ADULTERY PUNISHED. 203 
for staying the night. Directly on our arrival, some of 
the leading men came up to the Bure-ni-sa we were 
stopping at, to present a root of kava to Batinisavu, as 
a token of respect and goodwill, and making, in present- 
ing it, a neat little speech, to which the Namosi Gover- 
nor replied in equally friendly terms. Batinisavu struck 
me as a man very far above the rest of his countrymen. 
There was something quiet and dignified about him; 
and though he always went without any hesitation 
through all the ceremonies his station imposed, he often 
apologized to me by saying it was “ Vaka Viti ”—Fijian 
usage—which he could not set aside. 
The bures are, in Fiji, what club-houses are with us: 
everybody goes there, and all the news finds its way 
thither. The great topic of that day’s conversation was 
the discovery of an adultery in a neighbouring village. 
The friends of the woman took up the case. The bure 
to which the adulterer belonged resisted their attack, 
and the consequence was a series of broken heads. The 
chief offender escaped, but his father was caught and 
punished for his son’s transgressions. The husband of 
the seduced wife had his taro-fields destroyed, and was 
told that such a fool as he did not deserve to possess 
them. Batinisavu strongly censured the whole proceed- 
ings. He asked, where was their justice? to punish the 
poor old father for his son’s wickedness, was simply cruel, 
and to destroy the crops of an already injured man, 
worthy of such mountaineers and fools as they were. 
No one can be long in this region of “taboo” and 
“tatoo” without perceiving what rich stores of human 
fancy and ideas, shortly to be lost or mutilated for ever, 
