Sometime previously, Ratu Lala had
warned me that whenever he landed at this place with a visitor it
was an old custom for the women to catch the visitor and throw him
into the sea from the top of a small rocky cliff.
To this I raised
serious objections, but arrayed myself in very old thin clothes
ready for the fray. However, upon landing, very much on the alert,
I was agreeably surprised to find that the women left me alone. Yet in
part Ratu Lala's story was true, as he assured me that quite recently
he had been forced to put a stop to the custom, as one of his last
visitors was a European of much importance who was greatly incensed
at such treatment, and complained to the government, who told Ratu
Lala that the custom must end.
We came to fish, and fish we did, just off the coral reef, but
it would take space to describe even one-half of the curious and
beautiful fish we caught. When I took the lead in the number of
fish caught, Ratu Lala seemed greatly annoyed, and I was not sorry
to let him get ahead, when he was soon in a good temper again. The
Fijians generally fished with nets and a many-pronged fish-spear,
with which they are very expert, and I saw them do wonderful work
with them. They also used long wicker-work traps. Ratu Lala, on the
contrary, being half-civilized, used an English rod and reel or line
like a white man.
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