidered neither mean nor brutal. When the bodies of enemies are procured for the oven, the event is published by a peculiar beating of the drum, which alarmed me