Page 19 - Melanesia

History of Fiji

D uring the 19th century, Ratu Udre Udre port the structure, and “men were sacrificed The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman visited Fiji
is said to have consumed 872 people whenever posts had to be renewed” Fijians in 1643 while looking for the Great Southern
and to have made a pile of stones to record today regard those times as “na gauna ni Continent. Europeans settled on the islands
his achievement. The chief’s house or the tevoro” (time of the devil). The ferocity of permanently beginning in the 19th cen-
priest’s temple would have sacrificed bodies the cannibal lifestyle deterred European tury. The first European settlers to Fiji were
buried underneath them, with the ration- sailors from going near Fijian waters, giving beachcombers, missionaries, whalers, and
ale that the spirit of the ritually sacrificed Fiji the name Cannibal Isles; as a result, Fiji traders
person would invoke the gods to help sup- remained unknown to the rest of the world.