THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



the special perquisite of the chiefs, the brains being considered a 

 delicacy. Prisoners have been known to be shoved alive into the 

 hot ovens and clubbed by their savage captors on endeavouring 

 to escape from contact with the heated stones. 



On one occasion the fierce old Bau king, Tanoa, father of the 

 late King Cakabau, had taken umbrage at something which a 

 cousin of his own, himself a powerful chief in an adjacent island, 

 had done. Tanoa organized a war party to go and take revenge. 

 Meantime his kinsman got alarmed and came himself, humbly 

 bearing a tabua — whale tooth — as an emblem of submission. 

 This did not mollify the old tyrant, who seized his unlucky 

 relative, deliberately cut his arm off at the elbow and drank the 

 blood that flowed from the wound, then cooked and ate the arm 

 before the eyes of its owner, who was then disembowelled while 

 still alive, cooked and eaten. 



A favourite exploit of Tanoa's was to go away with his fleet of 

 canoes on a raiding expedition amongst the islands, pillage and 

 burn the villages, bringing back prisoners and dead to fill the 

 ovens. It is related of him that he would also extort children as 

 tribute from their parents, and come back from his expeditions 

 with the bodies of infants hanging from the yardarms of his 

 canoes. In expeditions such as these the return of the warriors 

 was announced by the loud booming sound of the war conchs, 

 or large shell trumpets. 



Tlie fruit of the Boro Dina (^Solanum anthro2)02)hagorum, 

 Seeman), a red fruit just like a fair-sized tomato, \vas commonly 

 eaten with the bokola. The leaves of a plant called Tadau or 

 Tudano [Omcdantkus pedicellatus, Bentham), were also specially 

 reserved to be eaten with human flesh. 



Bokola was the only article of food which could not be lifted 

 with the hands when eaten, as it was if so treated supposed to 

 cause a skin disease. Special forks were kept for this purpose, 

 and used for nothing else. As in the case of other objects which 

 were highly prized, the bokola forks were elaborately carved and 

 ornamented, and known by individual names. 



Only the bodies of the slain were eaten, those who died 

 naturally being buried, but little scruple was shown in digging up 

 bodies of members of hostile tribes which had been buried. It 

 is stated by reliable observers that bodies so much decomposed 

 as to have to be removed piecemeal from the graves were even 

 devoured, and as they could not be cooked in the usual way 

 were made into puddings. From fear of desecration of this sort, 

 every precaution was taken in burying the dead to choose the 

 most inaccessible places, and to make the graves very deep. In 

 times of danger, also, watch was kept at the grave for a consider- 

 able period after burial. 



I have stated before that all events of note were marked by 



