It has always been the custom, so far as I can make out, to treat castaways or prisoners taken in war as gods, and then at the end of their term to kill them ruthlessly.

This plan is popular with the people at large, because it saves themselves from the dangerous honors of deification; but it also serves Tu-Kila-Kila's purpose, because it usually elevates to Heaven those innocent persons who are unacquainted with that fatal secret which is, as the natives say, Tu-Kila-Kila's death--his word of dismissal." "Then if only we could find out this secret--" Felix cried.
His new friend interrupted him.

"What hope is there of your finding it out, monsieur," he exclaimed, "you, who have only a few months to live--when I, who have spent nine long years of exile on the island, and seen two Tu-Kila-Kilas rise and fall, have been unable, with my utmost pains, to discover it?
_Tenez_; you have no idea yet of the superstitions of these people, or the difficulties that lie in the way of fathoming them.

Come this way to my aviary; I will show you something that will help you to realize the complexities of the situation." He rose and led the way to another cleared space at the back of the hut, where several birds of gaudy plumage were fastened to perches on sticks by leathery lashes of dried shark's skin, tied just above their talons.
"I am the King of the Birds, monsieur, you must remember," the Frenchman said, fondling one of his screaming _proteges_.

"These are a few of my subjects.