102 CUSTOMS OF THE FEEJEE GROUP. 



o 



greatest devotedness, will become the favourite wife in the abode of 

 spirits. 



The sacrifice is not, however, always voluntary ; but, when a 

 woman refuses to be strangled, her relations often compel her to 

 submit. This they do from interested motives; for, by her death, 

 her connexions become entitled to the property of her husband. 

 Even a delay is made a matter of reproach. Thus, at the funeral 

 of the late king, Ulivou, which was witnessed by Mr. Cargill, his 

 five wives and a daughter were strangled. The principal wife 

 delayed the ceremony, by taking leave of those around her ; where- 

 upon Tanoa, the present king, chid her. The victim was his own 

 aunt, and he assisted in putting the rope around her neck, and 

 strangling her, a service he is said to have rendered on a former 

 occasion, to his own mother. 



Not only do many of the natives desire their friends to put them to 

 death to escape decrepitude, or immolate themselves with a similar 

 view, but families have such a repugnance to having deformed or 

 maimed persons among them, that those who have met with such 

 misfortunes, are almost always destroyed. An instance of this sort 

 was related to me, when a boy whose leg had been bitten off by a 

 shark was strangled, although he had been taken care of by one of 

 the white residents, and there was every prospect of his recovery. 

 No other reason was assigned by the perpetrators of the deed, than 

 that if he had lived he would have been a disgrace to his family, in 

 consequence of his having only one leg. 



When a native, whether man, woman, or child, is sick of a lin- 

 gering disease, their relatives will either wring their heads off, or 

 strangle them. Mr. Hunt stated that this was a frequent custom, 

 and cited a case where he had with difficulty saved a servant of his 

 own from such a fate, who afterwards recovered his health. 



Formal human sacrifices are frequent. The victims are usually 

 taken from a distant tribe, and when not supplied by war or violence, 

 they are at times obtained by negotiation. After being selected for 

 this purpose, they are often kept for a time to be fattened. When 

 about to be sacrificed they are compelled to sit upon the ground, with 

 their feet drawn under their thighs, and their arms placed close 

 before them. In this posture they are bound so tightly that they 

 cannot stir, or move a joint. They are then placed in the usual oven, 

 upon hot stones, and covered with leaves and earth, where they are 

 roasted alive. When the body is cooked, it is taken from the oven, 



