The herald., 1897-12-12

on.- then yams, bread fruit. tara and
other vegetables piled around and over
the meat. the whole Is then covered with
banana leaves, grass. and then earth
thrown over the mound.
While the cooking Is In progress they
have ceremony called drinking
grog." which is made by chewing root
called "kava"-in Webster's dictionary.
The girls sit round in a circle and chew
the root. After 1t Is we'll masticated
they put 1t into a large wooden
bowl. Then cold water is poured on
1t. 1t Is then strained of its dregs. then
1t Is drank, the big chief always drink
ing first.
Then commence the singing and dane
ing The rhythm is perfect, their bodies
swaying with the beat OF the music,
keeping time also by beating two sticks
together.
When the cookingis complete each fam
lily takes its proportionate share, di-
vided among them by the head chief. If
a person is offered any food which has
been cooked. it is a mortal offense to re-
fuse It. After I had returned home the
chief sent messenger to me with some
OF the food rolled up in banana leaves.
| AAiioNihS NIldl IL WAS, t1lu kuOWluS, tOO,
that would make a deadly enemy of the
chief by refusing 1t. accepted the pres
ent and told the messenger to put 1t in
side my door. which he did and then went
away. then told a Fiji boy who was
working for me to take it and throw it
in the ocean. He laughed and took the
package, but instead Of throwing 1t in
the ocean. he carried it down to his own
| quarters and ate II.
At that time their religion was a pc
culiar one. They had god of Fiji whom
they called Dequee. He was the chief
god. but each district had its own par
ticular god; some were foolish and some
were wise. The principal god was said to
be nine feet long. with head and arms
like man and the body of snake.
There was a priest, who was middle
man" between the people and the chief
god. His name was Batti. So that when
they wished to propitiate their god they
brought their offerings to a place near
to where he was supposed to live, and
sounded conch shell and then went
away, leaving their offerings. The priest
Batti would then come and gather up the
offerings and take them home. Once l
played practical joke on him by mount
ing horse when heard the conch shell
sound. and, getting to the place first I
gathered the offerings and took them
home. BATH came to me after had
played this prank several times and
told me that somebody was stealing the
gods grub, that he had seen the horse
tracks. and there would be trouble. l
laughed and told him that l would share
with him, which put him In a good
humor.
Their foolish god was certainly q char
acter. His name was Rata Taloka.
There were no stones on his island. So
he asked that two large boulders on
near island be given him. which was
done. He started to carry them across
the water, on which he could walk. His
method Of carrying them was the Chin
ese method, with long pole across
the shoulders. Now ~ bouldere were
unequal In size. one being a bout the size
of the largest Of the Egyptian pyramids.
and the other about one third that size.
Therefore. they would not balance, AMI
he had hard time getting along with
them. but he struggled along until he
got them some distance from shore, and
then gave It up as bad job, concluding
that he did not want any stones on his
island, nohow." And these large boul-
ders remain there yet, and can be seen
to this day. unimpeachable proof Of the
folly Of the foolish god.
A MISSIONARIES RAsHNESS
At one time missionary named Par
ker thought he would cross the island
alone. His intention was to come to
my house. I have already said that the
tribes inhabiting the interior, or noun
tain region. were at war with the coas-
people. The coast people were not LA
BILE to attack white persons. for fear
Of the guns of the vessels which were
cruising the waters Of the islands. The
firing Of these guns and the explosion
Of the shell filled them with supersti-
tious dread. But the mountaineers had
nothing to fear In that respect. being out
Of range. Mr.. Parker had an ambition
to be the first white man to cross the
island. He paid the penalty for his
1ashness with his life About one year
after his murder some of the same men
who were engaged in it were at work for
me on my plantation. learned from
them all the particulars. After he was
knocked in the head his body was cut
up and divided among them. To my
party were allotted his lower legs. IIe
wore boots.
All of his clothing was taken off except
his boots. The ignorant natives, thinking
that his boots formed part of his skin,
put boots and all in the pot and boiled
them. After cooking for some time they
tried to bite through the leather, and
finding it tough gave 1t another boiling,
and then another At last some of the
flesh fell out Of the boot, and they then
extracted the rest by running their
hands into the boot and pulling it out,
devouring it by handsful. They COM
planned that the flavor was bad.
When l heard the story 1 told the
man that the boots were part of the
clothing, and not part of the man; but
they would not believe it until l showed
them by taking off and putting on my
own boots in their presence.
1t will, no doubt, occur to the reader
that 1 was in danger myself. This is
from being killed and eaten. My best
protection was their superstition. was
always we'll armed with gun and pistol,
and their ignorance concerning firearms
gave them superstitious dread of them
The loud report, coupled with the fact
that they could kill at long distance, was
something they could not understand,
and they thought the white man armed
with gun or pistol possessed of super
natural power.
The foregoing Is a fair sample of the