398 A MISSION TO V1TL 



one of the canons of Fijian belief. It is from this con- 

 viction that, on the death of a man, be he chief or com- 

 moner, all his wives are strangled, so that he may not 

 have to go alone on his journey or arrive at the future 

 abode of bliss without anybody near and dear to him. 

 Only in the christianized districts has this cruel custom 

 been abolished. The Tonguese restricted the posses- 

 sion of a soul to chiefs and gentry, but the Fijians go 

 further, allowing it not only to all mankind, but to 

 animals, plants, and even houses, canoes, and all me- 

 chanical contrivances. The ultimate destination of the 

 soul is Bulu, identical with the Tonguese Bolotu, and 

 the general starting-place (Cibicibi) is supposed to be at 

 Naicobocobo (= Naithombothombo), the extreme west- 

 ern or lee side of Vanua Levu, to which pilgrimages 

 are occasionally made. It is not a little singular that 

 the Fijians agree with the Tahitians, Samoans, Ton- 

 guese, and Maoris, in fixing this starting-place inva- 

 riably on that side of their respective countries. The 

 ancient Egyptians, it will be remembered, coincided 

 with them in supposing their souls to depart westward/* 

 But I must not accumulate coincidences. Those theory- 

 spinners who are always on the look-out for traces of 

 the lost tribes, and similar losses that give them un- 

 easiness, might propound an hypothesis purporting to 

 account for the westward movement common to the 

 souls of the ancient Egyptians and the modern Poly- 

 nesians, and, taking a hint from the incidental observa- 

 tion that Fijian temples have somewhat the shape of 



* In Tahiti this place is called Fareaitu, in Samoa Fafa ; the Maoris 

 start from Cape Maria Van Diemen. 



