THE FEEJEE ISLANDS: THEIR EXTENT AND POPULATION.--TERRIBLE FATALITY OF
THE MEASLES.--ROTUMAH AND ITS PEOPLE.--KANDAVU AND SUVA.--VITI
LEVU.--SIGHTS OF THE CAPITAL.--PRODUCTIONS AND COMMERCE OF
FEEJEE.--GROWTH OF THE SUGAR TRADE.--THE LABOR QUESTION.--OBSERVATIONS
AMONG THE NATIVES.--FEEJEEAN HAIR-DRESSING.--NATIVE
PECULIARITIES.--CANNIBALISM, ITS EXTENT AND SUPPRESSION.--HOW THE CHIEFS
WERE SUPPLIED.--A WHOLE TRIBE OF PEOPLE EATEN.--LEVUKA.--INTERVIEWS WITH
MERCHANTS AND PLANTERS.--THE BOLOLO FESTIVAL.--ANCIENT CUSTOMS.
[Illustration: A NATIVE OF FEEJEE.]
During the voyage to the Feejees Frank and Fred informed themselves
concerning that famous group of islands, which formerly had a dark
reputation for being the scene of the grossest forms of cannibalism.
What they learned was substantially as follows:
"There is really no such group of islands as 'The Feejees;' the word
Feejee comes from Viti, or Vee-tee--Viti Levu being the largest island
of the group, which consists of something more than two hundred islands
and islets. The number is variously placed at from two hundred to two
hundred and fifty, and of these about one hundred and forty are
inhabited. Viti Levu measures about ninety-seven miles from east to
west and sixty-four from north to south, and its area is computed at
4112 square miles. Vanua-Levu, with an area of nearly 2500 miles, is the
next largest, and then come Taviuni and Kandavu, the former of 217
square miles, and the latter of 124. None of the other islands have
areas equalling one hundred square miles, and it would be tedious to
name them all.
"Altogether the Feejee group has an area estimated at 7400 square miles,
or about 400 square miles less than that of the State of Massachusetts.
Its population is estimated at--"
Fred was about to write 200,000, taking the figures from a book before
him, when he was interrupted by Doctor Bronson.
"Wait a moment," said the Doctor, "and I'll tell you something on that
subject.
[Illustration: A ROYAL ATTENDANT.]
"Twenty or twenty-five years ago," he continued, "the population was
estimated at fully that figure, and some authorities put it as high as
250,000. Of course there has never been a careful census, and in the
interior of the larger islands it is not easy to get even a close
approximation of the number of inhabitants. Since the occupation of the
islands by the whites the population has followed the general law of all
Polynesia, and diminished with more or less steadiness.
"In 1874 it was estimated that it had been reduced to 180,000, and in
the following year fully one-third of this number died from the scourge
of measles."
"Measles!" exclaimed Frank and Fred, in astonishment. "I didn't know,"
Frank added, "that this disease was a deadly one."
"It is not usually so considered in civilized lands," the Doctor
answered, "nor would it have been so here but for the ignorance of the
people, and their persistence in doing exactly what they should not have
done.
"In the latter part of 1874 Thakombau, King of Feejee, and his sons went
to Sydney in an English man-of-war, to pay their respects to the
Governor of New South Wales. At Sydney the two youngest boys took
measles, but the disease showed itself in such a mild form that nothing
was thought of it. On the return voyage in January the King had a slight
attack, but it was considered of no consequence, and on his arrival at
Levuka he went ashore at once.
"His relatives and subjects came to pay their respects, and according to
custom smelt of his hands or his face, and thus took in the poison of
the disease. A few days after his arrival there was a meeting of chiefs
and other high dignitaries from all the tribes of the group, and the
same ceremonies were gone through. In this way the disease was spread
through the group, and when it developed it caused the death of nearly
every chief who had attended the ceremonial.
[Illustration: ANCIENT FEEJEE TEMPLE.]
"All through the Feejees people died by the thousand; in some instances
whole villages were struck down, and there were not enough well people
to care for the sick or bury the dead. Medical directions were published
and sent abroad as soon as possible, but the superstitious people had
been told by some of the beach-combers and other scoundrels infesting
the islands that the disease had been imported in order to kill them off
and get their lands, and that the medicines of the white men were
intended to spread rather than check it. The medical directions were
ignored; some tribes who had become Christian renounced the new religion
and drove out their teachers. In one instance where a teacher died of
measles his Christian disciples concluded that it was best to follow the
old custom and bury his wife and children with him, in order to
propitiate the demon of the scourge."
"Why was the disease so fatal here when it is not so in our own
country?" one of the youths inquired.
"You are aware, I presume," the Doctor answered, "that care should be
exercised in measles against taking cold, and thus driving the disease
to the lungs. These people are continually bathing, and it was the most
natural thing in the world for them to rush to the cooling streams as
soon as the fever came on them. In this way thousands doomed themselves
to death, and besides, there came an unusual rainfall that converted
great areas of country into swamps, and rendered it impossible for the
people to keep dry even if they had tried to do so.
"As an illustration of the effect of bathing, I may mention the case of
the native police at Levuka. A hundred and fifty men were seized with
measles, and the officer in charge, an Englishman, immediately
established a hospital and ordered those who were least affected to care
for the rest. They were forbidden to bathe or allow any one else to do
so; all the patients recovered except ten, and of these every man was
found to have disobeyed orders and indulged in a bath in the tempting
sea which was close by.
"An English resident says that whole villages were swept away by the
scourge, the dead were buried in their own houses, and to this day many
of the platforms on which the Feejeean houses are built are simply
family tombs. The coast towns suffered more than those of the interior,
probably in consequence of their being in more swampy ground, and thus
more affected by the dampness. The measles were afterwards carried to
other groups, where the effect was severe, but not so fatal in
proportion to the population as in the Feejees."
With this explanation Frank put down the number of native inhabitants
of the Feejees at 120,000; afterwards he obtained at Suva the figures of
the census of 1884, which were as follows: European residents, 3513;
native Feejeeans, 115,635; Polynesian laborers, 5634; Asiatics, about
5000; and Rotumah men, about 2600.
[Illustration: A POLYNESIAN IDOL.]
"What is a Rotumah man?" said Fred, when the above figures were obtained
and read aloud by Frank.
"Rotumah," said the Doctor, "is a small island lying in mid-ocean about
four hundred miles north of Feejee, and recently made a British
possession. The natives are a kindly race; the women are prettier than
most other Polynesians, and the men strong and of good size. They make
excellent sailors, and you find them in ships all over the South
Pacific, and even in other parts of the world. A gentleman who visited
Rotumah told me it was no uncommon thing to find natives who had been in
New York, London, Liverpool, or Hamburg, and they could discuss the
relative merits of sailing and steam vessels with an intelligence not
always found among white sailors.
"Though living in an island where nature is kindly and the wants of man
are few, the Rotumah men are not unwilling to work; they are
consequently sought as laborers in the Samoan, Tahitian, and other
groups, and especially in Feejee. So many men have been taken from the
island that the supply has been practically exhausted, and the planters
are compelled to look elsewhere. Some of the laborers were kidnapped in
the manner described in our discussion of the labor-trade, but the most
of those who emigrated were fairly and honestly obtained."
The outlying islets of the Feejee group were first sighted by our
friends on the yacht, and in due time the peaks of the larger islands
came into view. The Feejeean Archipelago is situated between the
fifteenth and twenty-second parallels of south latitude, and the
meridians of 177° west and 175° east longitude, and scattered over an
area of ocean some two hundred miles from north to south, and three
hundred from east to west. Its exact extent is not known, as there has
been no complete survey of the islands; one is now in progress under the
direction of the colonial government, but it will take some time for its
completion. Surveying in Feejee is slow and difficult work, owing to the
dense tropical vegetation that is found everywhere.
[Illustration: A COAST SCENE IN KANDAVU.]
The first island of importance which was sighted by our friends was
Kandavu, the fourth largest of the group and containing something like
10,000 inhabitants. As they expected to see it later, they did not stop
there, and the youths contented themselves by studying its well-wooded
slopes and fertile valleys, and the towering head of Mount Washington
3000 feet high on its western side. The captain told them that Kandavu
was the stopping-place of the mail-steamers on their way between San
Francisco and Australia, as it was more convenient and less dangerous
for them than either Suva or Levuka. He added that it abounded in fine
timber, and was a favorite resort for whalers in search of supplies and
water.
Steam was made as soon as Kandavu was sighted, and in a few hours the
_Pera_ was at anchor in the harbor of Suva, the capital of the British
colony of Feejee. It was selected in 1880 by a commission appointed to
secure a site for a future capital, the former one, Levuka, having been
found disadvantageous in some respects. Levuka is more centrally
situated in the archipelago than Suva, but its harbor is not so easy of
access, and a ship approaching or leaving it has more dangerous
navigation. Levuka is on the small island of Ovolau, while Suva is on
the south side of Viti Levu, which is, as before stated, the largest and
most populous of the group.
[Illustration: A PLANTER'S RESIDENCE.]
On shore our friends found a prosperous-looking place, when its age was
taken into consideration, and Frank said it reminded him of a town in
California or Colorado. There were half a dozen hotels, several
churches, which represented the Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian,
and Methodist faiths, a great number of shops and stores, and many
well-built warehouses, cottages, and other dwellings. They went to the
principal hotel before proceeding to call upon their consuls or make any
acquaintances, and the proprietor immediately offered to show them the
sights of Suva.
[Illustration: A NEW ARRIVAL.]
He pointed out the Governor's residence, the jail, hospital,
custom-house, and lunatic asylum, together with other public edifices.
Doctor Bronson suggested that there was every indication of a fixed
community when so young a place could boast of a jail and a lunatic
asylum, not to speak of the custom-house and the hospital.
"We needed a jail here before anything else," was the reply to his
remark. "All the riffraff of the South Seas seemed to be collected in
Feejee before the annexation, and there was nothing but the powerful arm
of law, with jails and other paraphernalia, that could preserve order."
"They had been gathering here for a long time, I presume," said the
Doctor, "and were most numerous just before the annexation."
"There had been a fair sprinkling of beach-combers and idlers," was the
reply, "ever since the islands were first occupied by white men. After
them came men who wished to engage in planting cotton, sugar, and other
things for which the islands were supposed to be favorable; there were
some adventurers among them; but, on the whole, they were a good class
of citizens, as they were nearly all of birth and education, and most of
them brought some capital with which to go into business.
"But in the latter part of the sixties we were inundated with a
different lot of adventurers. A few came with the design of planting
cotton, or engaging in some other honest employment, but the great
majority were penniless fellows, with no fondness for decent
occupations. Many of them had left the Australian colonies to avoid
arrest for swindling or other crimes, and there was a fair share of men
for whom the prisons yawned for offences of the most serious character.
Down to that time San Francisco had been the haven to which these
fellows emigrated, but it was easier to go to Feejee than to America,
and therefore Feejee got the benefit."
"I think I heard something about it at the time," the Doctor remarked.
[Illustration: GOING TO FEEJEE.]
"Quite likely," responded his informant. "About 1870-71 Feejee was a
word of contempt in Australia. 'Gone to Feejee' had the same meaning in
Sydney and Melbourne that 'Gone to Texas' had in the United States forty
or fifty years ago; but now, under colonial rule, it is an orderly land,
and life and property are as safe as in Australia or California."
In the conversation that followed Frank and Fred learned that the late
King Thakombau, who died in 1883, offered the sovereignty of the islands
to the Queen of England under certain conditions, but the offer was
declined. Another offer was made in March, 1874, which was also
declined; but in October of the same year a deed of cession gave the
sovereignty of the islands to Great Britain. A charter was shortly after
issued, making Feejee a colony of Great Britain, and the first governor,
Sir Arthur Gordon, arrived in June, 1875, and assumed authority.
The colony has been, on the whole, a prosperous one, though there have
been periods of depression. Year by year the capabilities of the islands
are becoming better known, and it would seem that there is every known
kind of productive soil in Feejee. Its swamps will produce rice in
abundance, and the other lands are adapted to sugar, cotton, coffee,
sweet-potatoes, yams, and all other tropical productions, while in many
localities pease, beans, cabbages, apples, and other fruits and
vegetables of the temperate zones are successfully grown.
Frank asked about the cocoanut and bread-fruit trees, and was told that
the former was indigenous, and the latter had been grown there so long
that it was practically so. The cocoanut-tree was an important article
of cultivation, and thousands of acres have been planted with it. For a
long time the chief article of export was copra, but latterly it has
been exceeded by sugar. In 1875 the export of copra was 3871 tons; in
1884 it was 6682 tons, or nearly double the amount of nine years before.
As the young trees come into bearing the exportation of copra will be
greatly increased.
[Illustration: SCENE ON A COTTON PLANTATION.]
"The growth of the sugar-trade," said his informant, "has been very
rapid, as you will see by the figures. In 1875 the export of sugar was
96 tons, and in 1876 it was 265 tons; in 1884 it was nearly 9000 tons;
and in 1885, 10,586 tons. Molasses shows about the same increase as its
first-cousin, sugar, though the product of later years is not as
valuable as some that preceded it, owing to the diminished price of the
article.
"Cotton has not been a profitable crop on the whole," he continued, "and
the production has fallen off from 386 tons in 1879 to 150 tons in
1884, and only 45 tons in 1885. Many cotton-bushes have been destroyed
to make place for the cultivation of sugar; coffee has been little, if
any, more profitable than cotton, and many of the coffee plantations are
now devoted to bananas, which are an important article of export. In
1875 less than $500 worth of fruit was sent from the islands, while the
exports for the last three years have exceeded $100,000 worth annually.
"The other exports are beche-de-mer, tobacco, cocoa-fibre,
tortoise-shell, wool, hides, and pearl-shell, but none of them amount to
a great deal. The industries of the colony are somewhat hampered by
restrictions upon the importation of foreign labor; in consequence of
former abuses the Government is very severe, and some of us think
needlessly so."
Frank asked in what particular he thought the authorities ought to be
more lenient.
[Illustration: SUGAR-CANE MILL.]
"The laborers are engaged for three years," was the reply, "and under
the old regulations a laborer could be re-engaged for another period of
three years if he was willing to do so. At present the employers are
compelled to return him to his home, even though he is desirous of
remaining here for another term. This is the rule as to imported labor;
if a planter hires Feejeeans to work for him he is obliged to make his
engagements from month to month. The probability is that coolie labor
from India will in time drive out Polynesian labor."
"Why so?" Fred asked.
"Because of the lower relative price of it. Polynesians must be fed,
clothed, and cared for by the employer, and consequently it is not easy
to calculate exactly the cost of this kind of labor. The coolies feed
and care for themselves, and besides they are better and more steady
laborers. A Polynesian laborer costs about eighty dollars a year, a
Feejeean one eighty-five dollars, and a coolie from India or China
ninety-five to one hundred dollars. But, all things considered, the
Asiatic is preferable to the Polynesian."
There was further conversation relative to the labor-trade, which has
already been discussed in this book, and so we will not repeat it. Our
friends then took a stroll along the Victoria Parade, a wide and
handsome avenue nearly a mile in length. Frank and Fred were interested
in everything they saw, and particularly with the passing kaleidoscope
of Englishmen, Germans, Americans, and other white nationalities,
together with Chinese, Indian coolies, Feejeeans, Rotumah men, and
natives of half the islands of the Pacific. Of course the Feejeeans were
more numerous than any other race or kind of people that passed before
their eyes.
"The Feejeeans," said Frank, in his account of their visit to Suva, "are
considerably darker than the Samoans or Tahitians; Doctor Bronson says
they belong to the race of Papuans rather than to the Malays, though
possessing characteristics of both. They are superior to the Papuans in
physique and in their degree of civilization, but they have the frizzly
hair and beard and the dark skin which indicates their Papuan origin.
Then, too, they use the bow and arrow for weapons, and make pottery,
neither of which is characteristic of the true Polynesian.
[Illustration: FEEJEEAN HEAD-DRESS.]
"What struck us as odd about them was their immense heads of hair, some
of them being fully three feet in diameter. Hair-dressing seems to be
one of the fine arts in Feejee, and the barber is a most important
personage, though less so to-day than formerly. And how do you suppose
they managed to get such enormous mops on their heads?
"Well, the naturally frizzly hair is 'improved' by the barber. Each
particular hair is seized and pulled with tweezers until it stands out
straight, helped of course by the other hairs which have been served the
same way. The hair-dressing of a Feejeean dandy takes the greater part
of the time, and when he wishes to appear in specially fine style he
must be for a whole day at least in the hands of his barber. When the
hair has been stretched out to the proper degree, it is wrapped with
fine tappa or imported muslin, and in this condition presents a very
curious appearance.
"The office of barber to the King was such a sacred one that the royal
barbers were tabu, or forbidden to do anything else. They could not even
feed, dress, or undress themselves, or do anything whatever with the
hands which were to be used solely on the royal coiffure. And yet there
were plenty of men who coveted this honorable occupation in spite of its
manifest inconveniences.
"They are a polite people--at least we are told so, and certainly have
seen nothing to lead us to think otherwise. The hotel-keeper says the
Feejeean boys make excellent table servants, and the native policemen
along the streets seem fully equal to any we have ever seen outside of a
European or American city. Like all Polynesians, the Feejeeans are very
ceremonious, and great sticklers for etiquette. The chiefs and nobles
are surrounded with ceremony, and one needs to be as careful in
approaching them as in approaching the Queen of England or the Emperor
of Russia.
"Here in Suva most of the people have adopted European dress, or a
modification of the native one, but back in the mountains they adhere to
their primitive garments. These are strips of cloth around the waist,
and owing to this enormous array of hair I have just told about they
sleep on a pillow consisting of a stick like a thick lath, with legs
four or five inches long. It is like taking a section of a two-inch
plank a foot long and four inches wide, and resting one's neck on the
edge. A Feejeean pillow is by no means an inconvenient weapon in a
fight, and 'very handy to have in the house.'
[Illustration: AN ACCOMPLISHED LIAR.]
"It is said the Feejeeans look upon lying as an accomplishment, and I
have been told that one of the worst stumbling-blocks in the way to
their conversion to Christianity was to have them understand that it was
wrong to tell deliberate falsehoods. They have improved a great deal
under missionary teachings, and there is still plenty of opportunity for
more improvement in the same direction. When angry, they are sullen
rather than noisy; when a chief is offended, he puts a stick in the
ground as a mark by which he remembers the cause of his anger. After a
while he may pull up the stick as a sign that his anger is relenting,
and he is ready to be propitiated with gifts.
"We look upon this people with a great deal of curiosity, as we have all
our lives associated them with terrible stories of the most horrible
forms of cannibalism. Happily this is a thing of the past, but it is by
no means so very long ago. Even now the people among the mountains are
said to indulge in it occasionally; but if they do, the extent of the
practice is very small by comparison with fifty years ago.
"How it was adopted no one knows; the Feejeeans have a tradition that it
began in an effort to prevent the incursions of people from other
islands, and as a result of battle, which is quite likely to have been
the case. In course of time it was not confined to enemies and
foreigners, but extended to those who were offered as sacrifices in the
temples. Sacrifices increased in number year by year until, as in
Tahiti, a considerable part of the population was liable at any time to
be offered up at the bidding of the priests or chiefs.
"In every village there were particular ovens and pots devoted to
cooking the flesh of men, and the cooks were as skilled in the cannibal
art as are the Parisian _chefs_ in theirs. It was not uncommon to see
twenty or thirty human bodies cooked at a time for a great feast, and
the chiefs used to sacrifice their wives or their friends to gratify
their tastes for this horrible article of food. When a chief demanded
_bakola_ (long pig), the customary name for human flesh, his attendants
used to rush out and kill the first person they met in order to gratify
his wish!
[Illustration: FORK OF A CANNIBAL KING.]
"The bakola was not eaten with the fingers like other kinds of food, but
with wooden forks with long prongs, and these forks were tabu for any
other purpose. Each fork had a special name, like an individual; the
fork of one of the cannibal kings was named _undroundo_ ('a dwarf
carrying a burden'), and was presented in 1849 to one of the
missionaries by Ra Vatu, the son of the King referred to. Ra Vatu talked
freely about his father's love for human flesh, and showed to the
missionary the line of stones which registered the number of bodies he
had eaten. One of the native teachers who accompanied the missionary
counted the stones, and found they numbered eight hundred and
thirty-two! Thakombau, the last King, was a cannibal until the latter
part of his life, and his father, Tanoa, continued a cannibal till the
day of his death.
[Illustration: TANOA, FORMER KING OF FEEJEE.]
"Here is a story that I find in Doctor Seemann's report of his visit to
Feejee:
"'A peculiar kind of taro was pointed out as having been eaten with
a whole tribe of people. The story sounds strange, but as a number
of natives were present when it was told, several of whom
corroborated the various statements or corrected the proper names
that occurred, its truth appears unimpeachable.
[Illustration: A CANNIBAL DANCE.]
"'In Viti Levu, about three miles north-north-east from Namosi,
there dwelt a tribe known as the Kai-na-loca, who, in days of yore,
gave great offence to the ruling chief of the Namosi district, and
as a punishment for their misdeeds the whole tribe was condemned to
die. Every year the inmates of one house were baked and eaten, fire
was set to the empty dwelling, and its foundation planted with
taro. In the following year, as soon as this taro was ripe, it
became the signal for the destruction of the next house and its
inhabitants and the planting of a fresh field of taro. Thus house
after house and family after family disappeared, until the father
of the present chief pardoned the few that remained. In 1860 only
one old woman was the sole survivor of the Na-loca people. Picture
the feelings of these unfortunate wretches as they watched the
growth of the ominous taro! There was no escape, as they would only
hasten their doom by fleeing into territories where they were
strangers.'
[Illustration: SKULL FOUND AT THE BANQUET GROUND.]
"When the Wesleyan missionaries came here in 1835 they found cannibalism
in full sway, and it now seems a wonder that they were not immediately
killed and eaten. They partially owed their exemption to the fact that
the flesh of white men is considered insipid, or tainted with tobacco,
and therefore they were not regarded as desirable prey. Their progress
in converting the natives was at first very slow, but they were patient
and determined, and in course of time they were rewarded for their
efforts. At present the great majority of the people are professing
Christians, cannibalism has ceased since 1878, polygamy is rare, and
idol worship is no more. After a time the Roman Catholics established a
mission, and since the annexation the Church of England has sent its
representatives to Feejee.
"In 1885 the Wesleyans reported that they had 906 churches and 347 other
preaching-places in the islands, 25,932 church-members, and 104,806
attendants upon public worship. They had 1749 day schools, and 40,313
scholars in these schools, and they had nearly 42,000 children attending
Sabbath-school. The Roman Catholics have about 8000 church-members, and
the Church of England has a much smaller number, its adherents being
principally Englishmen and other foreigners.
"So much for what the missionaries have accomplished in this group of
Pacific islands, in the short space of fifty years. At present the
Wesleyans say the expenses of maintaining their missions in Feejee is
about $25,000 a year; and of this amount $15,000 is contributed here,
the balance coming from abroad. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are
taught in the common schools; there are higher schools in each
missionary circuit, where persons are trained for the ministry, and
others can be educated. There is a central college at Navuloa, where a
superior education, both native and English, is given to those who are
preparing for ordination, and also to others who may desire it. The
Government has established industrial schools, where the sons of chiefs
are taught reading and writing as in the common schools, and also
instructed in house-carpentering, boat-building, and other trades.
[Illustration: VIEW IN A VALLEY OF THE INTERIOR OF THE ISLAND.]
"I think I hear you asking how the English manage to govern the islands
when they are so few and the natives so numerous. Well, Feejee is a
crown colony, and its affairs are administered by a governor and
executive council; the laws are prepared by a legislative council of
thirteen members, seven of whom are official and six are nominated by
the Governor. In legal matters the imperial laws are followed, except
where there has been local legislation. All jury cases are decided by
the judge, with two assessors; the system of trial by jury was abolished
by the first governor, Sir Arthur Gordon, at the suggestion of Sir John
Gorrie, who was then chief-justice. The natives have a system of local
self-government which is recognized by the colonial authorities; there
are twelve salaried superior native chiefs exercising executive
functions under the Government, and also twenty-six native magistrates."
Our friends found enough in and around Suva to interest them for several
days. They visited some of the cotton, sugar, and coffee plantations in
the vicinity, examined some of the sites of the ancient temples of the
Feejeeans which were the scenes of horrible slaughters in the days of
cannibalism and idolatry, went through some of the native villages,
where they were kindly received by the chiefs, and did other things
which were very natural for visitors to do. There was nothing especially
new about the plantations, with the possible exception of the groups of
laborers from the islands of Polynesia and Melanesia, some of whom were
of races strange to the eyes of our friends. There were men from Tanna,
from the Solomon Islands, from New Guinea, and also representatives of
other groups of islands, until the whole made quite a formidable list.
The owner of the largest plantation that they visited told Frank and
Fred that the men from the different islands would not fraternize with
one another any more than will Germans, Irish, and negroes in America or
England. They do not trust one another, and their huts are in different
groups, in widely separated parts of the plantation. Many of them are
cannibals, particularly the men from the Solomon and New Hebrides
islands, and occasionally get into open warfare for the purpose of
capturing somebody whom they can eat. This very distrust of one another
is to the advantage of the planter, who could not easily manage them if
they were united and harmonious.
Fred thought the Solomon Islanders were the most repulsive looking of
the lot, and their employer said they were treacherous and revengeful in
addition to being murderous. In times past, before the establishment of
the Colonial Government, they used to make raids on the villages and
kill any unfortunate Feejeean they met, whom they carried away and
devoured. Of late years they have been restrained from this practice,
but not without some severe lessons.
"The Tanna men are not much unlike them," their informant continued,
"but they are less treacherous and sullen, and are better workers. They
eat the flesh of men when they can get it, but they are also fond of
dogs, cats, lizards, rats, and flies."
As he spoke he pointed to a pen containing several puppies which the
Tanna men were fattening, and would make the basis of a grand feast on
their next holiday.
From Suva the party went by a local steamer to Levuka, Colonel Bush
being unwilling to risk the _Pera_ among the rocks and reefs, which
render navigation far from safe in these waters. They found the harbor
of Levuka smaller than that of Suva, but in other respects equal to it,
as the anchorage was good, and the place well sheltered from gales. The
barrier reef which forms the harbor is about a mile from shore, and has
two passages by which vessels may enter or leave port.
[Illustration: AVENUE OF PALMS.]
Of course the removal of the capital to Suva was a severe blow to
Levuka, but the place has a good commerce of its own, and being more
centrally situated in regard to all the islands of the group, it is in
no danger of decay. It contains three or four hotels and several
boarding-houses, and its mercantile establishments are generally of a
substantial character. There are Wesleyan, Catholic, and Episcopalian
churches in Levuka, several branch buildings of the Government offices,
and a well-kept hospital for the use of such European strangers as may
need medical attention.
[Illustration: A PART OF LEVUKA.]
"The founders of Levuka were not altogether happy in one respect," said
one of the residents, who was pointing out its features to our friends.
"The hills around it are so steep that it was not practicable to extend
the town over them; we could build our dwellings there, but it was out
of the question to establish stores and shops where people must climb to
reach them, so we extended along the base of the hills, and in some
cases out into the sea, where we made land by filling in.
"You see," he continued, "that Levuka consists practically of a single
thoroughfare which we call Beach Street, for the very practical reason
that it follows the course of the beach. Outside the town it is
prolonged into a road that nearly surrounds the island of Ovolau, and
will completely encircle it in time. Two or three years ago we started
to build a street railway; we made surveys and subscribed for the stock,
but the Government opposed the project, and it was given up."
[Illustration: FRED'S FLY.]
[Illustration: FRANK'S MOSQUITO.]
Our friends found accommodations at one of the hotels, and were fairly
comfortable, or would have been if they could have escaped the flies and
mosquitoes. These insects were numerous enough to form a veritable
plague, and seemed to take special delight in annoying strangers. A
planter who was stopping at the hotel declared that the flies had
sentinels stationed to give notice of the arrival of a stranger so that
all could pounce on him at once, and that whenever the flies grew weary
of their work the mosquitoes came forward to relieve them. Frank made a
sketch of a Feejee mosquito, while Fred took the likeness of a native
fly. These works of art were laid carefully away where the subjects
thereof could not reach them with intents of destruction or mutilation.
Dinner was taken at the hotel-table, and proved, on the whole, a
pleasant affair. The youths made several acquaintances among the
planters, merchants, and others who were stopping there; Frank and Fred
added materially to their stock of information relative to the
agricultural and other advantages of Feejee, and also to the mode of
life among the residents. The dinner consisted of pork, salt and fresh
beef, chicken, yams, taro, and other vegetables, together with English
and American preserves, and potted things that are found wherever
Englishmen are settled in the eastern or southern hemisphere. "You may
not think much of it when compared with a dinner in New York or London,"
said one of the planters, "but if you go and live six months or a year
on a plantation you'll think a dinner here is the very height of luxury.
Salt beef and occasional chickens and pigs are our only meats on the
plantations, backed up by yams and taro in one unvarying round. Where we
can afford it we have potted and canned things, but they are expensive,
and very often cannot be had at any price. It has repeatedly happened
that men who had been living on the rough fare of the plantations came
to Levuka after an absence of months, and overfed themselves at the
hotel-table to such an extent as to bring on a fatal illness."
After dinner they sat on the veranda of the hotel and enjoyed the
land-breeze which sets in a little after sunset, and is considerably
cooler than the day breeze from the sea. It is also free from flies and
mosquitoes, which at this time retire to the sleeping-rooms of the hotel
to make ready for the arrival of the lodgers. On the veranda the
conversation was continued, and many features of Feejeean life were
touched upon.
"It's a pity you are not to be here at _balola_ time," said one of the
residents to Fred, when the latter had explained that their visit was to
be a very brief one.
Fred thought the gentleman said _bakola_, and immediately his thoughts
ran on the cannibalism of the Feejeeans in times past. He remarked that
he supposed those days were gone forever, but his informant answered, to
the great astonishment of the youth, that they had the festival every
year, and it was something not to be missed.
Then the gentleman went on to explain, and Fred soon ascertained the
difference between _bakola_ and _balola_.
"The balola, or balolo," said he, "is a sea-worm whose scientific name
is _palolo viridis_. It looks like a string of vermicelli, being little
larger than a thread, and varying from an inch or two to a yard in
length. It lives somewhere in the sea, no one knows where; on two days
of the year it comes to the surface, and all the rest of the three
hundred and sixty-five it keeps carefully out of sight. The natives know
exactly when it will come; it first appears in October, the date being
fixed by the position of certain stars, and its second appearance is at
the full moon, between the twentieth and twenty-fifth of November.
[Illustration: ONE VARIETY OF SEA-WORM.]
"The worms are far more numerous in the November than in the October
appearance, and hence the October one is called the 'Little Balola,'
while the November coming is the 'Great Balola.' At the great festival
the sea is covered in some places to the depth of several inches with
these worms, which are red, green, and brown in color, and form a
writhing and wriggling mass not altogether pleasant to look at. They
come a little past midnight, and when the sun rises they sink down out
of sight and remain there until the next year."
"How curious!" exclaimed the youth, in astonishment.
"No one has been able to explain the phenomenon," was the reply, "nor
tell how and where the worm passes the rest of his time. Why he appears
on these occasions and no other, or why he appears at all, nobody has
yet found out, and you may be sure the worms won't give up the secret.
[Illustration: GOING FOR BALOLA.]
"The natives go out in their boats in great numbers; every native boat
that can float is occupied, and the Europeans go along at the same time
to see the fun. As long as the worms remain every native is busy with
baskets and ladles trying to fill his boat with them; there is a great
deal of excitement and laughter, as the people steal from one another
and have as much fun as they can out of the festival. Then there are
shoals and shoals of fish of all sizes and kinds that are feeding on the
worms, and seem to understand that they must make the most of their
opportunity.
"As soon as daylight comes, and the worms sink out of sight, the people
return to the shore, wrap the worms in taro-leaves, and cook them in
ovens after their manner of roasting. The supply is so great that there
is enough for everybody for several days, and baskets of balola are sent
to friends in the interior, just as you send fruit and game in America.
The stuff is not agreeable to European taste, but isn't so bad after all
when you can conquer your prejudice against eating worms."
"To show the force of the religious convictions of the Feejeeans," said
another resident, "let me say that when the festival comes on Sunday not
a single canoe of the natives goes out except those of the Roman
Catholic Church members. The Methodists obey the religious requirements
so closely that not a canoe will go on the water on Sunday except to
carry a preacher to church. You cannot hire one of these people to climb
a cocoanut-tree on Sunday, or do any other work that is not strictly one
of necessity."
"What an immense change," said another, "from the days when cannibalism
prevailed throughout the islands, and when all public ceremonials were
attended with human sacrifices. On the death of a chief his wives and
servants were buried alive with him, in order that he could have their
company in the spirit world. When a chief's house was built a slave
stood in each post-hole to support the post, and was buried there alive.
War-canoes were launched or drawn ashore over the bodies of living
prisoners, who served as rollers and were crushed to death by the
weight. Life was held of no consequence, and parents who were ill or
felt the weakness of age coming used to ask their children to bury them.
A missionary was once invited by a young man to attend the funeral of
the latter's mother; she walked cheerfully to the grave, and sat down in
it to have the earth heaped about her by her children, and was much
surprised when the missionary interfered to prevent the proceeding.
[Illustration: ANCIENT FEEJEEAN WAR-DANCE.]
"And I have heard," he continued, "of a young man who was ill and feared
he would get thin and be laughed at by the girls of his acquaintance. He
asked his father to bury him, and the latter consented. When the youth
had taken his place in the grave he asked to be strangled. The father
scolded him, and told him to sit still and be buried just like other
folks, and make no further trouble. Thereupon the youth became quiet,
and the burial was completed."
"Can this really be true?" queried the youth.
"The story is found on page 475 of Erskine's 'Journal of a Cruise among
the Islands of the Western Pacific,'" said his informant, "and I have no
doubt whatever of its truth. The evidence as to the former customs of
the Feejeeans is so direct and positive that it cannot be doubted."
Fred lay awake for some time that night, his thoughts busy with the
changes which had been wrought in the islands of the great ocean through
the labors of the missionaries. Afterwards he watched the effect of the
moonlight on the waters, and while watching fell asleep.
[Illustration: MOONLIGHT ON THE WATERS.]