FIJI-NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION 117 
which he found in the territory over which he ruled. But a far 
more serious matter was the fact that, again, according to well 
established laws or traditions, the person of a chief and most of 
all his head is tabu, and to break this tabu by profanely laying a 
hand on the royal head was profanation, an unspeakably horrible 
act, the punishment for which was death! In other words the 
Fijians thought the killing of the missionary not a murder at all, 
but an entirely legal and justifiable execution! An understanding 
of the native point of view would have prevented the fatal error 
which lead to the death of a brave and devoted missionary. 
In the narrative of the Wilkes Expedition the most revolting 
descriptions are given of the murder of Fiji parents by their own 
children. But according to the narrative even this horrid custom 
had its justification in the eyes of the natives. It appears that 
the old Fijians believed in a literal physical immortality, and that 
a man lived throughout the future life in the same condition as 
was his at death. For instance, if he had lost a leg, he was a one- 
legged creature throughout eternity. If he died old, decrepit and 
helpless, he was doomed to a future of decrepitude and helpless- 
ness. Hence these people feared a helpless old age much more 
than they feared death; and begged, even commanded, their chil- 
dren to make this horrible fate impossible by putting the parents 
out of the way before old age could overtake them. And so it 
appears from their point of view that the killing of parents was 
not an inhuman murder, but the carrying out of a sacred filial 
duty which traditions inexorably demanded. 
I trust that no one will think for a moment that the writer is 
actually claiming that cannibalism, murder and patricide are com- 
mendable or right; but he is trying to show that these people 
should be judged in the light of their own traditions and usages, 
their own laws, and that these acts did not result in a feeling of 
guilt and moral turpitude which our standards involve; that they 
probably felt no remorse or severe condemnation after commiting 
such atrocities. 
Before leaving this account of Fiji customs it might be of in- 
terest to state that I was informed on good authority that the old 
Fijians practiced the rite of circumcision and that it is still in 
practice to a considerable extent; but I learned nothing regarding 
its origin. 
As to the whites, or colonials, of Fiji, our contact was limited 
almost exclusively to the official class. These are of course prac- 
