536 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



conquered all the neighboring islands and overran the eastern and 

 southern coasts of Viti Levu, Finally, in 1813, the Mbauan conquests 

 were pushed as far as Mbua in the southwestern part of Viti Levu, 

 where in a fierce battle the ammunition of Savage and his white com- 

 panions became exhausted, and they were forced to retreat to a smair 

 island in the river, where they were surrounded by thousands of howling 

 enemies engaged in devouring the bodies of the fallen warriors of Mbau. 

 Savage went to the water's edge to treat for terms of surrender, where 

 he was captured, drowned and eaten, and his leg bones made into sail 

 needles, while other parts of his skeleton were ground into powder to 

 be drunk in Yaqona.^ 



In 1814, Na-Ulivou and his warriors again came to Mbua with a 

 great fleet of war-canoes, and wreaked terrible vengeance upon those 

 who had killed their champion Savage. For long years after this no 

 native would pass the spot where Savage died without first plucking 

 some leaves and casting them upon the ground; for, as Williams says 

 the Fijian peoples with invisible beings every remarkable spot: the lonely dell, 

 the gloomy cave, the desolate rock, and the deep forest. Many of these he be- 

 lieves are on the alert to do him harm; therefore in passing their territory he 

 throws down a few green leaves to propitiate the demon of the place. 



In the South Seas the most dreaded ghost is that of the man who seeks 

 revenge for having been murdered and devoured. 



Early in his reign a powerful conspiracy arose against Na-Ulivou, 

 but he drove the rebel chiefs from Mbau and also from Eewa, whither 

 they had retreated, and finally he pursued them to Somo Somo on 

 Taviuni, whence they fied to the distant island of Lakemba, whither 

 he met them in a great sea fight and they were utterly annihilated. 

 After this, Na-Ulivou assumed the title of Vunivalu (root of war), and 

 he reigned the greatest chief in Fiji until his death in 1829. 



Eewa, however, remained independent of Mbau, and indeed until the 

 group was annexed to Great Britain these two villages were rivals al- 

 most constantly at war. 



In about 1804 a number of convicts who had escaped from Aus- 

 tralia settled upon Eewa and were protected by its chief, and the aid 

 rendered by these reprobates was sufficient to prevent Mbau from con- 

 quering Eewa. Even in Fiji, where cruelty, treachery, cannibalism and 

 ferocity were considered virtues, some of these men are still remem- 

 bered as monsters of iniquity. In a few years they had nearly all killed 

 one another or fallen in native wars, and only one, Paddy Connel, called 

 Berry by the Fijians, survived until 1841, and served as guide, pilot 

 and interpreter to Wilkes during the surveying operations of the United 

 States Exploring Expedition in 1840. This man became thoroughly 

 Fijianized, having the traditional hundred wives and forty-eight chil- 



2 The ' ' kava ' ' of Samoa. 



