202 



Personal appearance of 

 the Feejees. 



CUSTOMS OF THE FEEJEE GROUP. 



Personal appearance of 

 the Feejees. 



lost a great part of his crew by sickness and deser- 

 tion, he desired to procure hands for his ship, 

 which was still at Sandalwood Bay, and obtained 

 thirty-five men, one of whom was Paddy Connel. 

 At the time they were ready to depart, a French 

 privateer, Le Gloriant, Captain Dubardieu, put 

 into Sydney, when Captain Sartori engaged a 

 passage for himself and his men to the Feejees. 

 On their way they touched at Norfolk Island, where 

 the ship struck, and damaged her keel so much 

 that they were obliged to put into the Bay of 

 Islands for repairs. Paddy asserts that a difficulty 

 had occurred here between Captain Sartori and 

 his men about their provisions, which was amicably 

 settled. The Gloriant finally sailed from New 

 Zealand for Tongataboo, where they arrived just 

 after the capture of a vessel, which he supposed to 

 have been the Port au Prince, as they had obtained 

 many articles from the natives, which had evidently 

 belonged to some large vessel. Here they re- 

 mained some mouths, and then sailed for Sandal- 

 wood Bay, where the men, on account of their 

 former quarrel with Captaiu Sartori, refused to go 

 on board the General Wellesley : some, of them 

 shipped on board the Gloriant, and others, with 

 Paddy, determined to remain on shore with the 

 natives. He added, that Captain Sartori was kind 

 to him, and at parting had given him a pistol, cut- 

 lass, and an old good-for-nothing musket; these, 

 with his sea-chest and a few clothes, were all that 

 he possessed. He had now lived forty years among 

 these savages. After hearing his whole story, I 

 told him I did not believe a word of it ; to which 

 he answered, that the main part of it was true, but 

 he might have made some mistakes, as he had been 

 so much in the habit of lying to the Feejeeans, that 

 he hardly now knew when he told the truth, adding 



that he had no desire to tell any thing but the 

 truth. 



Paddy turned out to be a very amusing fellow, 

 and possessed an accurate knowledge of the Fee- 

 jee character. Some of the whites told me that he 

 was more than half Feejee ; indeed he seemed to 

 delight in showing how nearly he was allied to 

 them in feeling and propensities ; and, like them, 

 seemed to fix his attention upon trifles. He gave 

 me a droll account of his daily employments, 

 which it would be inappropriate to give here, and 

 finished by telling me the only wish he had then, 

 was to get for his little boy, on whom he doated, a 

 small hatchet, and the only articles he had to offer 

 for it were a few old hens. On my asking him if 

 he did not cultivate the ground, he said at once no, 

 he found it much easier to get his living by telling 

 the Feejeeans stories, which he could always make 

 good enough for them ; these, and the care of his 

 two little boys, and his hens, and his pigs, when he 

 had any, gave him ample employment and plenty 

 of food. He had lived much at Rewa, and until 

 lately had been a resident at Levuka, but had, in 

 consequence of his intrigues, been expelled by the 

 white residents, to the island of Ambatiki. It ap- 

 peared that they had unanimously come to the 

 conclusion that if he did not remove, they would 

 be obliged to put him to death for their own safety. 

 I could not induceWhippy or Tom to give me the cir- 

 cumstances that occasioned this determination, and 

 Paddy would not communicate more than that his 

 residence on Ambatiki was a forced one, and that 

 it was as though he was living out of the world, 

 rearing pigs, fowls, and children. Of the last 

 description of live stock he had forty-eight, and 

 hoped that he might live to see fifty born to him. 

 He had had one hundred wives. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

 CUSTOMS OF THE FEEJEE GROUP. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS PERSON AL APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES THEIR EXPRESSION OF COUNTENANCE THEIR 

 CHARACTER DIVISION OF TRIBES AND RANK VASUS FEEJEE WARS CEREMONIES IN DECLARING WAR 

 ADDRESSES TO THE WARRIORS FLAGS FORTIFICATIONS SIEGES MODE OF BEGGING FOR PEACE CEREMONIES 

 OF A CAPITULATION SUBJECT TRIBES RELIGION TRADITION OF THE ORIGIN OF RACES AND OF A DELUGE 

 GODS BELIEF IN SPIRITS NDENGEI, THEIR SUPREME GOD HIS SONS INFERIOR GODS OTHER RELIGIOUS 

 OPINIONS IDEA OF A SECOND DEATH MBURES OR SPIRIT-HOUSES AMBATI OR PRIESTS THEIR JUGGLERY 

 THEIR INFLUENCE ORACLE AT LEVUKA SACRIFICES RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS MARRIAGES INFIDELITY AND 

 ITS PUNISHMENT BIRTHS CONSEQUENCES OF THE RELIGIOUS BELIEF PARENTS PUT TO DEATH SUICIDE 

 WIVES STRANGLED AT FUNERALS DEFORMED AND DISEASED PERSONS PUT TO DEATH HUMAN SACRIFICES 

 FUNERAL KITES MOURNING CANNIBALISM PRICE OF HUMAN LIFE ATTACKS ON FOREIGN VESSELS CASE OF 

 THE CHARLES DOGGETT, AN AMERICAN BRIG VENDOVl'S PARTICIPATION RESOLUTION IN REGARD TO HIM. 



BEFORE proceeding to the narration of the opera- 

 tions of the squadron in the Feejee Group, it would 

 appear expedient to give some account of the 

 people who inhabit the islands of which it is com- 

 posed. A reader unacquainted with their manners 

 and customs can hardly appreciate the difficulties 

 with which the performance of our duties was 

 attended, or the obstacles which impeded our pro- 

 gress. Our information, in relation to the almost 

 unknown race which occupies the Feejee Group, 



was obtained from personal observation, from the 

 statements of the natives themselves, and from 

 white residents. I also derived much information 

 from the missionaries, who, influenced by motives 

 of religion, have undertaken the arduous, and as 

 yet unprofitable task, of introducing the light of 

 civilization and the illumination of the Gospel into 

 this benighted region. 



Although, as we shall see, the natives of Feejee 

 have made considerable progress in several of the 



