[6] The primitive Maori method of cooking bodies was to dig a hole in the ground about two feet deep in which was placed a quantity of stones. A fire was built over these and when they were red hot most of them were removed. Those remaining were covered with alternate layers of leaves and flesh until there was as much above as below ground. Two or three quarts of water was then thrown over the pile, old mats spread over it and the whole covered with earth to confine the steam. In twenty minutes the flesh was cooked. Cannibalism was entirely abandoned by 1840 owing to the influence of the missionaries. [7] The Friendly or Tonga Islands are a group lying south-east of Fiji between 18° and 20° south latitude and 174° and 176° west longitude. They comprise some 150 islands, mostly very small, of which only a few are inhabited. They were discovered by Tasman in 1643 and became a British protectorate in 1900. The natives are of Polynesian stock and have become Christians through the efforts of the Wesleyan Mission established here in 1822. Probably the best early account of the natives of any Pacific islands is William Mariner’s “An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands.” [8] The Fiji islands are an important group of the Central Pacific lying largely between latitude 15°30′ and 19°30′ South and longitude 177° East and 178° West. They comprise some 155 islands, of which 100 are inhabited, and numerous islets and reefs. The group was discovered by Tasman in 1643 and was ceded to Great Britain by Thakombau on Oct. 10, 1874. The natives are of Melanesian stock with an admixture of Polynesian. The mountaineers of Vanua Levu show the purest strain while the costal tribes of that and the surrounding islands show a very pronounced strain of Tongan blood. All are now Christian through the efforts of the Wesleyan missionaries who went there in 1835 and a white man or woman is safer with these natives than on the streets of New York or Chicago. [9] The result of the infusion of Tongan blood. [10] War was the chief object in life for the Fijian man and so great was the desire for killing that two men always walked abreast for fear that if one were behind he would be overcome by the temptation to club his companion.