Hearts are not likely to be broken by a refusal under such
circumstances, which bears out Williams's remark (148) that no
distinctive preference is apparent among these men and women. Under
such circumstances it may appear strange that some widowers should
commit suicide upon the death of a wife, as Seernan assures us they do
(193). Does not this indicate deep feeling? Not in a savage. In all
countries suicide is usually a sign of a weak intellect rather than of
strong feelings, and especially is this the case among the lower
races, where both men and women are apt to commit suicide in a moment
of excitement, often for the most trivial cause, as we shall see in
the next chapter. Williams tells us (106) of a chief on Thithia who
was addressed disrespectfully by a younger brother and who, rather
than live to have the insult made the topic of common talk, loaded his
musket, placed the muzzle at his breast, and pushing the trigger with
his toe, shot himself through the heart. He knew a similar case on
Vanua Levu.
"Pride and anger combined often lead to self-destruction.
... The most common method of suicide in Fiji is by jumping
over a precipice. This is, among the women, the fashionable
way of destroying themselves; but they sometimes resort to
the rope. Of deadly poisons they are ignorant, and drowning
would be a difficult thing; for from infancy they learn to
be almost as much at home in the water as on dry land."