Omaha daily bee., 1886-10-17
A CANNIBAL KINGS BOSS.
Eventfnl Career Of 0entenarian in the
South Seas
How n Manila Man Controlled the
Destinies of the Fiji Isl.
nnds aud Died in
Poverty,

New York journal: One morning
little vessel from Manila made the tijian
coast, and the natives welcomed the
sight as if visit of their gods Hundreds
of these cannibals swan out to meet the
boat, armed with gifts Of every kind, and
by every means in their power implored
the three men who were on board to land
at once. 1t was not without grave mis-.
givings that Antikoi the Manila captain,
at last consented to be taken to the shore,
but all three men had stout hearts and on
shore they went, says a San Francisco
paper. There they received frantic
greeting from the natives, who singled
out Antikoi, and from some legendary
reason believed he was the father OF their
little gods, known as Luvc ni-wai, or
children of the waters.
Antikoi saw his opportunity and with
his two companions set himself to assist
the chiefs and md them of their convict
oppressors Slowly but surely these
white wretches met their doom. Savage
was killed in 1918, and the whole gang of
twenty seven persisted during the ten or
twelve years following, Paddy O'Connor
being spared only on proof of his ablect
weakness and cowardlce and therefore
his inability to do harm. SO quietly did
to gain possession of the anchor of the
vessel in which he arrived wars were con.
tinually occurring, and hetacombs of lives
were lost to gain and regain possession
of the treasure, until the Manila master
had made them understand that 1t was
his, and he alone would keepl 1t,
He adopted the native costume; wear.
ing a long sulu of many folds of chiefs
tappa. generally of n light brown color,
with black spots and reaching nearly TO
the feet. Shoes he had none, but bound
his feet with palm leaf tied around with
reeds. Thus equipped and with variety
of weapons, he would lead many Il fray,
striking terror into the rebel forces and
| often deciding conflict with his pres
| ence before hardly blow was struck.
When. in 1929, Ma Ulivou bad died,
Antikoi still helped along the fortunes of
his successor, Tanoa; but Tanoa was old
and feeble and the Manila chieftain
ruler, placing the son, Cacombau or Tho
Kambau in his stead. With great bar
barre pomp and show did Antikoi con-
duct the installation of the new chieftain,
and he induced him to take the title of
Tul Viii, or King of Viii. Now graft
tude succumbed before a deepened rev.
erence, and instead of assistant, Antikoi
became master of Cacombau and all his
realms.
Antikois aim was peace, but, alas! such
| aims were visionary in so bloodthirsty
! country. 1t was no easy life for any
man. Rewa, the principal village, was
| only mass of rudely erected thatched
| huts, scarcely ever occupied on account
of the endless wars; the only animals in
| digenouS to the soil were rats and lying
| foxes, human flesh being the general ar
| ticle of food, and the natives were too
| lazy to till the soil, depending on their
| gods for all their products.
t,,., - Lon, Naa
| wrongs of the wholesale massacres in
| which the kings forces indulged, and
| the arrival of more missionaries and II
number of white settlers led him to dis
courage these horrible events by every
means in his power. The missionaries
were continually being menaced, and
| knew that they carried their lives in their
hands. still they stuck to their noble
work. One night when Antikoi was
away, no one knew where, the natives
| surrounded The missionary hut. These
jealous men closed the frail doors OF their
| reed house and hung up curtains OF ma
| tive cloth TO hide themselves from the
savage eyes that peered through the open
walls. and all that night they knelt in
prayer, expecting the bloodthirsty
wretches TO rush in and massacre them
selves and their families at any moment.
Seemingly superstition and Antikoi's
friendship for the missionaries awed the
| saNuSts from commencing lIlt
and through the. night there was an
awful stiffness, broken near dawn by
wild, ringing yell. The Christian teach
! ers thought il was death shout, but it
was not. Antikoi had arrived. and such
was his power that he led the white
families out from the hut and made the
| saVages, nearly three hundred IN num-
Der, PROSTATE themselves before the
missionaries and then march silently
away.
But with all his wonderful powers An.
tikoi could not live forever, and old age
was beginning to show severe signs in
the Manila mans system, and in the year
1860 sickness began to attack him. He
was getting very old and very weak and
the king could not see it, The Manila
man IS wise head and strong arms were
often wanting at the kings side, and IN
1868, when the rebel chief 'rui Wainoono
declared war against King Cacombau,
his Manila master was lying sick unto
death and the weak king trembled for his
power. But to the kings surprise he
yanquished his enemy near the Boiling
Springs and then. finding he conld do
without his master, he fargot all graft
tude and determined TO be rid of Manila
man. Far away from the king 5 village
was an old reed shed, all openings and
protecting thatch. Into this poor Anti
koi was thrown and left to die.
But Antikoi was rescued from this mis-
erabe plight by white settler named
William Berwick, who acted toward him
the part of the good Samaritan, and,
taking him to his house at Draiba, he
nursed him, pulled him through his i'll
ness, and continued TO give him home
till the day of his death.
Only a few days ago-not more than
two months--poor Antikoi gave up the
ghost, dying at the wonderfully advanced
age of one hundred and fourteen years,
having during eighty years of that time
been resident Of Fiji. Heis buried near
Berwick's house. at Draiba, and his mon
umental headstone is the larger portion
of the anchor of the vessel which led him
TO meet with so strangely varied an ex'
perience.
How Cigar Dealers are Breaking the
! Law.
Elmira N. " Gazette DID you know