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.

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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.'

"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!

"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.

"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.

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.'

"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.

"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.

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.

"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."

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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

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