A few days after our arrival I received a visit from the youngest son of the redoubted King Cacobau, a fine-looking man, twenty-three years old, whose proper designation is the "Ratu Joseph Celua" ("Ratu" meaning prince), but who is more generally known in Fiji as "Ratu Joe." It seems that soon after we had anchored, he came on board accompanied by some other native sight-seers, and as I had then shown him some slight civility, he now came to express his gratitude by presenting me with a large mat, made from the split leaves of the screw-pine. He surprised us all by speaking exceedingly good English, and possessing an intimate knowledge of the ways and manners of civilized life. It appears that when Fiji was ceded to Great Britain in 1875, he was taken to Sydney, in H.M.S. Dido, to be educated, and accordingly spent three years at the university there. There was no topic of general interest on which he did not possess a fair amount of knowledge. He wore his hair in the fashion of the country, i.e., in a mop frizzled out to an immense size, and in other respects he was got up as a native chief of distinction. He spoke favourably of British rule, although, as we were otherwise informed, he himself had recently acquired a practical experience of the unpleasant consequences attending the commission of an indictable offence, in having to undergo a sentence of three months' hard labour.
On the 25th of September a party of us made an excursion in one of the ship's steam-cutters to Bau, the old native capital of the Fiji Group. We started from Levuka harbour at nine o'clock in the morning, accompanied by our friend the Ratu Joe, who most kindly and hospitably volunteered to pilot us over, and to entertain us in his hut at Bau.
We steamed along in smooth water inside the barrier reef which protects the S.E. side of Ovalau for about three miles, when we passed out into the open sea through a narrow opening in the reef. We then steamed for about five miles through deep water, until we entered an intricate system of channels which wind among the submerged reefs extending across the Strait between Ovalau and Viti Levu. The distance from Levuka to Bau is about twenty-four miles, and after a pleasant passage of five hours we reached our destination and anchored the boat in smooth water at about forty yards from the shore. After depositing our baggage in Joe's hut, we went in a body to pay our respects to King Cacobau the "Vunivalu" (kingly title meaning the "Root of War"), to whom we were formally introduced by Joe, the latter also acting as interpreter, for Cacobau does not speak English at all. We were received in a small smoky hut, in which the aged monarch spends most of his time during this, the cold, season of Fiji. He seemed to be a feeble old man, aged about seventy, and almost entirely blind, yet evidently possessing his mental faculties in full vigour, for he put to us many shrewd questions concerning the work of our ship, and then, after a pause, during which he seemed to be pondering over her name, asked if we could give him some information regarding her previous work of exploration in the Arctic regions. On this subject he seemed to take much interest, and like many other people, did not fail to put the rather puzzling question as to what could be the use of exploring the uninhabited and inhospitable polar regions. During the conference he sat cross-legged on a large mat, crouching over a smoky wood fire. His hair was grey, and his upper teeth seemed to be gone. From time to time messengers came into the hut, who after assuming a respectful posture on the floor, asked for his orders concerning various municipal affairs. To these functionaries his replies were short, sharp, and decisive, and were acted upon with such alacrity that it was fully evident to us that he still retains no small part of his former control over his subjects.[2]
[2] The news of Cacobau's death has just reached England (April 1883). "Cacobau" is pronounced "Thackombow."
KING CACOBAU OF FIJI (on right), WIFE, AND RATU JOE (on left).
It happened, by chance, that on the day of our arrival at Bau, a feast was to be given by Cacobau to a tribe of natives who had just brought to him a tribute offering, consisting of eighteen large green turtle. As we were landing we saw the feast, which consisted of eight good-sized pigs roasted whole, and several huge piles of yams, spread out on a sort of common outside the enclosure of the native town; but on the king being apprised of our visit, he gave orders that the feast was to be transferred inside the town palisades, and it was accordingly removed and spread out on the grass in front of the small hut wherein he received us. Then, at a signal from him, conveyed in the form of a fierce growl delivered from his seat by the fire, the members of the stranger tribe assembled round the roasted pigs, which were quickly cut up into joints, and then carried by certain representatives of the tribe into various huts, to be there quietly consumed. During all this time the large trough-shaped wooden drums, called "Lalis," were being vigorously sounded to summon the people to the feast. Subsequently the old king shook himself together, came out from the hut, and standing in the open surrounded by a large and picturesque assemblage of his subjects, and assisted by his three big sons, distributed large rolls of "tapa" (native cloth made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry) to several leading personages of the strange tribe. These presents were valuable, for some of these pieces of "tapa" measured eighty yards in length by about one yard in width.
About two months before the time of our visit, there had been a great fire at Bau, which destroyed and reduced to ashes about one-third of the town, and compelled some of the inhabitants to move over to the main island of Viti Levu. Among the buildings destroyed by this fire was the great Bure Kalou, or native temple, where even so recently as thirty years ago the great cannibal feasts used to take place. Close to one angle of the square mass of earthwork on which the temple was raised, we saw a stone slab projecting from the ground in a nearly upright position. This was one of the famous stones—incorrectly styled "sacrificial" against which the unfortunate people who were to be cooked for "bakola" (human meat) had their brains dashed out. This interesting relic of cannibalism has not escaped the ravages of modern vandalism, numerous fragments having been chipped off as curios. Indeed, we were told that quite recently one of the white traders of Levuka had been endeavouring to carry off this stone altogether, with a view to making money by exhibiting it at Sydney and such places.
We saw another and somewhat similar stone near the water side, and close to the remains of the Bure Kalou of the tribe of fishermen, where the bodies of prisoners of war, brought in by the "Lasikaus," or fishermen, were landed and mutilated. The upright slab was worn quite smooth on one side, presumably by the friction of human heads.
Certain honeycombed slabs of coral here formed a pavement of a few square yards in extent, and until recently it was usual to find human teeth imbedded in the pores of the coral. They have probably all been removed by curiosity hunters, for we looked in vain for a single specimen.