Chap, xiii.] FIJIAN LOG DRUM. 267 



and were the terror of the Levuka people. The place was 

 now entirely in ruins, the inhabitants having been made 

 prisoners, and their town burnt by Thackombau. There 

 remain now only the oblong mounds of earth on each of 

 which formerly stood a house, and the ditch and bank of 

 earth with which the village was fortified. 



The place is used now as a convict station, and here a 

 number of prisoners, mostly Kaivolos, or " devil men," from 

 the hill tribes of the large island " Viti Levu," were undergoing 

 their various terms of imprisonment. Eight Tongan soldiers 

 and an old English drill-sergeant were sufficient to keep the 

 convicts in subjection. The men were made to work at clear- 

 ing the surrounding land, and planting sweet potatoes and 

 yams ; whilst they were at work, the Tongans mounted guard 

 over them with loaded muskets, and though the opportunities 

 in the thick bush seemed so great, they were said never to 

 escape ; they are very much afraid of the Tongans. 



I was shown amongst the convicts one of the Burns' mur- 

 derers, who was said to have been caught when dragging the 

 body of a white woman by the hair through the bush, with a 

 view to eating it. I put a few questions through an in- 

 terpreter : the man protested that he had never eaten human 

 flesh, and that he would have no desire to eat me if he had a 

 chance. He had evidently learnt that this was the proper 

 attitude to assume with regard to this question. I expected 

 that he would have made no scruple in confessing to former 

 cannibalism. 



A drum was used at Livoni for summoning the prisoners, 

 which was new to me in its construction : three cylindrical 

 holes were cut in the ^ 



ground in a row, the j I 



central one being about 

 twice as large as the 

 others. They were 

 about I foot and 6 



inches in diameter re- ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^_ 



spectively ; over these ^ ^ ^^^^^ . ^ ^ ^ ^^^^^^^.^^ ,^,^, . 



holes a log 01 light ^ surface line of the ground. 



Hibiscus wood was sup- 

 ported on two cross rests of rolled up palm-leaf mat, placed 

 in the interspaces between the holes. The holes in the earth 

 acted as resonators, and when the log was struck with a wooden 

 mallet, a loud sound was produced as from the ordinary Fijian 

 drum or " lali," which consists of a log hollowed out like a 

 •canoe ; this was a rough substitute. The use of holes in the 

 earth as resonators is remarkable. 



