The Hawaiian gazette., 1869-03-03

jiians-somewhat resembling those Of
the Hindoos man of rank dies,
the widow of the deceased must be, at
once, or soon after the death of her hus-
band, made to follow him to the spirit
land. When / got into the barn-like resi-
dence of the shark-eaten chief, 1 saw the
young wife, dressed out with wreaths on
her head-a pretty, light-colored, half-Ton-
gese woman, apparently about seventeen
years of age-sitting in she centre of cir
old father of the deceased, and then a long
strip of white tapa was produced, one turn
passed around the neck of the young
widow. when, after some muttered prayers
by the priest, general clapping of hands
by all present, and exclamations of vina-
kal sa yinaka! nadina leil"-"good, it is
good, very true"-three old women, on
either side of the girl, seized hold of the
tapa and pulled. In moment or two,
with scarcely struggle, her head fell over,
and she was dead. l was horrifed. The
glazed eyes and the protruding tonguel
But she was perfectly unresisting and ap-
parently consenting. The Fiji belief is,
that when high chief dies, his spirit will
wander discontentedy, unless his nsarama
head of the harem-accompanies him.
A few days after the above occurrence,
took walk in the woods, and, beneath
spreading If tree, near the old chiefs house,
saw two miniature houses, about three
by two, built in the native style, and the
ridge-poles ornamented with little white
shells, fastened on with sinet On my in
quiring of France-who was my compan-
ion-the meaning of these toy-looking af-
fairs, he informed me very gravely, that
they we're "sa vale na kalu'-houses of the
spirits. In these, the spirits Of the shark
eaten young chief and his strangled wife,
were supposed to reside. The reason why
there were two houses was, that according
to their customs, the wife Of chief never
sleeps in her husbands house, but has
separate establishment of her own.
Only day or two elapsed after the death
of the young chief of Mbua, when fishing
was resumed, and by this time, we had ac-
cumulated about a thousand piculs of biche-
le-naer, worth in Manila, from twenty-five
to thirty thousand dollars. Besides, we
had two or three tons of tortoise-shell, worth
q handsome amount-not to particularly
mention the curios, such as sea-shells,
warrior-clubs, spears, and bows and arrows.
But our fishing on this coast was brought
to an abrupt termination on the third of
July. On that morning, feet of twelve
canoes from Raberabe, under the leader
ship OF the chief OF that town, and the
brother of the hostage we had on board,
came down upon the poor people who were
on the reef, picking up ndree- These they
stampeded, some wounded with the spears
that were thrown at them, more scared
almost, by the report of the two or three
muskets which we're fired at them-but
which. in the hands of Fijiiman, are more
likely to injure the party firing, than the
one fred at-and one poor woman was
killed. Her body they secured, and enter
ing the bay, anchored near the shore, about
hundred yards from where the brig lay.
There must have been about five hundred
men in these canoes, and they were evi-
IDENTIFY bent on mischief. Jealousy was the
cause. The chief Of Raberabe had heard
that the people with whom we were ira
ding had accumulated great deal of trade,
in the shape of muskets and powder. This,
however, was not the case, for the people
of Mbua were not inclined to warlike pur-
suits, and the most of their trading was
for cloth, axes, knives, etc.
The newcomers were very saucy. firing |
off their muskets, brandishing their clubs,
shouting and dancing on the decks of their
canoes. Seeing the condition of affairs,
the captain Immediately concluded to aban-
don the station. The next day, July 4th,
the colors were displayed on the brig, and |
q salute of thirteen guns fred, in honor of |
the day, while the 6iche-Ie-mer and trade
houses on shore were burning. As and
James Cusick, son-in-laB of David Whip
pey-and who was my assistant at the
trading-station at Mbua-were returning
in the boat TO the brig, a fast single canoe,
with about thirty natives in it-of the
Raberabe war party-came padding after
US, and coming up close alongside Of our
boat, grinning hideously, and using the
most offensive and threatening language.
One fellow, who sat on the platform Of the
conoe, held up what was plainly the arm
Of human being-probabl5 that Of the
woman who was killed on the reef the day
before-shouted to US, as be knawed away
at it, "yinaka, vinaks" good, good. Gu
sick, who was steering the boat, said to me,
pick up musket, and pretend to be ex-
amining the lock-" did SO. and the ca
noe at once sheered of. Their intention,
5o,,h+lass ,ros 20 c-,& ~. "a A.