A HISTORY OF FIJI 45 



were " covered with a layer of fat " and white men he had been told were 

 salty or flavored strongly with tobacco. In old days in Fiji, the highest 

 praise one could bestow upon a dish was to liken it to a cooked man. 

 When in Fiji, I several times overheard the remark "were it not for 

 the English I would eat you," and in quarrelling the commonest slur 

 is to call an antagonist (Mbakola) a man to be eaten. Our abhorrence 

 of cannibalism, which is after all a sentimental matter in so far as the 

 mere eating is concerned, was not shared by the old Fijians of expe- 

 rience, for "men are good; indeed the best of all meat," and as Eatu 

 Epele once said "he never met a man without thinking how he would 

 taste." 



Some Fijian names for food are curious; thus bula-na-kau signifies 

 beef, for when Captain Eagleston brought the two original cattle to 

 Fiji he told the natives that the animals were a " bull and a cow." 



Eatu Epele delighted to play at draughts with a tawny-haired 

 albino chief whose light skin was profusely bespeckled with brown 

 blotches and whose eyes were dull blue. This chief's function seemed 

 to be solely that of a messenger and draught player, and invariably the 

 games were won by the king, for no matter how great an advantage the 

 albino might win, he " committed suicide " at the last by placing all his 

 pieces at the mercy of his lord and master. 



Eatu Epele, the most interesting chief in the Pacific, died in 1901, 

 and with him there passed away the last champion of the old in Fiji. 

 Born of the highest rank and to a life of war and action, fate had 

 robbed him of his birthright and left him but dreams and memories. 

 Like the lingering spark of a fire that can never burn again, this spirit 

 of old cannibal days faded into oblivion. His son, the Honorable Eatu 

 Kadavu Levu, who succeeded him as Eoko Tui Tailevu, has been care- 

 fully educated under British auspices, and is a member of the Legis- 

 lative council. 



The cleanliness of Fijian houses is remarkable, indeed in heathen 

 times they were far more careful in this respect than at present, for 

 the least offal of any description, even a hair, might be used by an 

 enemy to bewitch its originator.- Even to-day the fear of witchcraft, 

 ISTdrau-ni-kau, is very real in Fiji. In order to bring ill-fortune to 

 your enemy, you have but to discover something which he has cast off 

 and burn it wrapped in the proper leaves, reciting certain spells. Or 

 you may bury a cocoanut beneath his hearth, or slowly melt the wax 

 from his image thus causing your victims lingering decline and death. 

 The missionaries have made every effort to destroy this belief, but un- 

 fortunately they do not seek to replace it by a more wholesome under- 

 standing of the nature of filth-diseases, and thus as faith in witch- 

 craft declines certain bodilv ills increase. 



In common with other south-sea islanders, the Fijians were a cere- 



