362 SUPERSTITION. 



forty years of age ; and on asking for the old people was 

 informed that they were all buried. Again, during the first 

 year of Mr. Hunt's residence at Somo-somo, there was only 

 one instance of natural death ; all the aged and diseased 

 having been strangled or buried alive. 



When a chief died it was usual to " send with him " some 

 of his women and some slaves. At the death of Ngavindi, 

 Mr. Calvert went to Mbau hoping " to prevent the strangling 

 of women, but was too late. Three had been murdered. Tha- 

 kombau proposed to strangle his sister, the chief wife of the 

 deceased, as was the usual custom ; but the Lasakau people 

 begged that she might be spared, and that her child might 

 become their chief. Ngavindi's mother offered herself as a 

 substitute, and was strangled. The dead chief lay in state, 

 with a dead wife by his side, on a raised platform ; the corpse 

 of his mother on a bier at his feet, and a murdered servant 

 on a mat in the midst of the house. A large grave was dug 

 in the foundation of a house near by, in which the servant 

 was laid first, and upon her the other three corpses, wrapped 

 and wound up together/ 5 * In these cases the wives gene- 

 rally die voluntarily, believing that thus only can they hope 

 to go to heaven. Horrible as are these facts, they at least 

 show how strong must be the belief felt in a future state of 

 existence. 



Still, though we may allow the goodness of the motive to 

 extenuate some of these atrocities, it must be allowed that 

 human life was but little regarded in Feegee. Not only 

 infanticide, but also human sacrifices, were very common, 

 and in fact scarcely anything was undertaken without the 

 latter. "When the king launched a canoe, ten or more men 

 were slaughtered on the deck, in order that it might be 

 washed with human blood. But there is even worse to be 

 told. The Feegeeans were most inveterate cannibals, and so 



* Figi and the Figians, vol. ii., p. 301. 



