In the Wrong Paradise | Page 4

unfortunate victims--criminals I
presumed--were hung chains of white and black figs, and in their hands
they held certain herbs, figs, and cheese, for what purpose I was, and
remain, unable to conjecture. Whenever their cries were still for a
moment, the woman who carried the idol turned round, and lifted it in
her arms with words which I was unable to understand, urging on the
tormentors to ply their switches with more severity.
Naturally I was alarmed by the strangeness and ferocity of the natives,
so I concealed myself hastily in some brushwood behind a large tree.
Much to my horror I found that the screams, groans, and singing only
drew nearer and nearer. The procession then passed me so close that I
could see blood on the backs of the victims, and on their faces an awful
dread and apprehension. Finally, the crowd reached the mouth of the
river, at the very place where I had escaped from the sea. By aid of a
small pocket-glass I could make out that the men were piling great
faggots of green wood, which I had noticed that some of them carried,
on a spot beneath the wash of high tide. When the pile had reached a
considerable height, the two victims were placed in the middle. Then,
by some means, which I was too far off to detect, fire was produced,
and applied to the wild wood in which the unhappy man and woman
were enveloped. Soon, fortunately, a thick turbid smoke, in which but
little flame appeared, swept all over the beach. I endeavoured to stop
my ears, and turned my head away that I might neither see nor hear
more of this spectacle, which I now perceived to be a human sacrifice
more cruel than is customary even among the Fijians.
When I next ventured to look up, the last trails of smoke were
vanishing away across the sea; the sun gazed down on the bright,
many-coloured throng, who were now singing another of their hymns,
while some of the number were gathering up ashes (human ashes!)
from a blackened spot on the sand, and were throwing them into the

salt water. The wind tossed back a soft grey dust in their faces, mixed
with the surf and spray. It was dark before the crowd swept by me
again, now chanting in what appeared to be a mirthful manner, and
with faces so smiling and happy that I could scarcely believe they had
just taken part in such abominable cruelty. On the other hand, a weight
seemed to have been removed from their consciences. So deceitful are
the wiles of Satan, who deludes the heathen most in their very religion!
Tired and almost starved as I was, these reflections forced themselves
upon me, even while I was pondering on the dreadful position in which
I found myself. Way of escape from the island (obviously a very large
one) there was none. But, if I remained all night in the wood, I must
almost perish of cold and hunger. I had therefore no choice but to
approach the barbarous people, though, from my acquaintance with
natives, I knew well that they were likely either to kill and eat me, or to
worship me as a god. Either event was too dreadful to bear reflection. I
was certain, however, that, owing to the dress of my sacred calling, I
could not be mistaken for a mere beach-comber or labour-hunter, and I
considered that I might easily destroy the impression (natural among
savages on first seeing a European) that I was a god. I therefore
followed the throng from a distance, taking advantage for concealment
of turns in the way, and of trees and underwood beside the road. Some
four miles' walking, for which I was very unfit, brought us across a
neck of land, and from high ground in the middle I again beheld the sea.
Very much to my surprise the cape on which I looked down, safe in the
rear of the descending multitude, was occupied by a kind of city.
The houses were not the mere huts of South Sea Islanders, but, though
built for the most part of carved and painted wood, had white stone
foundations, and were of considerable height. On a rock in the centre of
the bay were some stone edifices which I took to be temples or public
buildings. The crowd gradually broke up, turning into their own
dwellings on the shore, where, by the way, some large masted vessels
were drawn up in little docks. But, while the general public, if I may
say so, slowly withdrew, the woman with the idol in her arms,
accompanied by some elderly men of serious aspect, climbed the road
up to the central public buildings.

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