LOLÓMA, OR _Two Years in Cannibal-land_: A STORY OF OLD FIJI. BY HENRY BRITTON, _Author of “Fiji in 1870.”_ MELBOURNE: SAMUEL MULLEN. LONDON: 48, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1884. THIS STORY IS Respectfully Dedicated TO THE HON. J. B. THURSTON, C.M.G., AN OLD SETTLER, AND THE FIRST COLONIAL SECRETARY OF FIJI, In Memory of PLEASANT RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD TIMES. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE. [Illustration] The object of this romance is to preserve in a readable form some record of the ancient manners and customs, traditions and superstitions of the Fijians, the most numerous and the most interesting race of savages in the South Pacific, who are rapidly disappearing before the terrible push and civilisation of the white man. The opportunity of acquiring information on these subjects is fast slipping away with the older aboriginal inhabitants, and if not now seized upon it will be gone for ever. I have endeavoured to bring before the reader a picture of life in Fiji as it was before that portion of the New World “stretched its dusk hand to the Old.” To be of any value to the ethnologist, it is the first requisite of such a work that its details, so far as they relate to the country and its people, should be strictly accurate. In this respect the sources from which I derived my information render the book, I believe, thoroughly trustworthy. I desire to acknowledge my obligations to the Rev. Jesse Carey, for many years a missionary in the Fiji Islands, for his valuable assistance in translating legends and songs, and in placing at my disposal a quantity of other important material. Hearing of the progress of the story, Mr Carey furnished me with a bundle of manuscript, accompanied by the following remarks:—