Shipwrecked sailors and runaway convicts from Australian penal settlements were the first Europeans to land and live among the Fijians.
(Cary, William S.) WRECKED ON THE FEEJEES. (Nantucket. 1928)
“Experience of a Nantucket man a century ago, who was sole survivor of whaleship “Oeno” and lived for nine years among cannibals of South Sea Islands.” Compiled from Cary’s log book.
In 1835 the missionaries arrived, introducing Christianity and ending cannabilism.
Cannibalism...? Fijian mythology is rife with stories about its history of cannibalism and Captain William Bligh reported not too friendly natives.The ferocity of the cannibal lifestyle deterred European sailors from going near Fijian waters, giving Fiji the name Cannibal Isles, in turn Fiji was unknown to the rest of the outside world
The author, in the original 1851 edition of this book, wanted to be known only as "A Lady."
She was, in fact, Mary Davis Wallis, wife of well-known sea captain Benjamin Wallis of Salem, Massachusetts. During the 1840s and early 1850s this florid, forceful Yankee captain dominated the dangerous but lucrative Fiji-Manila trade in beche-de-mer -- otherwise known as sea cucumber
Fortunately for posterity, but to the wonder of his fellow trading captains and frustration of his crew, Captain Wallis took his piously eccentric wife voyaging to the Fiji's from 1844-1849 aboard the bark Zotoff.
Mary Wallis has a lot to say about native life. Her account is always lively, sometimes feminist, and usually opinionated. She wasn't always appreciated by her husband's crew, either. On one of the many occasions when their boat was boarded by natives eager to trade, she observed
The whole conduct of this people was boisterous, rude, and immodest in the extreme. The girls came on board for the vilest of purposes, but stated that the purposes were not accomplished, as the sailors were afraid of "Captain's Woman."
She often alludes to practices "too horrible to describe," but what she includes is graphic enough. She spend much of her time, for example, with practicing cannibals.
...dead bodies were brought to Bau as often as twice and sometimes three times in a week.. They were taken to a "buri" where a chief named Rotuimbau divided them, after which they were cooked, and then each portion sent to its destination. If they had more than could be devoured in Bau, portions were sent to other towns. The hearts and tongues are considered the choicest parts, and are claimed by the cheifs. The hands are usually given to the children.
Captain Wallis played a central role in Fiji history through his dealings with high Fijian chiefs, but his wife also left her indelible mark on Fiji. Even today Walesi and Merewalesi are popular girl's names.
This is a classic true woman's adventure of the South Seas.
Possibly the most notorious of Fiji’s cannibals was the 19th century chieftain, Ratu Udre Udre, who is buried off of King’s Road in northern Viti Levu, the gravesite today is a tourist attraction.
photo - ian osborne
In 1849, some time after Udre Udre’s death, Reverend Richard Lyth, who was staying in Viti Levu near the chieftain’s former territory, came across a row of 872 stones placed side by side. Lyth then asked Udre Udre’s son, Ravatu, about the stones and was informed that each stone represented a human being that the chieftain had eaten. According to Udre Udre’s son, the father had a voracious appetite and had a taste for very little other than human flesh. He would keep beside him at all times a box of cooked and preserved human meat and would consume it all himself, sharing with none.....
Cannibal utensils on display in Fiji Museum
Today cannibalism is (mis)used in contemporary cultural ways and tourism, the film industry (Silence of the Lambs) and media use the theme for different reasons.
Cannibal utensils are very popular with tourists and most tourists go home with at least one wooden handicraft, depicting cannibalism.
A restaurant owner from Taveuni capitalising on the theme .....Fijians today regard those times as "na gauna ni tevoro" (time of the devil) and today in fact Fijians are known as the most friendliest people!
Visitors are in awe with the friendliness of the fijian people and most of them rate this as the number one impression being left with from their visit.
Ronelle with the smiling ladies from a village in SavuSavu
