Sina-beatee, he wished it was a better piece and ordered the slave to give it me. It was accordingly brought carefully wrapped in a plantain leaf as it had been placed in the oven. I unwrapped it and found it to be a part of a foot taken off at the ankle and at the joints of the toes. I made an excuse for not eating it, by saying that it had been kept too long after it was killed, before it was cooked, it being about thirty-six hours. The King replied, it was not half so long as you white men keep your bullum-a-cow! meaning salt beef, a name derived from bull and cow, by American seamen. Salted meat was considered by them the most unhealthy and loathsome food that could be eaten, and was the means of creating a strong prejudice against the whites for their eating it. I had no desire to discuss the question of diet with this old savage and cannibal, knowing that I could not convince him of the base impropriety of eating human flesh, and well aware that he could not prevail upon me to exchange the cured flesh of a well stalled ox for the jackall food of his murdered victims. [Illustration: TOOTH OF A FIJIAN CANNIBAL Presented to The Essex Institute in 1851 by Capt. John H. Eagleston who stated that it was “A tooth from Na Massa Ngaloa, the greatest cannibal that ever lived, head chief of Rewa, Fiji Islands. Twenty years since conquered most of the islands in the archipelago; since died aged about sixty years. Eleven years ago became Christian--baptised Ratu Mill.” Now in the Peabody Museum of Salem.] [Illustration: MODEL OF A BURE OR FIJIAN TEMPLE Such models were presented to the temples as offerings. Given to the East India Marine Society of Salem, by Capt. Joseph Winn, Jr., in 1835. Now in the Peabody Museum of Salem.] [Illustration: OBJECTS FROM FIJI ISLANDS 1. Comb with top of human bone; collected by John Crandall in 1860. 2. Bracelet of shark’s teeth; collected by Capt. Joshua Kinsman in 1831. 3. Bracelet of roots made by the mountaineers; collected by Capt. Joshua Kinsman in 1831. 4. Bracelet of human teeth; collected by James B. Williams, U. S. Consul at Fiji, in 1845. 5. Mat needle made of human bone; collected by Capt. Joshua Kinsman in 1831. Now in the Peabody Museum of Salem.]