A FIJIAN TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5255, 26 January 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

A FIJIAN TRAGEDY.

The following sad story is correct .in its de?, tails. 1 It- occurred, says' the'’ Launceston Examiner, within' the writer's ken, and may serve to illustrate hdw'Euglish civilisation and laws affect the Eilian mind and (mode of .thought. About, four,, years ago .Ravqsp,..loqi|. was the f principal chief; of Waia, one 1 of a - group of" islands the.most, westerly” in jFijij;; called the Yasawas.’ About thkt’time'tho parvenu [Fijian Government had just: been formed:; ajuUwer' planters and natives were blessed 1 with |a tra'vesly of' English laws and institutions dqwh in i the Yasawas. . One of our'plahters'.jvfis; made' a warden, a court-house was established, land a posse,of native police sent dpWU. It heed hardly bo said that these proceedings - ,’ a'mjystery to the natives:; and even close to LevukagtHo, most enlightened of them could (hardly bei brought to understand; the idea of any government. At all events, Ravdso troubled himself! very little about thn. new .jiata-ni-tu, tire .- Ghvornmeut jvas called (by, the natives, bub. carrieiTou in the old Fijian style of his fathers. Now. there was a young man in Waia who made, love - to - all the young girls.; and'nob' content, with' that; he also (paid his attentions .to .the . married - women. .. The .Fijians’ are a jealous dot';'and: a/niob Ofl angry husbands domplaihed'of i this(yqhng' ( fellojy,. to their chief Ravuso,(who, with.'(the(advice - of the did men in full council, - decided that gay lover , was to,--he -huturaka-ecl,. - or turkey tramped, as we whites call it.; This bufcurakais an institution peculiar to Fiji.,, Thoymfor- - itnnate' is. knocked down ; and; the/ natives dance and jump cm him until he is insensible ’ and nearly dead. •' A- 'mau Seldom !-i recovors thoroughly from ' a good,"'or’father a bad) huturaka-ing. ' : I Some, doubtless, of the jcaldus lui'shauda or their friends were , among ' the ! 1 party that buturaka-od the gay,(deceiver, becapsoithdisC carried out thoir orders so .well (that in three weeks after,’ the' young fellow'didd frpm the effects., . ■ ■/.•'■ > : ;/i ■■in,!. |

In the old times, most of tho whites and natives would have said “ Servo hilhirighty”] and the matter woUld ' have ended.' stint now there was law iu the land ;;our. warden/AVas". just appointed, and, .new-broomish-like, ordered the arrest o£ Ravuso; After somejtrouble ho was coaxed to surrender, and was ■ at Sdrab-Spmo, awaiting trial. :, Nothing s'bpuzzles .a Eijian as tho slow of our English law ; .and poor Ravuso pined in prison. So one day he asked' Ins Rdh : (gnctldrs) to bo allowed.a walk ; they, accompanied him, and all sat down, under a large ivi tree. s ;" -After )atime the,,chief proposed to get some* iyis, and climbed the tree; for .the, purpose, ■SV'hen ho got to the top; he called i out to, his astonished guards' that -he was’ going to throw himself) .down’!,headlong I .', . “ lell ,your .white judge,” said he, “ that I-am a 'chief , and the.qon -oftia - . chief ; that I can't survive the disgrace of- ■ being imprisoned like a 1 felon ; that'tho puiiithment, given to the man., just—he' 1 was a bad man ; that I am a chief, . and had a right' to r ’ 'piinisli : 'him ! 'vaka-viti” l (after the l manner of Elji).. So saying, ho .throwj hinlsolf down, broke bis back, , and died! .shortly after;wards? ”«’■ ‘•« y > i yi r

In a day. or two the nows of the chief’s death reached Waia, and a wail went up from each'little' iullage embbnfoVed Wits i bocoanut' gjroVef for tke death of-their “Turaga,” as they call iflis'wife/ ! Laui Wai (to strike” water as in fishing),- and young daughter; (15 years only)'Wade’ up'their minds that their) chief should not go unaccompanied to Hades, 'but have some one-to cook and- look lifter him there. So one night they tied a rope between two trees, twisted l it fbuhd 'their necks, ;and ■so-strangled themselves after -the' old Fijian fashion.; These ■ people 1 - ha’d - beeni Christians ten-years, but evidently- belieVed”in- their’ old traditions' still." c-’Our' 'warden -was i liotia;bad 'fellow,’and I believe the unfortunate result of his first,-.attempt,"at," enforcingvhJpgK.sh (law among the 1 natives’caused'him'many a panjg. ; And now the, sad tale, of. .this unfortunate Waia chiefahil'his family is'told in many a-' Fijian hamlet, in the cool evenings, as the | sun goes'dovvu under the ’shade of the lofty/ivis j and cocoanut trees ; and the women' ;aud children hear with a thrill of the power of that’ 1 myterious mata-ni-tu, -whose, action .hilided’a' Fijian .chief ,from. Ins high estate, and seritihim and lira devoted wife and daughter prematurely before the face of their Maker. ; | >—-