154 SOMU-SOMU. 
pensities of the latter rendered it impossible to turn him from his bar- 
barous purposes. 
On the day of the feast the shutters of their house were closed, in 
order to keep out the disgusting smell that would ensue, but Mr. 
Hunt took his station just within his fence, and witnessed the whole 
that follows. The victims were dragged along the ground with 
ropes around their necks, by these merciless cannibals, and laid, as a 
present to the king, in the front of the missionaries’ house, which is 
directly opposite the king’s square, or public place of the town. The 
cause of the massacre was, that the people of Lauthala had killed a 
man belonging to the king’s koro, who was doing some business for 
the king; and, notwithstanding the people of Lauthala are related to 
the king, it was considered an unpardonable offence, and an order was 
given to attack their town. The party that went for this purpose 
came upon the unsuspecting village when (according to themselves) 
they were neither prepared for defence nor flight, or, as they described 
itto Mr. Hunt, “at the time the cock crows, they open their eyes and 
raise their heads from sleep, they rushed in upon them, and clubbed 
them to death,” without any regard to rank, age, or sex. All shared 
the same fate, whether innocent or guilty. A large number were 
eaten on the spot. No report makes this less than thirty, but others 
speak of as many as three hundred. Of these it is not my intention to 
speak, but only of what was done with the eleven presented to the 
king and spirit. 
The utmost order was preserved on this occasion, as at their other 
feasts, the people approaching the residence of the king with every 
mark of respect and reverence, at the beat of the drum. When 
human bodies are to be shared, the king himself makes a speech, 
as he did on this occasion. In it he presented the dead to his 
son, and intimated that the gods of Feejee should be propitiated, 
that they might have rain, &c. The son then rose and publicly 
accepted the gift, after which the herald pronounced aloud the names 
of the chiefs who were to have the bodies. The different chiefs 
take the bodies allotted to them away to their mbures, there to be 
devoured. | 
The chief of Lauthala was given to their principal god, whose 
temple is near the missionaries’ house. He was cut up and cooked 
two or three yards from their fence, and Mr. Hunt stood in his yard 
and saw the operation. He was much struck with the skill and 
despatch with which these practised cannibals performed their work. 
While it was going on, the old priest was sitting in the door of his 
temple giving orders, and anxiously looking for his share. All this, 
