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present, that they may learn the sweetness of the feast!"

in the grass; we were followed; and soon a sonorous voice from a nearer glade called our names distinctly, and cried, "To the high-priest ! Return immediately!" "Let us not go," said Waimata. "We hoped that her quick feminine wits shall see terrible things."

"We will hide ourselves," I answered. But, as I spoke, we heard, at the same instant, the sound of heavy steps that approached our retreat.

Waimata trembled. Why were we pursued and abruptly recalled in this manner? No jealous notice had been taken heretofore of our association; we had never avoided being seen in each other's company, and were accustomed to wander alone with as much freedom as Paul and Virginia in their lonely island.

Was this an ominous summons ? We knew that we could not now, if we would, conceal ourselves; and we dared not pause. We rose reluctantly from the soft grass, and turned our steps down the hillside; and shortly we met, as he ascended the flowery path in search of us, the herald with his conchshell.

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"Eviti-viti (Hurry)!" said he; and added, The cooking of the men is nearly done. The high-priest enjoins that you appear at the feast, and bring his daughter with you. He has released you," turning to Waimata, "from the tabu."

It was a relief to find that there was no apparent anger in the summons. Nor did I regret that they obliged me to appear at the banquet. At the least, Waimata and I must look on during its progress. Should we be compelled to join in it?

We retraced our steps together, silent, as if leaving Eden, though each with a different reason. To her, the return seemed longer than the ascent of the mountain; to me, the reverse was the

case.

As we entered the place of the ovens, the herald blew a powerful blast upon the conch-shell, and then cried out,

"Behold the son of the white man, and the daughter of the great priest! The great priest commands them to be

Poor Waimata trembled violently as these words were pronounced, but she did not speak a word; and I fervently

would devise a way to save herself, at least, from a forced participation in these terrible rites. She could not plead the religious interdict which forbade women to eat in the presence of men, for that edict her father had just suspended. What could she do?

As for myself, I did not care so much. Certainly, I could not disobey the command of the priest, for I was alone, and quite in the natives' power. They might add me to their horrible bill of fare without the slightest ceremony or compunction. Why should I not comply unhesitatingly with the priest's command? Yet, my first impulse was to try to escape unobserved. I noticed, however, that a certain tattooed and brawny warrior kept constantly near me, and closely eyed my movements. He was the king's runner-a man who had traversed on foot, bearing a military proclamation, the distance from the king's town to the farthest village of the island, not less than twenty-one miles, in two hours and a half. It was impossible to escape from such an agile guard as this. I resigned myself to the inevitable.

No sooner had Waimata and I rejoined the group of revellers, who filled the grove of tutui-trees near the temple, than the opening of the ovens began. These were trenches, ten feet in length and about five in depth, filled to the level of the earth with heated stones and packages of flesh and vegetables, the latter thickly wrapped in folds of the giant banana-leaf, and heaped over with a mound of fresh earth to retain the heat during the cooking process.

Vegetables and meats prepared for the table in this way have a peculiar freshness and delicacy of flavor, which does not survive the ordinary methods of cooking. This culinary process is called the lunau; and under this name it is known and practised, not only in the

Fiji Islands, but throughout the extent of Polynesia. At last I was to see it applied to the dark purpose of cannibalism. The Fijian natives prefer human flesh, cooked in this manner, to any other food, and actually discriminate its flavors with the gusto of experienced epicures.

The head-cook walked among the earth-covered ovens, and snuffed the vapors that oozed from their thick caps of loam and banana-leaves. When, at last, his experienced nostril recognized the precise flavor which indicated that their contents were sufficiently steamed, he gave a signal to a number of stalwart men who were called, from their office, ulini-" earth-worms," or "borers."

These advanced to the fuming ovens and rapidly threw off the earth, employing for the purpose a kind of scoop or shovel made of the large mottled tortoise-shell. Then, snatching the uppermost layer of still hot stones from the steaming packages below, and dexterously tossing them aside, they removed, with gigantic wooden knives, the great packages of food from among the heated stones.

Under the shade of the nearest damanu and tamarind trees mats had been spread upon a layer of fine-leaved fernfronds; and large wooden dishes, carved from the trunk of the dilo-tree, were made ready to receive the repast. Not less than two hundred of these platters were laid; and vegetables, yams, sweet potatoes, the kalo-root, and a few breadfruits, were already brought on in smaller wooden dishes.

Then the conch-shell sounded again, giving the signal for the feast.

The "food-bearers," twenty in number, received from the " borers," upon smooth slabs of tamarind plank, the packages of banana-leaves. Marching in single file, they bore these to the banqueting-mats. With a dexterous movement they freed the packages of their contents, and deposited them, steaming hot, upon the great platters.

Meanwhile, the people were seating themselves, or rather reclining, quite in the ancient Roman fashion, upon the

edges of the mats. A perfect Babel of chattering confusion prevailed; and, when the "food-bearers" appeared, the clamor was doubled. Yet there was no longer any turbulence or disorder. The savages were now in the best spirits.

Waimata left me at this stage of the proceedings. Going to her father, she engaged him in earnest conversation. He frowned, then smiled. What she said I could not hear; but I saw at a glance that she had prevailed upon him to replace her under the tabu, which forbade her to join in the feast. She turned to rejoin me, but a gesture from the priest deterred her. He motioned her away. She obeyed reluctantly, and I followed her with my eyes as she passed into the depths of the wood, taking the path that led toward my father's house.

When she was nearly out of sight, she turned around, unobserved except by me, and, taking from her brow the fillet of ohia blossoms that she wore, she kissed it and tossed it with a light gesture toward me. By this act the Fijian lover invokes good luck at parting. In a moment she was lost to sight, and I was left without a friend among the savages.

I looked back upon the feast, which was already spread. The larger part of the bodies, in fragments, filled heaping-full the great platters. Vegetables and fruits, but in comparatively small quantity, were provided. The smell of the steaming banquet came up strongly. I shudder to remember that the perfume seemed a dreadful delight to me, tired, hungry, and worn after the fierce excitements of the day.

The natives fell to eating like hungry wolves. I still retained, however, sufficient repugnance to cannibalism to have declined the repast, had I been left to my own choice. But the messenger from the high-priest came to me, bearing a fork of peculiar construction, and elaborately carved in a very hard but light wood.

"The great priest sends you Na Undre-undre (the name of his fork), and bids you use it in honor of the king's god."

At the same time another messenger brought me, upon a small wooden platter, a fragment of the revolting food.

There seemed to be no escape for me. The natives ceased eating, and looked at me. I hesitated, and, for a moment, there was perfect silence. At that moment an approaching step was heard-a quick, imperious step, that crushed the tamarind-twigs sharply under foot.

All eyes were turned in the direction of the new-comer. He emerged from the thicket at a point directly opposite to where I sat; and, before any one else, I recognized him, and shrank suddenly away in time to avoid his notice.

It was my father!

He burst indignantly upon the scene, his eyes fixed now upon the orgies which he, like me, now beheld for the first time, and now upon the high-priest who presided over them. Fresh from the docile nations of Tonga, my father had not learned the danger of defying the Fijian temper. Entering abruptly into the presence of the revellers, he reproached them eloquently; he blazed with indignation; and the very rashness of his daring abashed them. Casting a piercing glance upon the principal chiefs assembled, "What means this wicked revel?" demanded he. "Is it true, then, that the men of Fiji devour their brothers?"

"Perfectly true," replied one of the borers, rattling his necklace of sharks teeth as he spoke, and smiling grimly.

"Are there no pigs upon the island," continued my father, 66 that you must eat this shameful food? Do not the hills produce the ohia, the maia (plantain), and the vi-apple? Are there not fish in the sea, and poultry in your gardens? Is the crop of the bread-fruit. and the dalo utterly dead, that you should kill and eat your countrymen?"

"You speak truly," said the borer; "but these things are scarce, and bakolo is sweeter and more plentiful."

"Wretched men," rejoined my father, "do you not know that the Great Spirit is displeased when you kill men and devour their flesh?"

The people murmured sullenly. I

trembled for my father as he addressed these severe words to such heady savages. I saw the executioners handle their clubs uneasily, and feared lest my father should fall a victim to their sudden rage, as other missionaries in the South Seas had already fallen. But my father's fearless air combined with the now somewhat quieter temper of the savages to lessen the danger. While all eyes were turned in the direction of the new-comer, I found an opportunity to slip away unobserved; and, concealed behind the trunk of a large pandanustree, I watched the varying passions that swayed the revellers. They glanced restlessly at each other, evidently not a little annoyed at the unwelcome intrusion upon their banquet. A grim smile of humor played upon the face of the chief-priest.

"Perhaps the nganga e (foreigner) is hungry," said he. "Let him partake of the bakolo, and he will not be so angry with us."

Had my father appeared half an hour earlier upon the scene, the savages would have forced him to share their feast, or slain him in anger at his refusal. But one approaches wild animals with comparative safety after they have been fed. My father did not lose his self-possession at the proposition of the priest, nor did he tempt the cannibal temper by abruptly declining it. Forgetting his sternness, he answered,

"I thank the priest for his invitation. But how can I like that which I have never learned to like?"

"Bakolo! bakolo!" cried a hundred tumultuous voices. "Let the foreign priest eat bakolo! There is abundance here to suit his appetite!"

Their wild eyes kindled again at the thought of having a white man so completely in their power. The friendly king was absent upon an expedition against a distant island, and the party of the high-priest had absolute control during his absence. They were hostile to my father, for the king had said, "These priests make me more trouble than they are worth. Let us see whether the English religion will not serve

better;

" and he had extended hearty king Kamehaemha, and of the foreign aid to my father's work. Judge, who brought the laws to the

**

Two natives, who stood near me, kingdom. But do they never eat men spoke as follows in an undertone: in Hawaii?"

"Did you ever eat bakolo haori (white man's flesh)?"

66 Once, in the island of Milo. There we captured a boat's crew of Englishmen during the last vulai uca (rainy moon). We had a great feast."

Imagine the alarm with which I heard this dreadful "aside." There could be but one fate in reserve for my father.

I saw the borers and the earth-worms glance at their implements; and, at a signal from the priest, two of the executioners and a cook left the company and went toward the place of ovens, as if to prepare the fires for another victim.

I was about to betray my concealment, and to intercede for my father's life; but at that moment his voice rose clearly above the tumult-for the savages had continued their clamor since the priest desired my father to eat.

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Agreed," ," said my father; "I will eat bakolo, if you still insist, after I shall have spoken to you. But first let me tell you a story, and by that time I shall be hungrier than I am now, and you will have a fresh appetite."

The Fijian is not without a sense of humor; and my father, long practised at dealing with the Polynesian savages, knew that the surest way to disarm their temper was to approach them with humor. His utmost address, however, was needed here. His life would cost the priest's party nothing more than the fine of a few whale's teeth.

Addressing his dangerous audience, my father told them stories of the Hawaiian Islands-a country in which the Fijian feels great interest. For these savages, though separated from their comparatively civilized kindred by an interval of three thousand miles of ocean, regard the little kingdom of the latter as the very ideal of power and prosperity, and look upon their ruler as the most puissant of princes.

"We are glad to hear," said the priest, at last, "of Hawaii, of the great

66

They do not, and never did. If they had eaten men, they would never have had one king over all the islands, and a great Judge from lands beyond the sea. No people can be powerful who eat up the bodies of their own citizens."

"But the Hawaiians eat dogs!" "Certainly."

"A warrior cannot live upon dogs. He must eat the flesh and the noo (spirit) of men."

"But suppose there were no need of fighting? " said my father.

"Then we might, perhaps, live without bakolo."

This was a more important admission than I had ever heard from a Fijian warrior. He is not the only Polynesian savage who ranks human flesh as the most important article of his food, and uses every pretext to obtain it. He manifests no shame and practises no concealment with regard to this custom. His religious precepts, the habits of his society, and even his filial and fraternal duties, are construed as justifying this hunger, and cannibalism is ingrained in a hundred ways into the very fibre of the Fijian. When, therefore, I heard the high-priest admit the possibility of abandoning cannibalism, I felt that my father's words had produced at least a part of their intended effect, and that he had escaped the danger of immediate violence at the hands of the savages. The Fijian, in his ordinary mood, is a sufficiently amiable savage. Volatile, social, irritable, voluble, he may be called the Frenchman of the Pacific.

To suit the talkative mood of his audience, my father turned his speech into the form of a dialogue, which, if not quite Socratic, was entirely to his purpose, for it diverted the attention of the natives. Their principal men plied him with questions and dilemmas, arguing

* Chief-Justice Lee, who framed the Constitution of the Hawaiian Government.

the advantages of their own customs. and the demerits of those which he advocated, and drew the most glowing pictures of the felicity which awaited the Fijian warrior in the land of spirits. My father replied with great eloquence and readiness; yet I well remember that the savages then seemed to me to hold their own in argument. I was at heart as much Fijian as English.

The debate happily closed without a quarrel. Evening approached, and the savages began to scatter to their houses, promising to think upon the questions that my father had earnestly urged upon them. They presented him with a whale's tooth in token of respect, and illogically proceeded to execute a wardance and to sing a tumultuous heathen song in his honor.

Occupied with their latest impressions, the natives made no search for me; and, when I saw them pacified, I felt assured that they were the most interesting people in the world. When their song was finished, my father made a prayer in the Fijian tongue; the savages, sitting among the wrecks of the feast, seemed to listen with interest; but I slipped rapidly away, hoping to reach home before my prolonged absence should be remarked. I made a slight détour in order to avoid the place of the ovens. But, as I passed the bure, I met, to my dismay, one of the "earthworms," a gigantic and ferocious native of Lakemba. He was busily heating water in a large earthenware caldron that was already simmering over a brisk fire in the edge of the wood.

"Why do they not bring out your father?" he cried. "The ovens are ready, and the water boils."

"They will not hurt him," I answered, trembling, for "swift-coming death" seemed written in the face of the frightful tattooed savage.

"The

"Ah! then we will eat him another day," observed the earth-worm. men of Lakemba are often hungry."

I must have betrayed renewed alarm at these words, for the wretch at once proffered me a kind of cannibal comfort:

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"Never fear," said he; "I ate my father at the last full moon. What the Lakembans say—that old men are bad eating-is all nonsense. In two months you will learn to like their flesh."

"What have you in that pot?" I asked, willing to change the subject of conversation.

"The head of the tall chief. It is to make a drinking-bowl for the priest. He must have a big stomach (opunui) who can empty such a goblet as this."

And he sought to detain me, in order to explain the processes by which he proposed to convert the cranium into a sacerdotal drinking-bowl.

But I had seen enough of horrors for the nonce; a mental reaction, indeed, was commencing; and, making my escape from the presence of the grim official, I was soon well on my way toward my father's house.

The sun was sinking, and the cool shadows of the grove began to gather around my pathway. All was quiet. The few houses that I passed were quite deserted, and the whole population of the island had apparently flocked toward the place which I had lately left. As I pressed homeward, the only audi. ble sounds were the shrill chirping forest-voice that the natives think to be produced by the tree-shells, and the deep murmuring rote of the surf upon the coral reef.

Suddenly a light figure bounded from the thicket, and fell eagerly upon me, almost as a leopard springs. It was Waimata.

"Dearest," said she, "why have you waited so long? I feared that they had slain you."

"They would not let me come away," returned I. "They wished to make my father and me eat with them."

"I saw him going thither, and dreaded that he might never come away. Then I hid myself to watch for you."

The patient girl had lain in ambush ever since the feast; she was faint and worn after the excitements of the day. "Have you waited here all the afternoon for me?" asked I.

"Yes, dear. I dared not go further

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