The cruelties inflicted on the wretched prisoners taken in these wars
were inconceivably horrible and disgusting. Some of our readers may,
perhaps, think we might have passed over the sickening details in
silence, but we feel strongly that it is better that truth should be
known than that the feelings of the sensitive should be spared.
Ellis tells us that the bodies of men slain in battle were usually left
to be devoured by the hogs and wild dogs. This was doubtless the case
in some of the groups of islands where cannibalism was perhaps not very
much practised, but in other groups--especially among those known by the
name of the Feejees--the slain were more frequently devoured by men and
women than by hogs or dogs. The victors used to carry off the lower
jaw-bones of the most distinguished among the slain as trophies, and
also the bones of the arms and legs, from which they formed tools of
various kinds and fish-hooks, and the skulls they converted into
drinking-cups. The dead bodies were sometimes laid in rows along the
beach, and used as rollers, over which the canoes were launched.
One of their practices with the dead was ludicrously horrible.
Sometimes, when a man had slain his enemy, in order to gratify his
revenge he would beat the body quite flat, and then, cutting a hole
through the back and stomach, would pass his head through it and
actually rush into the fight wearing the body round his neck, with the
head and arms hanging down in front, and the legs behind!
The bodies of celebrated warriors and chiefs were hung by a rope to a
tree, after the legs and arms had been broken; cords were attached to
their feet, and then they were drawn up and down for the amusement of
the spectators, while other dead bodies were beaten as drums, to make a
hideous music to this horrible dance.
Other brutalities were practised upon the slain, which were of such a
nature that decency forbids our doing more than merely alluding to them
here. In order to show that many of the savages of the South Seas were
as bad, only a few years ago, as they were in former times, we give the
following account of a scene which is published and vouched for in a
recent work, named the _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the
Western Pacific_, by Captain Erskine of the Royal Navy.
About twenty years ago Bonavidongo, one of the chiefs of the Feejee
Islands, paid a visit to another chief named Tuithakau, for the purpose
of asking his assistance in quelling a disturbance that had arisen in a
neighbouring island. The latter agreed; all the warriors of the island
and the surrounding district were gathered together, and an army of two
thousand men finally set forth on this expedition in forty war-canoes.
Among the people was an English sailor named Jackson. He was of a
roving disposition; had been kidnapped at one of the islands, from which
he escaped, and afterwards wandered for two years among the South-Sea
Islands--learned the language of the natives, and wrote an account of
his adventures, which Captain Erskine added to his volume in the form of
an appendix.
Not being able to carry provisions for so large a body of men for any
length of time, the Feejeeans made a short stay at a place called Rambe,
for the purpose of refreshing the people. Here they procured immense
quantities of yams and crabs, with which, after eating and drinking to
their hearts' content, they loaded the canoes and continued the voyage.
From Rambe, as well as from other places along the route, they were
joined by additional canoes and warriors, so that their numbers rapidly
increased. Frequently they were obliged to sleep in the canoes instead
of on shore, on which occasions they were jammed up in such a manner
from want of space as to be actually lying in layers on the top of each
other!
At one place where they called they could not obtain a sufficient supply
of provisions for the whole party on account of its being small and
containing but few inhabitants, so they made up the deficiency with
dogs, cats, snakes, lizards, and the large white grubs with black heads
that are found in decayed wood. The dogs and cats they knocked on the
head, more for the purpose of stunning than killing, and threw them on a
fire, and, after letting them lie five minutes or so on one side, turned
them over on the other, then drew them from the fire and devoured them.
The grubs they ate raw.
Jackson was much surprised at what he terms, "this beastly way of
feeding," because in his previous experience he had found the Feejeeans
to be extremely particular in all preparations of food. On inquiring
the cause of the change, however, he was informed, "that they felt proud
that they were able to endure such hard fare, and that it was essential
to their warlike customs, as they could not expect to sleep as well in
war-time as in peace, and that they must endure every inconvenience, and
pay no attention whatever to comfort!"
At length they arrived at the island of Mouta, where they landed to
announce their arrival to the king, and to present him with a gift of
whales' teeth, which are much prized, and used on nearly all such
occasions. In order to reach the town they had to proceed up a long,
serpentine, narrow river, each bank of which was so thickly covered with
mangrove trees that they overshadowed it completely--rendering it
exceedingly dark and dismal. In the middle of the town stood the king's
house, and directly opposite was the "bure," or temple. The whole town
contained about one hundred and fifty houses.
Having presented the whales' teeth to his savage majesty, they related
all that had happened on the voyage, detailing the minutest particulars,
after which they went to the temple to do honour to the god of war; and
here the story of the voyage was repeated to the priest, who replied in
a long speech. This speech was listened to with the deepest attention,
because it was considered prophetic. The priest finished off by
encouraging all present to be obedient to the god of war, and to do
their best to gratify his appetite, adding, that the success of the
whole expedition depended on their obedience. He reminded them that the
god was a great lover of animal food, especially of human flesh.
Jackson afterwards found that the appetite of the priest was quite as
peculiar and strong as that of the god in this respect, and that the
king was a greater cannibal than the priest!
Next morning they re-embarked and started for Male, in the disturbed
district. The inhabitants of Male lived on the top of a mountain shaped
like a sugar-loaf, and having only one path leading up it. At the top
this path could be easily defended by a small body of men against ten
times their number, as they could roll down large stones upon their
enemies while they approached. Knowing the strength of their position,
the natives of this place had become the pest of the neighbourhood.
They sallied forth and committed great depredations on the villages near
them--carrying away the women into slavery, and killing the men for
food!
On approaching the place the war-party saw that the natives, by their
antics, were challenging and defying them. When they landed and could
hear what they said, they made out their speech of defiance to be, "We
are extremely tired of waiting for you, especially as we have been
expecting this visit so long: but as you have at last made your
appearance, we are quite ready to begin at once. We would remind you,
at the same time, that we are well supplied with stones, and, if these
fail, we have also a good store of British sand (gunpowder), and plenty
of pills (musket-balls), which we will bestow upon you very generously.
We see that you have got the Feejees and Tongas with you, but we hope
you will not have the folly and impudence to attack us until you have
collected the whole world to help you!"
To this contemptuous speech the war-party made a somewhat similar reply.
After they had thus abused each other for some time, three of the
people of the hill ventured half-way down the path, where they stood and
dared any, or the whole, of their enemies to come up. As it was not,
however, the intention of the war-party to assault the stronghold at
that time, they declined the invitation, but, happening to possess
several old muskets, which they had procured, no doubt, from traders,
they fired a volley at the three challengers, killed them all on the
spot, and, rushing up, caught the bodies as they rolled down the path.
The corpses were then fastened to a pole in a sitting posture, and
placed in the canoe of the chief, who resumed his voyage, his warriors
singing out, "Satiko, satiko," (Good-bye, good-bye), and telling the
people of Male that they would call again upon them shortly, as their
place was so conveniently situated, and take a few more bodies, just
enough at a time for the priest of the god of war--in short, that they
would take them in the same way as a man kills his pigs; and they were
to be sure to feed themselves well, for their chief was fond of fat
meat!
With this supply of food they returned to Mouta. Here the bodies, which
had been carefully painted with vermilion and soot, were handed out and
placed, sitting up, in front of the king's house; but before proceeding
to their loathsome banquet they enacted scenes in which there was a
dreadful mingling of the ludicrous and the horrible.
The whole of the people being assembled, and dead silence secured, an
old man advanced to the bodies, and, laying his hand upon each, began
talking to it in a low tone, asking it, "why he had been so rash in
coming down the hill," and telling it, "that he was extremely sorry to
see him in such a predicament; and did he not feel ashamed of himself
now that he was obliged to encounter the gaze of such a crowd." By
degrees the old orator worked himself into a state of excitement, till
at last he shouted at the full strength of his voice, and finally
finished off by kicking the bodies down, amid bursts of laughter from
the spectators, who then rushed forward, and, seizing each by a leg or
an arm, dragged them over stones and dust and swamps for the general
amusement of the people.
At last they pulled them up to a place at the back of the town which was
used for the purpose of cutting up, cooking, and eating human flesh. In
front of this dreadful place lay a heap of human bones bleached by the
weather. Here the priest was seated, with his long beard hanging down
on a little table before him. On this table were two skulls converted
into drinking-cups, and several others were lying about the floor.
Without going further into the disgusting details, it may be sufficient
to add that the three bodies were cut up by the priest and cooked in an
oven heated by means of hot stones, after which they were devoured as a
great treat, and with infinite relish, by the king and his chief men.
It was long before people in the civilised world would give credit to
stories such as that just related; and even now there may be some who
doubt the truth of them. But the number and the characters of the
travellers who have visited these islands since the days of Cook, and
who have brought home similar reports, put the matter beyond question.
Men ought neither to doubt these shocking details because they seem
incredible, nor turn away from them because they are disgusting. Like
the surgeon who calmly and steadily examines the most hideous of wounds
or sores that can affect the human body, so ought the Christian and the
philanthropist to know and consider in detail the horrible deeds that
are done by our fellow-men in the Cannibal Islands. It is good for us
to be made acquainted with the truth in order that we may be filled with
strong pity for the degraded savages, and in order, also, that our
hearts and hands may be opened towards those noble missionaries who
venture themselves into the midst of such awful scenes for the sake of
souls, and in the name of Jesus Christ.