ON Saturday, Ro Veidovi Logavatu—chief of Rewa—will arrive home, 185 years after he was convicted of crimes against humanity and deported to the United States.
His mortal remains will be flown from the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, to Nausori Airport before travelling to Lomanikoro and the chiefly burial grounds of Narusa.
After traditional handing over ceremonies and a short church service, Veidovi will be laid to rest.
What remains of the chief, scion of the Household of the Roko Tui Dreketi, is his skull which has been kept at the Smithsonian as Exhibit 292. His body remains in a naval cemetery in Washington.
Veidovi will be accompanied by Fiji’s Ambassador to the United States, Ratu Ilisoni Vuidreketi.
Arrested, tried, and convicted in 1840 aboard the USS Peacock, Veidovi was found responsible for the murders of 10 beche de mer traders on Kadavu.
His arrest was possible only after Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition arranged for the Roko Tui Dreketi, Ro Kania, and his family to be invited aboard the US ship and then held hostage.
Kania was released, Veidovi was convicted and shipped to the US where he died just months after his arrival in1842.
But such was the impression the chief had on his captor during the voyage, that Wilkes named an island in the San Juan Group off Washington State—Vendovi—after the prisoner.
Whether Veidovi was guilty of the murders that occurred six years before the trial and twelve months before the official arrival of Methodism is debated by scholars today. Some believe he was a pawn, sacrificed for his people.
Others contend that the charges were false but the conviction was necessary as the US took its initial steps towards becoming the imperial power which it is today.
The current Roko Tui Dreketi—Ro Teimumu Kepa—will witness Veidovi’s return and Rewa will welcome home a son to rest for eternity in the warm embrace of the soil of his people.