THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 9 



bloodshed and cannibalism. The various stages in the building 

 of a temple, or of a chief's canoe or house, were celebrated in 

 •this way. When the canoe was launched numbers of captives 

 were frequently laid down and the canoe dragged to the water 

 •over their bodies, the miserable victims being afterwards clubbed, 

 cooked, and eaten. Of course, appropriate mehe-mekes, or 

 dances, accompanied all these observances, and, indeed, were an 

 indispensable part of the proceedings. The incessant beating of 

 the large wooden lali, or drum, made by hollowing out a thick 

 short log so as to form a deep trough-like vessel, announced 

 plainly to all around the progress of the feast. In every case the 

 men only were allowed to eat the bokola, it being strictly tabu or 

 forbidden to women and children. 



Within so recent a period were cannibal practices in force that 

 most elderly Fijians now living have participated in, or been 

 present at them, while some of them acquired considerable 

 notoriety for the persistence with which they clung to the custom. 

 It does not appear that cannibalism was followed to an equal 

 degree in all districts of the islands ; indeed, some parts seem to 

 have had an abhorrence of the custom, and to have refrained from 

 it, whilst in others it was very firmly rooted. In conversing with 

 some old men who, in their time, have taken a very active part 

 in cannibal proceedings, I have asked about the custom, and 

 generally they displayed perfect nonchalance in speaking of it, 

 much as we would speak of any very ordinary proceeding. Some 

 of them seemed to feel a lingering regret that such good old days 

 had passed away. I asked one old Rewa River ratu, or chief, 

 which part of the body was the best. He said the forearm and 

 the upper arm, and also made dumb show of picking the fingers, 

 and said they were " sa hula vinaka," or very good indeed. 

 Taking a fork, which I had, in his hand, he showed me the method 

 of handling it, pressing it into an imaginary piece of flesh and 

 conveying it to his mouth, all the time gazing at me quite cheer- 

 fully with his wicked-looking old eyes. He then admired the 

 fork, and said it was nicely carved, and wanted me to give it to 

 him. Another Rewa River ratu, the descendant of a race of 

 powerful and renowned chiefs, told us of an exploit of his early 

 days, when he and another man went out on an expedition. 

 Approaching a village cautiously they saw a number of girls 

 bathing ; he rushed down, killed one by a blow on the head with 

 his club and cut her head off, which he took back with him. This 

 old chief's house was the last in Fiji, as far as I know, to be built 

 vaka viti, or with full Fijian rites. In addition to the usual 

 cannibal observances it was customary to bury a man at each of 

 the main posts of the house, the man's arms encircling the post. 

 This was actually done in this case, and the skeletons of the 

 unfortunate victims now lie in the ground with their bony arms 



