Contexts - Rough Guide to Fiji - page 308

THE CANNIBAL ISLES
And now the drums beat pat, pat, pat, pat, pat. What is the signal? It means that a man is about to be cut up
and prepared for food, as is a bullock in our own country. See the commotion! The majority of the population,
old and young, run to gaze upon the intended victim. He is stripped naked, struck down with the club, his body
ignominiously dashed against a stone in front of a temple, and then cut up and divided amongst a chosen few, ere
the vital spark is extinct.
Rev Joseph Waterhouse, The King and People of Fiji , Pasifika Press, 1886
Cannibalism in Fiji wasn't something that happened every so often, it was a routine part of
life. In crudely pragmatic terms, human flesh served as a much-needed source of protein,
especially amongst the hill people, for Fiji was almost devoid of meat-bearing animals. But
its real power lay in intimidation - by eating the flesh of an enemy, a Fijian was con-
suming the mana or strength of their foe. Warfare was usually a tit-for-tat process. Small
bands of marauding warriors would prowl the countryside looking for easy prey. If a stand-
off between two warring parties ensued, taunts would be cast but seldom was there a full
confrontation - securing just one victim was enough for a wild orgy back home.
With the procurement of a bokola , or uncooked human, men performed a cibi or war
dance and unmarried girls responded in an erotic wate dance around the captive. The humi-
liation of the victim didn't usually end there. Young boys were given sharpened sticks and
encouraged to taunt and torture the captive, a practice echoed today when a pig is brought
down from the plantation for eating. In some severe accounts recorded by missionaries liv-
ing amongst the Fijians in the 1800s, the tongue was cut out while the victim was still alive
and eaten whilst his blood was drained and drunk. Eventually, the bokola was placed at the
killing stone and the head smashed using a war club. The body was cleaned and cooked.
The heart and tongue were considered the choicest parts and given to the chief, who would
consume the flesh using a specially carved cannibal fork with four prongs, whilst other
body parts were distributed amongst the villagers.
Understandably, in the early days of encounter, Europeans were afraid of the “Cannibal
Isles” although most often, visitors, however strange looking, were treated gracefully and
generously. A few did end up in the pot: Charlie Savage met his end on the island of Vanua
Levu in 1813. It is said his bones were later made into sail needles. The most notorious
case of cannibalism in the islands, though, rests with the unfortunate Reverend Thomas
Baker who was killed and eaten by the Colo hill people of Viti Levu in 1867.
By the mid-1800s, with the introduction of firearms and the ensuing power struggle of
Cakobau over his Rewan enemies, cannibalism hit its peak. Some first-hand accounts of
missionaries stationed at Bau claimed that as many as three hundred people were brought
back as the spoils of a single war and body parts hung off every house waiting for con-