The Night of Heathenism. 
203 
lived under the protection of the king of Rewa ; and so 
fond was the king of this man, that if he accused any native 
of having offended or wronged him, the king would send 
for the offender, order him to heat an oven red-hot, and 
then, after being murdered by the executioner, the body 
would be cast into it, and baked. The depraved habits of 
the inhabitants and their white allies formed such a remark- 
able contrast with the beauty of the islands in which they 
dwelt, that Commodore Wilkes, of the American navy, 
made the following observation : " So beautiful was the 
aspect of the islands, that I could scarcely bring my mind 
to realize the well-known fact, that they were the abodes 
of a savage, ferocious, and treacherous race of cannibals/' 
This, however, was the fact ; on every island, sin had left its 
serpent trail : vice, cruelty, war, outrage, and cannibalism 
abounded. 
The climate appears to be very warm, and more healthy 
than in most countries near the Equator ; fever and other 
malarious diseases being little known. The natives possess 
no traditions as to their origin or descent, but, generally 
speaking, they seem to claim affinity — ^judging from language 
and appearance — ^with some darker Asiatic races. The 
people were subject to different kings or chiefs, whose word 
was law, and whose rule was thoroughly autocratic. There 
were many independent states and chiefs, and from this 
circumstance arose the fact that war, dissension, and blood- 
shed are common among the people. Many terrible 
traditions and tales are told of these chiefs and their cruel- 
ties. One of them, named Tanoa, chief of Mbengga, seems 
to have been a monster of cruelty. On one occasion, a 
cousin of his, named Mothelotu, offended him in some 
way, and was doomed to die. The unhappy man sought 
the chief's forgiveness, with tears and protestations, but in 
