318 TRANSACTIONS AT It may liere be remarked, that' cannibalism is more or less practised on all the Fiji islands, and has its origin, no doubt, in the constant wars in which the people are engaged : not that war among savage nations universally gives oc- casion to so horrid a custom, (for indeed we have many instances to the contrary;) but in those uncultivated nations, where a spirit of na- tional hatred and thirst of revenge, on some ex*- traordinary occasions, run very high, it appears to be an instinct of uncultivated nature, to crown the catastrophe by a feast at which ci- vilized humanity revolts*, particularly where a scarcity of provisions exists at the same time^ At the Fiji islands war and devastation are much more frequent than at the Tonga islands, con- sequently scarcity is also much more frequent, and cannibalism accordingly much more prac- tised. The island of Navihi Levoo is more troubled by intestine war than the other Fiji
- Mr. Mariner had from good authority a circumstance that
may be mentioned here as illustrative of the point in ques- tion, A certain man at Tonga had a violent hatred to another, whom he sought an opportunity of killing in battle j at length he succeeded; and, cutting open the body, dissected off the liver, and took it home to his house. He tied the liver up in a piece of gnatoo, and whenever he wanted to drink water or cocoa-nut milk, he would dip it in, and then squeezing out some of the juice into his beverage, drink it off to satisfy his revenge: this fact was universally known and spoken of, but with much disgust. The cause of his enmity was the ill usage which his wife had received on being taken prisoner by the other. Mr. Mariner knew the man.
