CHAPTER XII Recent History and Present Condition of South- Ellice's Group-Depeyster Island-Number and Extent of the Feejee Islands-Customs of their Inhabitants-Capture of the Chief Vendovi-American Vengeance on Malolo for the Murder of two Officers -Extensive Triumph of Protestant Christianity among the Feejeeans Intermeddlings of Popery with it— Expulsion of Christian Teachers from Tanna in the New Hebrides -Aggressions by the Crews of Merchant Ships on New Hebrides and New Caledonia-Ferocity and Cruel Customs of the Natives of these Groups-Renewal and Extension of Missionary Operations in New Hebrides-Persecution of Christian Teachers in New Caledonia-Adaptation of New Zealand to the Purposes of British Colonization-The several Colonial Settlements which have been made on it-Character of the Native New Zealanders -Insurrection against the Colonists, and Collisio is with the British Troops-Proceedings of the Colonial Government-Progress of Religion. A LOW coral island, called Ellice's Group, lies in south CHAP. XII. latitude 8° 30′ 45′′, and east longitude 179° 13′ 30′′. It is thirteen miles long, and upwards of seven miles broad, and comprises a ring of small islets situated on a reef, and surrounding a lagoon. The islets are sufficiently separated from one another to give the idea of a "group;" Ellice's Group. and are so well clothed with trees, as to be visible at the distance of ten or twelve miles. Two of the vessels of the American Exploring Expedition visited this place in 1841. The inhabitants then were supposed to amount to about 250; but though they evidently had had frequent communication with ships, they were in an exceedingly rude condition. Their only clothing was strips of matting; CHAP. XII. their chief ornaments were slips of pandanus leaf; their hair was bushy and long, and in one instance was gathered into five or six loose clubs, of similar appearance to large foxes' tails; and their only weapons were poles of cocoa-nut wood, pointed at one end, and knives made of small sharks' teeth, and inserted into a stick with gum and fine sennit. Depeyster The Feejee Depeyster Island, or Nukufetau, lies in south latitude 7° 56′ 11′′, and east longitude 178° 27' 32", and is about eight miles long, and nearly eight miles broad. The two American ships visited this also. The inhabitants were estimated at 1000, and seemed near akin to those of Ellice's Group, but differed considerably in manners. They wore a cocoa-nut leaflet round the neck, apparently as a sign of amity; they had neat ear and neck ornaments of tortoise-shell and mother-of-pearl; they drove an eager barter for all sorts of iron articles, particularly hatchets and plane-irons; and they showed sure signs of having learned much evil from intercourse with ships. Their chief was a very fine-looking man, with prominent features, gay dress, and grave deportment, and was styled both the governor and the god of the island. Two of the natives were albinos-their skin reddish-white, their hair flaxen-white, their eyes light blue and exceedingly weak, their persons freckled and very tender, and their whole appearance anything but pleasing. Several other islands lie in the vicinity of Depeyster Island; and one of these was a discovery by the two American ships, and was named Hudson Island, in honour of their commander. The Feejee Islands are briefly noticed in the seventh chapter of this volume; but they are much better known now than when that chapter was written; and they demand from us here a somewhat extended notice. The American Exploring Expedition employed its whole resources upon them during three months of 1840, and gave to them more attention and labour than to any sical charac ter. other of the Polynesian groups. The islands comprise CHAP. XIL two large ones, Viti-Levu and Vanua-Levu, each about ninety-six miles long; sixty three other inhabited ones of various sizes, from a mile or so to twenty-eight miles in length; eighty-five uninhabited ones, and a great multitude of reefs and shoals. They present all the variety Their phyof height and contour which arises from a mixture of the volcanic and the coral formations; and in general are so beautiful, that a stranger, on approaching them, would suppose them to be the abode of any class of men rather than savage, ferocious, and treacherous cannibals. One of the highest and most picturesque is Ovolau, situated a short way east of Viti-Levu, eight miles long, and seven miles broad, all lofty and rugged in the interior, with small short valleys round the coast, containing little level ground, but exceedingly fertile, and under good cultivation. The harbours are all formed of coral reefs, and afford similar security to that of artificial docks. bitants. We take the following epitome of the information supplied by the American Expedition respecting the Feejeeans, together with a notice of two chief incidents of the squadron's intercourse with them, from the last edition of "Voyages Round the World, from the time of Captain Cook to the present time:”- "The inhabitants of the Feejee Islands amount to about 130,000; and are assured cannibals, and more infamous for cruelty and Their inhatreachery than any other Polynesians, excepting perhaps those of Byron's and Drummond's islands. They comprise a number of tribes, and are classified, in all, into kings, chiefs, warriors, landholders, and slaves. The higher classes are tall and symmetrical; the middle classes also have a fine appearance, and are generally above medium height; but the slaves are meagre and abject, and exhibit abundant results of living in lowest thral among barbarous masters. The chiefs pay vast attention to their beard and hair, and think them their greatest glory. Their barbers are men most eminently the Fee jecans CHAP. XII. professional, and must not demean themselves by doing any act out of their profession, not even lifting their own food to their mouth. The hair is frizzled, and made to stand erect, to the height of several inches, and it is then enveloped in a winding of tapa, as fine as tissue paper, to Costume of protect it from the dust. The chiefs also wear tapa round the loins, and paint the naked parts of their body with black and red pigments, and wear round the neck a shell or a necklace made of beads, whales' teeth, or the human teeth taken from the victims of their cannibal feasts; and altogether spend much time in ornamenting their persons, and 'will sit for hours with a small sixpenny looking-glass, admiring themselves with great delight.' The middle classes and the women vie with them in the pigment decorations; and all vie with one another in smearing themselves with cocoa-nut oil, in boring and distending their ear-lobes, and in wearing ear-pieces of tapa, wood, and shells. The women alone, however, practise tatooing, and regard it as a passport to the other world; and they wear round the waist a sort of ornamental band, made from the bark of a tree. Their warcustoms. The Feejeeans esteem war the most honourable of all occupations; and they commence every war in a formal manner, by announcement and acceptance of a message of defiance, yet always mix their hostilities with vile perfidiousness and horrid trucculency. All prisoners of war are doomed to death as sacrificial victims, and as the subjects of cannibal feasts. The eating of human flesh is probably restricted to the flesh of these, yet seems to be practised from habit and taste, and possibly may sometimes be gratified at the cost of butchering slaves. The pagan rites are inexpressibly shocking--absolutely diabolical. The death of a chief is celebrated by the sacrifice of his slaves, his children, and his wives. Few persons, however, die a natural death, for all imagine that they will enjoy in the future state the degree of health and strength which they possess at their decease; Their dread and all, in consequence, desire to die in prime condition, CHAP. XII. and therefore by violence. Parents, when becoming old, and dreading to become feeble, are strangled or buried alive, at their own request, by their children; and deformed children and persons accidentally maimed also are generally put to death. Yet in spite of their tremendous ful savagesavageism and tremendous wickedness, the Feejeeans are still human, and occasionally, in remarkable circumstances, make displays of thought and feeling which show the work of the law written on their hearts,' and might almost be called roughly virtuous. ism. Six years before the visit of the squadron, a chief of the name of Vendovi, the brother of a king on the island of Viti-Levu, had enticed on shore the crew of an American brig, and murdered them. Captain Hudson of the Peacock, after having spent some time in surveying the island, and after having won the confidence of the king and chiefs, received an order from Captain Wilkes to capture Vendovi. He could not come at Vendovi himself; but, on occasion of a visit of the king, the queen, the chiefs, and their attendants, to the number of between seventy and eighty persons, he made them prisoners, and held them bound to use their influence to capture him. They consented; and two of the chiefs were let loose, Capture of and soon found him. He at once consented to accom- Vendovi. pany them to the ship; and there he confessed his crime, and was put in irons. The rest were then all set free; and when they rose to take leave of him, they were convulsed with grief. All the king's family shed tears and sobbed aloud while conversing in broken sentences with their brother. The natives shed tears also; and none but Ngaraningion (who was afterwards ascertained to have instigated the crime) remained unmoved. The king kissed the prisoner's forehead, touched noses, and turned away. The inferior chiefs approached and kissed his hands, whilst the common people crawled up to him and kissed his feet. One young man, who belonged to the 6 the chief |