“Then over the bow,”—said the god-like rower,

“Pull away with thy ‘Green-heart’ oar.”

[12]. Pronounced Boo-ly-town-doo-ah.

CHAPTER XIV.
A RIVAL’S STRATEGY.

A year passed away, and I was still the guest of Big-Wind, in the valley of Tivóli. I had carefully kept count of the time, by making a notch on a tree for every week. The days I recorded by means of seven pebbles, dropping one into my pocket each morning until the week was ended, and then beginning again. My wardrobe had long since been hopelessly ruined, and I was reduced to the comfortable Fijian sulu and turban, but I still preserved the European luxury of a pocket in the folds of my tapa.

The period of my indulgent captivity had been far from unpleasant to me. I did not omit to ascend the hills occasionally and scan the horizon for an English ship, but I had begun to think with less bitterness of having to pass the remainder of my life among the Fijians. As time wore on it seemed less and less likely that I should be rescued by some passing ship, as the only vessels which visited the country at this time went to Bau, and the Sandalwood coast on the island of Vanua Levu. However, a change in my circumstances was in store for me which I could not foresee.

Lolóma was now sixteen years of age, and she was claimed in marriage by Bent-Axe, to whom she had been affianced almost from her birth. The man was repulsive; the girl had the greatest possible aversion to him; and she had given abundant proofs of her attachment to me. Often had she in conversation with me wished that she lived in the white man’s country, where, as she expressed it, a girl may wed “the man to whom her spirit flies.” (She had learned that from me, and I may remark that in speaking to the savages of the institutions of my own country, I always represented them as superior to theirs, though sometimes at the sacrifice of strict accuracy.) I had not the slightest intention of surrendering her to my rival, who had treated me with ill-will from the first day of my arrival in the valley, and Lolóma said she would fly with me to another tribe to which she was vasu,[[13]] and where we could live in peace, if I were willing. I was quite willing, in the absence of any better plan for settling the difficulty, but I preferred defeating my hated adversary on his own ground. I accordingly made a formal proposition to Big-Wind for his daughter’s hand. The old king was pleased, but feared that the customs of his country would make our marriage an impossibility, as the girl had been publicly pledged to Bent-Axe, who was his half-brother, and there was no precedent for breaking such an engagement. I was popular with the inhabitants of the valley, and knew that if the matter were put to the vote it would be decided in my favor, as Bent-Axe was universally detested for his cruel and overbearing disposition. But there was a great difficulty in my way. Shark, the priest, looked with high disfavor upon some innovations on native custom I had attempted to introduce, and he knew that I had spoken disrespectfully of his religion, calling the whole priesthood of the country impostors. He would naturally strain every nerve to prevent me from being established with official rank at the court of Big-Wind. The proposed marriage was made the subject of many grave deliberations in council. Shark and Bent-Axe exerted all their eloquence against me, but the chief secretly leaned towards me, and he was importuned in my behalf by Lolóma, his favorite daughter, and also her mother and sisters. At length it was decided by straining an abstruse point of native etiquette, that Bent-Axe had committed an act which nullified the engagement. The day of the marriage, after many busy preparations in the village, now arrived. The previous evening the deformed suitor had had an interview with Lolóma. He had sweetened his breath with the grayish clay which Fijian swains use to make themselves attractive, and he urged his cause with all the persuasiveness of which he was capable, but without avail.

[13]. A relationship which carries with it remarkable privileges. Vide p. [65].

Marriage in Fiji is a civil contract with which the priest officially has nothing to do. The customs observed on these occasions, some of which are very pretty, vary in different parts of the group. The leading idea, however, is an interchange of presents, a great feast, and a public acceptance of the woman by the man after the formal presentation. Popular opinion in the valley of Tivóli was in favor of a full-dress affair, on the pattern of a grand marriage in the family of King Finau of Tonga, in regard to which a fabulous account in a metrical form had gained currency.

The assembled multitude accordingly appeared on the village green in gala attire. All that paint, powder, oil, and floral decorations could do for the company, was done. The most striking picture in the group was old Big-Wind himself, as he advanced, erect on the green sward within the quadrangular mass of human beings sitting cross-legged, to present the bride.