Fiji: The inhabitants of a remote mountain village in Fiji whose ancestors killed and ate a British missionary 136 years ago are to offer a traditional apology to his descendants in a bid to lift a long-standing curse, writes Nick Squires in Sydney
Rev Thomas Baker, of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, was killed by the villagers of Navatusila in 1867, reportedly after he took a comb out of a chief's hair. Touching the head of a chief was taboo in Fiji, which was once known as the Cannibal Isles.
Rev Baker, from the village of Playden in Sussex, England, was then cooked and eaten, becoming the only white man to be cannibalised in Fiji. His death helped foster the image of missionaries as blundering converts who inevitably ended up in a pot surrounded by dancing natives.
A contemporary account of the 35-year-old churchman's grisly death quoted villagers as saying "we ate everything but his boots". One of those boots is displayed in the national museum in the capital Suva.
The Pacific Islands News Association reported yesterday that the people of Navatusila want to atone for the sins of their ancestors because they believe they have been cursed by Rev Baker's death, with their village suffering a string of misfortunes.
The chief of the village, on the island of Viti Levu, has invited the missionary's descendants in Britain to attend next month's ceremony, the news agency said.
Mr Lance Martin, an archivist at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, which holds an account of Baker's death, said: "The story about the comb may be a bit of a myth. It seems Baker got caught up in some sort of inter-tribal feuding relating to his right to travel across the island.
"He was ambushed as he and his companions were leaving a village one morning. He was cut up on a flat rock at the base of a ravine. His body was anointed and then eaten."
Fiji's cannibalistic reputation deterred many European settlers in the early 19th century. Contemporary accounts by explorers speak of victims having body parts, such as tongues, sliced off and cooked in front of them while still conscious.
However as missionaries began to spread Christianity, and tribal warfare declined, cannibalism died out. In 1874 Fiji became a British colony.
Five years ago a pair of entrepreneurs caused an uproar in Fiji with a plan to sell "Cannibal Chutney" based on a traditional dish which once accompanied human meat during feasts.