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He, in common with the other natives, believed that they were intended for the purpose of looking at the Great Spirit, and in consequence paid them the greatest respect and reverence. This opinion saved us much trouble, for they did not presume to approach the instruments; and although some of them were always to be found without the boundary which had been traced to limit their approach, they never intruded within it. They always behaved civilly, and said they only came to sara-sara (look on).

I afterwards took Seru on board the Vincennes, where, as his father had recommended, I gave him plenty of good advice, to which he seemed to pay great attention. I had been told that he would probably exhibit hauteur and an arrogant bearing, but he manifested nothing of the kind. He appeared rather, as I had been told by his father I would find him, "young and frisky." He was received with the same attentions that had been paid to his father. The firing of the guns seemed to take his fancy much, and he was desirous that I should gratify him by continuing to fire them longer; but I was not inclined to make the honours paid to him greater than those rendered to his father, knowing how observant they are of all forms. The whole party, himself included, showed more pleasure and were much more liberal in their exclamations of vi naka, vi naka! and whoo! using them more energetically than the king's party, as might be naturally expected from a younger set of natives. Seru is quite ingenious; he took the musket given him to pieces as quickly, and used it with as much adroitness as if he had been a gunsmith. His ambati (priest) was with him, and the party all appeared greatly delighted with the ship. On the whole I was much pleased with him during his visit; shortly afterwards, he, however, visited the ship during my absence, and displayed a very different bearing, so much so as to require to be checked. I learned a circumstance which would serve to prove that the reputation he bears is pretty well founded. He on one occasion had sent word to one of the islands (Goro, I believe), for the chief to have a quantity of cocoa-nut oil ready for him by a certain time. Towards the expiration of the specified interval, Seru went to the island and found it was not ready. The old chief of the island. pleaded the impossibility of compliance, from want of time, and promised to have it ready as soon as possible. Seru told him he was a great liar, and without further words, struck him on the head and killed him on the spot. This is only one of many instances of the exercise of arbitrary authority over their vassals.

One day, while at the observatory, I was greatly surprised at seeing

one whom I took to be a Feejee-man enter my tent, circumstance so inconsistent with the respect to our prescribed limit, of which I have spoken. His colour, however, struck me as lighter than that of any native I had yet seen. He was a short wrinkled old man, but appeared to possess great vigour and activity. He had a beard that reached to his middle, and but little hair, of a reddish gray colour, on his head. He gave me no time for inquiry, but at once addressed me in broad Irish, with a rich Milesian brogue. In a few minutes he made me acquainted with his story, which, by his own account, was as follows.

His name was Paddy Connel, but the natives called him Berry; he was born in the county of Clare in Ireland; had run away from school when he was a little fellow, and after wandering about as a vagabond, was pressed into the army in the first Irish rebellion. At the time the French landed in Ireland, the regiment to which he was attached marched at once against the enemy, and soon arrived on the field of battle, where they were brought to the charge. The first thing he knew or heard, the drums struck up a White Boys' tune, and his whole regiment went over and joined the French, with the exception of the officers, who had to fly. They were then marched against the British, and were soon defeated by Lord Cornwallis; it was a hard fight, and Paddy found himself among the slain. When he thought the battle was over, and night came on, he crawled off and reached home. He was then taken up and tried for his life, but was acquitted; he was, however, remanded to prison, and busied himself in effecting the escape of some of his comrades. On this being discovered, he was confined in the Black Hole, and soon after sent to Cork, to be put on board a convict-ship bound to New South Wales. When he arrived there, his name was not found on the books of the prisoners, consequently he had been transported by mistake, and was, therefore, set at liberty. He then worked about for several years, and collected a small sum of money, but unfortunately fell into bad company, got drunk, and lost it all. Just about this time Captain Sartori, of the ship General Wellesley, arrived at Sydney. Having lost a great part of his crew by sickness and desertion, he desired to procure hands for his ship, which was still at Sandalwood Bay, and obtained thirty-five men, one of whom was Paddy Connel. At the time they were ready to depart, a French privateer, Le Gloriant, Captain Dubardieu, put into Sydney, when Captain Sartori engaged a passage for himself and his men to the Feejees. On their way they touched at Norfolk Island, where the ship struck, and damaged her keel so much that they were obliged to

put into the Bay of Islands for repairs. Paddy asserts that a difficulty had occurred here between Captain Sartori and his men about their provisions, which was amicably settled. The Gloriant finally sailed from New Zealand for Tongataboo, where they arrived just after the capture of a vessel, which he supposed to have been the Port au Prince, as they had obtained many articles from the natives, which had evidently belonged to some large vessel. Here they remained some months, and then sailed for Sandalwood Bay, where the men, on account of their former quarrel with Captain Sartori, refused to go on board the General Wellesley: some of them shipped on board the Gloriant, and others, with Paddy, determined to remain on shore with the natives. He added, that Captain Sartori was kind to him, and at parting had given him a pistol, cutlass, and an old good-for-nothing musket; these, with his sea-chest and a few clothes, were all that he possessed. He had now lived forty years among these savages. After hearing his whole story, I told him I did not believe a word of it; to which he answered, that the main part of it was true, but he might have made some mistakes, as he had been so much in the habit of lying to the Feejeeans, that he hardly now knew when he told the truth, adding that he had no desire to tell any thing but the truth.

Paddy turned out to be a very amusing fellow, and possessed an accurate knowledge of the Feejee character. Some of the whites told me that he was more than half Feejee; indeed he seemed to delight in showing how nearly he was allied to them in feeling and propensities; and, like them, seemed to fix his attention upon trifles. He gave me a droll account of his daily employments, which it would be inappropriate to give here, and finished by telling me the only wish he had then, was to get for his little boy, on whom he doated, a small hatchet, and the only articles he had to offer for it were a few old hens. On my asking him if he did not cultivate the ground, he said at once no, he found it much easier to get his living by telling the Feejeeans stories, which he could always make good enough for them; these, and the care of his two little boys, and his hens, and his pigs, when he had any, gave him ample employment and plenty of food. He had lived much at Rewa, and until lately had been a resident at Levuka, but had, in consequence of his intrigues, been expelled by the white residents, to the island of Ambatiki. It appeared that they had unanimously come to the conclusion that if he did not remove, they would be obliged to put him to death for their own safety. I could not induce Whippy or Tom to give me the circumstances that occasioned this determination, and Paddy would not communicate more than

that his residence on Ambatiki was a forced one, and that it was as though he was living out of the world, rearing pigs, fowls, and children. Of the last description of live-stock he had forty-eight, and hoped that he might live to see fifty born to him. He ad had one hundred wives.

FEEJEE AVA-BOWLS AND DRINKING-CUPS.

CHAPTER III.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

CONTENTS.

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PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES THEIR EXPRESSION OF COUNTENANCE THEIR CHARACTER DIVISION OF TRIBES AND RANK-VASUS - FEEJEE WARS-CEREMONIES IN DECLARING WAR-ADDRESSES TO THE WARRIORS-FLAGS-FORTIFICATIONS SIEGES-MODE OF BEGGING FOR PEACECEREMONIES OF A CAPITULATION-SUBJECT TRIBES-RELIGION-TRADITION OF THE ORIGIN OF RACES AND OF A DELUGE-GODS-BELIEF IN SPIRITS-NDENGEI, THEIR SUPREME GOD-HIS SONS-INFERIOR GODS-OTHER RELIGIOUS OPINIONS-IDEA OF A SECOND DEATH-MBURES OR SPIRIT-HOUSES-AMBATI OR PRIESTS-THEIR JUGGLERY -THEIR INFLUENCE-ORACLE AT LEVUKA-SACRIFICES-RELIGIOUS FESTIVALSMARRIAGES - INFIDELITY AND ITS PUNISHMENT-BIRTHS-CONSEQUENCES OF THE RELIGIOUS BELIEF-PARENTS PUT TO DEATH — SUICIDE-WIVES STRANGLED AT FUNERALS-Deformed AND DISEASED PERSONS PUT TO DEATH-HUMAN SACRIFICES -FUNERAL RITES-MOURNING-CANNIBALISM-PRICE OF HUMAN LIFE-ATTACKS ON FOREIGN VESSELS-CASE OF THE CHARLES DOGGETT-VENDOVI'S PARTICIPATIONRESOLUTION IN REGARD TO HIM.

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