CONCESSIONS TO CIVILIZATION. 105 



saved the lives of five hundred men ! During the whole 

 of this ceremony, the old chief was much affected, and 

 a few tears might be seen stealing down his cheeks. 

 Soon however cheering up, he gave us a full account 

 of the time when he came of age, and the number of 

 people that were slain to celebrate the occasion.* 



Kuruduadua was still a heathen. He said that our 

 religion was good, but there were few true Christians 

 in the group, and he hated hypocrisy, and did not pro- 

 fess to be better or anything else than he really was. 

 He rather favoured than hindered the spread of the 

 Gospel. On Sunday morning I heard him interroga- 

 ting two men, whether they were Christians. On their 

 answering in the affirmative, he reprimanded them for 

 not attending the church service, as the drum the 

 substitute for bells had left off beating for some time. 

 We induced him to make several important concessions 

 to civilization, to prohibit cannibalism throughout his 

 territories, and to keep the Sunday as a day of rest, if 

 not a holy day. To this he agreed cheerfully. Indeed 

 he seemed most anxious to stand well with the whites, 

 and one of the first explanations lie offered after our 

 arrival was respecting an attack upon, and plunder of 

 some white men, who resided on Namuka, an island seven 

 miles west of Rewa. The attack and plunder was made 



* The custom of standing on corpses is mentioned by several writers 

 on Fiji, and was probably practised throughout the group. Joseph Water- 

 house, in his * Vah-ta-ah,' p. 32, a book full of facts not found elsewhere, 

 describing the condition of Ban previous to its conversion to Christianity, 

 says, " Down the next lane a young chief is trying on, for the first time 

 since he was born, a narrow slip of native calico, as an indication that he 

 now thinks himself a man. He stands on the corpse of one who has been 

 killed to make his stepping-stone for the ceremony of the day." 



