he snored to such a degree that both islands, particularly Lotooma, were shaken as if by an earthquake, so as greatly to disturb the peaceable inhabitants. The people of the latter island being roused from their slumbers were greatly alarmed, and well they might be, at this unseasonable and extraordinary noise. Having repaired to the place. where his head lay, and discovering that it was an immense gigantic being fast asleep, they held a consultation what was best to be done; and came at length to a resolution of killing him, if possible, before he awoke, lest he might eat them all up. Every man accordingly armed himself with an axe; and, at a signal given, they all struck his head at the same moment. Up started the giant with a tremendous roar, and, recovering his feet, he stood aloft on the island of Lotooma; but being stunned with the blows, he staggered and fell again, with head and body in the sea, and being unable to recover himself, he was drowned, his feet remaining upon dry land; and thus the great enemy was destroyed.

As a proof of these facts, they show two enormous bones, which, as they say, belonged to this giant; and the natives in general believe it. The people of Tonga, however, are not quite so credulous with respect to this story, which they generally tell in a jocose way. Mr Mariner asked Cow Mooala what sort of bones they were; he replied that they were enormously large, he could not well describe their shape,-that he was sure they were bones, though they were not at all like any human bones, and he supposed they must have belonged to some fish. To any new comer from Lotooma the first question is, "Have you seen the giant's

bones? But it would appear that communications with Lotooma were not very frequent, since the inhabitants made so sad a mistake as to think Cow Mooala and his followers gods.

Cow Mooala shortly took his departure from Lotooma, with three of the native women on board, in addition to his other followers, and sailed for the Fiji Islands. Owing to the wind he deviated a little from his course, but at length arrived safe at Navihi Levoo, (as the natives call it, meaning Large Fiji-the word Navihi is corrupted by the Tonga people to Fiji), one of the Fiji Islands, to the north-west. Here Cow Mooala took up his residence with the chief of the island, where he remained a considerable length of time, assisting in the war with other islands. The inhabitants of Navihi Levoo are much more ferocious than those of most of the other Fiji Islands. This, however, is not stated merely upon the authority of Cow Mooala, who occasionally was apt to exaggerate a little, as will by and by be seen, but upon that of Mr Mariner, who frequently saw and conversed with some of its natives, as well as with those of the other islands, who were at Tonga in his time; besides which he has since been at Pau, one of the Fiji Islands, and consequently is able to form some judgment. The inhabitants of Navihi Levoo are not only more ferocious, but they are much better skilled in war than those of the other islands, and are therefore much dreaded by them. They bore a hole through the soft part of the septum of the nose, through which, in time of war, they stick a couple of feathers, nine or twelve inches long, which spread over each side of the face, like

8

immense mustaches, giving them a very

formida

ble appearance. The worst feature of their barbarism is the horrible practice of eating human flesh, which they carry to a greater extent than any of the other Fiji people. The chief of the island was reported to have a remarkable appetite in this way. We must not take him however as a sample. He was not in the habit of sacrificing his prisoners immediately, (finding them perhaps too tough for his delicate stomach), but of actually ordering them to be operated on, and put in such a state as to get both fat and tender, afterwards to be killed as he might want them. The hands and feet, particularly the latter, are considered the choicest parts.

It may here be remarked, that cannibalism is more or less practised on all the Fiji Islands, and has its origin, no doubt, in the constant wars in which the people are engaged. Not that war among savage nations universally gives occasion to so horrid a custom, (for indeed we have many instances to the contrary); but in those uncultivated nations, where a spirit of national hatred and thirst of revenge, on some extraordinary occasions, run very high, it appears to be an instinct of uncultivated nature, to crown the catastrophe by a feast at which civilized humanity revolts, * particularly

* Mr Mariner had from good authority a circumstance that may be mentioned here as illustrative of the point in question. A certain man at Tonga had a violent hatred to another, whom he sought an opportunity of killing in battle. At length he succeeded; and, cutting open the body, dissected off the liver, and took it home to his house. He tied the liver up in a piece of gnatoo, and whenever he wanted to drink water or cocoa-nut milk, he would dip it in, and then squeezing out some of the juice into his be

where a scarcity of provisions exists at the same time. At the Fiji Islands war and devastation are much more frequent than at Tonga, consequently scarcity is more frequent, and cannibalism more practised. The island of Navihi Levoo is more troubled by intestine war than the other Fiji Islands, and the people are greater cannibals. At the Tonga Islands in particular, it may be remarked, that the island of Tonga (properly so called) is constantly in a state of war, and scarcity consequently is much more common there than at Vavaoo and the Hapai Islands, and cannibalism, therefore, much less shuddered at. At the island of Tonga, indeed, this inhuman habit is by no means so general as at the Fiji Islands; but then it has not been the scene of warfare for more than about twenty years, whereas the latter nation has been familiar, more or less, with this scourge of the human race, from time immemorial.

While we are upon this subject, we may mention, that Mr Mariner was informed by the natives of Tonga, that some time before his arrival among them, an European ship touched there, the boat of which, on landing near Mafanga, had a quarrel with some of the natives, in consequence of which, three of her crew were killed and dragged up the country. These the natives embowelled and dressed the same as pork, and several ate heartily of them; but shortly afterwards they were all taken very ill, being attacked with nausea and vomiting

verage, drink it off to satisfy his revenge. This fact was universally known and spoken of, but with much disgust. The cause of his enmity was the ill usage which his wife had received on being taken prisoner by the other. Mariner knew the man.

Mr

to a violent degree, and three of them actually died. Some of the natives attributed this circumstance to an unwholesome quality in white man's flesh, others to the superior power of the gods of England. They were strongly confirmed in this latter opinion, by the circumstance that almost every man who had been actively concerned in the conspiracy against the Port au Prince happened either to be killed in battle, or to die of disease. While Mr Mariner remained at these islands, they would often question him whether it were not owing to the interference of the English gods as a punishment; to which he always answered them in the affirmative, with a view to his own safety, and to inspire them with respect for the invisible powers, which, according to their notions, presided over the welfare of England and of Englishmen. Some of the natives, in joke, used to say, that they would kill Mr Mariner, to see if the hotooas (gods) of England would revenge his death, alleging their disbelief in the unsolicited agency of the English hotooas, and their opinion rather that Mr Mariner himself had been the cause of their death by his prayers, soliciting his gods to revenge the death of his countrymen. This, however, was a notion chiefly of the lower orders. The higher classes were of opinion, that the hotooas of England operated of their own accord, without any intervention or prayer. Finow was strongly of this opinion, observing that it was but fair to suppose that, in the same proportion as the white men were superior to them in knowledge, so were the hotooas of white men superior to their hotooas in divine power. But to return from this digression. Cow Mooala, after remaining a considerable