Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/60

 40 FIJI A^D THE FIJIANS. WangkaYai struck him dead with his club ; at which preconcerted signal nis armed attendants attacked and murdered the friends of the fallen Chief, — a catastrophe which the treacherous ally had been meditating for years. Mbau wished to take the town on Namgani, but could not. The Viwa Chief, Namosemalua, being applied to, readily undertook the task. He went to the people of Naingani as their friend, offering to place them out of the reach of Mbau, by removing them to a place under his own power. They assented, and followed him to the seaside, where he helped the Mbau people to murder them. Other similar instances might be related. Kelatives within a garrison are often bribed to befriend the besiegers by burning the town or opening the gates. By the use of such means, far more than open fighting, wars are sometimes very de- structive. Old natives speak of as many as a thousand being killed in some of the battles when they were young men ; but I doubt whether the slain ever amounted to more than half that number. From twenty to a hundred more commonly cover the list of killed. The largest number, within my own knowledge of Fiji, was at Rewa, in 1846, when about four hundred — chiefly women and chiMren — were slain. Hor- rifying beyond description is the scene when a to^m is taken, and in- stances are narrated of the inhabitants seeking deliverance from such horrors by self-destruction. A remarkable shelf of rocks is pointed out on the island of Wakaya, whence a Chief, unable to resist his enemies, precipitated himself. Many of his people followed his example. Tlie shelf is called, " The Chieftain's Leap." In sacking a place every man regards what he can pick up as his o^vn. The spoil is generally small ; for nearly every to^vn and village has a natural magazine, where they store everything valuable on the slightest alarm. I have several times been myself the cause of towns being thus emptied. The sight of my canoe in the distance suggested the thought of oppressive Chiefs or cruel foes, and the wisdom of secreting property. On one occasion, I met a string of laden women thus employed, whose undisguised terror was soon followed by every mark of joy, when assured that we were only friends. Once I saw a Chief with seven balls of sinnet, several dogs, and five female slavE;s, as his share of spoil ; but I believe that part of this was pay, and part plunder. In a pitched battle comparatively little mischief is done. Flesh wounds are inflicted by spears or bullets, until one of the combatants falls, when his friends run away with him, the enemy following for a short distance ; when, if the wounded or dead man is not cast away, they return to exaggerate their own prowess, and the numbers of killed