460 HORRIBLE RITES. 



proof of affection, that none but children could be found to 

 perform it." So general in fact was this custom, so powerful 

 the influence which it had upon them, that in one town, 

 containing several hundred inhabitants, Capt. Wilkes did not 

 see one man over forty years of age ; and, on asking for the 

 old people, he was informed that they were all buried. Again, 

 during the first year of Mr. Hunt's residence at Somo-soino, 

 there was only one instance of natural death, all the aged and 

 diseased having been strangled or buried alive. 



When a chief died, it was usual to "send with him" some 

 of his women and some slaves. At the death .of Ngavindi, 

 Mr. Calvert went to Mbau, hoping " to prevent the strangling 

 of women, but was too late. Three had been murdered. 

 Thakornbau proposed to strangle his sister, the chief wife of 

 the deceased, as was the usual custom ; but the Lasakau 

 people begged that she might be spared, and that her child 

 might become their chief. Ngavindi's mother offered herself 

 as a substitute, and was strangled. The dead chief lay in 

 state, with a dead wife by his side, on a raised platform ; the 

 corpse of his mother on a bier at his feet, and a murdered 

 servant on a mat in the midst of the house. A large grave 

 was dug in the foundation of a house near by, in which the 

 servant was laid first, and upon her the other three corpses, 

 wrapped and wound up together."* In these cases the wives 

 generally die voluntarily, believing that thus only can they 

 hope to go to heaven. Horrible as are these facts, they at 

 least show how strong must be the belief felt in a future 

 state of existence. 



Still, though we may allow the goodness of the motive to 

 extenuate some of these atrocities, it must be allowed that 

 human life was but little regarded in Fiji. Not only infan- 

 ticide, but also human sacrifices, were very common, and, in 

 fact, scarcely anything was undertaken without the latter. 

 * Figi and the Figians, vol. ii. p. 301. 



