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diff --git a/38432.txt b/38432.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5769ff8 --- /dev/null +++ b/38432.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16040 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fijians, by Basil Thomson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Fijians + A Study of the Decay of Custom + +Author: Basil Thomson + +Release Date: December 28, 2011 [EBook #38432] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIJIANS *** + + + + +Produced by Jason Isbell, Suzanne Lybarger and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + +THE FIJIANS + +A STUDY OF THE DECAY OF CUSTOM + +[Illustration: BREADFRUIT.] + +THE FIJIANS + +A STUDY OF THE DECAY OF CUSTOM + +BY + +BASIL THOMSON + +AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF DARTMOOR PRISON," ETC. + +ILLUSTRATED + +LONDON +WILLIAM HEINEMANN + +1908 + +_OTHER WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + + _South Sea Yarns_ + _The Diversions of a Prime Minister_ + _A Court Intrigue_ + _The Indiscretions of Lady Asenath_ + _Savage Island_ + _The Story of Dartmoor Prison_ + + (_In collaboration with_ Lord Amherst of Hackney) + _The Discovery of the Solomon Islands_ + +_Copyright, London 1908, by William Heinemann._ + + + + +PREFACE + + +This volume does not pretend to be an exhaustive monograph on the +Fijians. Their physical characteristics and their language, which have +no bearing upon the state of transition from customary law to modern +competition, are omitted, since they may be studied in the pages of +Williams, Waterhouse and Hazlewood, which the author has freely +consulted. All that is aimed at is a study of the decay of custom in a +race that is peculiarly tenacious of its institutions--the decay that +has now set in among the natural races in every part of the globe. + +The author lived among the Fijians with short intervals for ten years, +first as Stipendiary Magistrate in various parts of the group, then as +Commissioner of the Native Lands Court, and finally as Acting Head of +the Native Department. Much of the anthropological information was +collected for the Commission appointed in 1903 to investigate the causes +of the decrease of the natives, of which the author was a member, and of +that portion of the book his fellow-Commissioner, Dr. Bolton Glanvill +Corney, C.M.G., and the late Mr. James Stewart, C.M.G., should be +considered joint authors, though they are not responsible for the +conclusions drawn from the evidence. + +To Dr. Corney, whose services to medical science in the investigation of +leprosy and tropical diseases in the Pacific are so widely known, his +special thanks are due. He also received valuable assistance from Dr. +Lynch, the late Mr. Walter Carew and a number of native assistants, +notably Ilai Motonithothoka, Ratu Deve, the late Ratu Nemani Ndreu, and +others. The late Mr. Lorimer Fison also helped him with many +suggestions. + +The ideas expressed in the introduction were formulated in the author's +presidential address to the Devonshire Association in 1905: the marriage +system and the mythology were described in papers read before the +Anthropological Institute: some account of the "Path of the Shades" and +the fishing of the Mbalolo are to be found in others of the author's +books. + +The spelling adopted for native words may be displeasing to Fijian +scholars, particularly the rendering of _q_ by _nk_, but although +_wanka_ may not represent the Fijian pronunciation as accurately as +_wangga_, it is certainly less uncouth. Hazelwood's spelling, excellent +as it is for the purpose of teaching Fijians to read and write their own +language, is misleading to English readers, and the abandonment of his +consonants _c_ for _th_, _b_ for _mb_, _d_ for _nd_ and _g_ for _ng_, +needs no apology. + + _London, 1908._ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The present population of the globe is believed to be about fifteen +hundred millions, of which seven hundred millions are nominally +progressive and eight hundred millions are stagnant under the law of +custom. It is difficult to choose terms that even approach scientific +accuracy in these generalizations, for, as Mr. H.G. Wells has remarked, +if we use the word "civilized" the London "Hooligan" and the "Bowery +tough" immediately occur to us; if the terms "stagnant" or +"progressive," how are the Parsee gentleman and the Sussex farm labourer +to be classed? Nor can the terms "white" and "coloured" be used, for +there are Chinese many shades whiter than the Portuguese. But as long as +the meaning is clear the scientific accuracy of terms is unimportant, +and so for convenience we will call all races of European descent +"civilized," and races living under the law of custom "uncivilized." The +problem that will be solved within the next few centuries is--What part +is to be taken in the world's affairs by the eight hundred millions of +uncivilized men who happen for the moment to be politically inferior to +the other seven hundred millions? + +For centuries they have been sleeping. Under the law of custom, which no +man dares to disobey, progress was impossible. The law of custom was the +law of our own forefathers until the infusion of new blood and new +customs shook them out of the groove and set them to choosing between +the old and the new, and then to making new laws to meet new needs. This +happened so long ago that if it were not for a few ceremonial survivals +we might well doubt whether our forefathers were ever so held in +bondage. With the precept--to do as your father did before you--an +isolated race will remain stationary for centuries. There is, I +believe, in all the history of travel, only one instance in which the +absolute stagnation of a race has been proved, and that is the case of +the Solomon Islands, the first of the Pacific groups to be discovered, +and the last to be influenced by Europeans. In 1568 a Spanish expedition +under Alvaro de Mendana set sail from Peru in quest of the Southern +continent. Missing all the great island groups Mendana discovered the +islands named by him Islas de Saloman, not because he found any gold +there, but because he hoped thereby to inflame the cupidity of the +Council of the Indies into fitting out a fresh expedition. Gomez +Catoira, his treasurer, has left us a detailed account of the customs of +the natives and about forty words of their language. And now comes the +strange part of the story. Expedition after expedition set sail for the +Isles of Solomon; group after group was discovered; but the Isles of +Solomon were lost, and at last geographers, having shifted them to every +space left vacant in the chart, treated them as fabulous and expunged +them altogether. They were rediscovered by Bougainville exactly two +centuries later, but it was not until late in the nineteenth century +that any attempt was made to study the language and customs of the +natives. It was then found that in every particular, down to the +pettiest detail in their dress, their daily life and their language, +they were the same as when Catoira saw them two centuries earlier, and +so no doubt they would have remained until the last trump had not +Europeans come among them. + +If, as there is good reason for believing, the modern Eskimo are the +lineal descendants of the cave men of Derbyshire, who hunted the +reindeer and the urus in Pleistocene times, the changelessness of their +habits is to be ascribed to the same cause--the absence of a stimulus +from without to break down the law of custom. + +In the sense that no race now exists which is not in some degree touched +by the influence of Western civilization, the present decade may be said +to be a fresh starting-point in the history of mankind. Whithersoever we +turn, the laws of custom, which have governed the uncivilized races for +countless generations, are breaking down; the old isolation which kept +their blood pure is vanishing before railway and steamship communication +which imports alien labourers to work for European settlers; and +ethnologists of the future, having no pure race left to examine, will +have to fall back upon hearsay evidence in studying the history of human +institutions. + +All this has happened before in the world's history, but in a more +limited area. To the Roman armies, the Roman system of slave-owning, and +still more to the Roman roads, we owe the fact that there is not in +Western Europe a single race of unmixed blood, for even the Basques, if +they are indeed the last survivors of the old Iberian stock, have +intermarried with the French and Spanish people about them. An +ethnologist of the eighth century, meditating on the wave upon wave of +destructive immigration that submerged England, might well have doubted +whether so extraordinary a mixture of races could ever develop +patriotism and pride of race, and yet it did not take many centuries to +evolve in the English a sense of nationality with insular prejudice +superadded. Nationality and patriotism are in fact purely artificial and +geographical sentiments. We feel none of the bitter hate of our Saxon +forefathers for their Norman conquerors; the path of our advance through +the centuries is strewn with the corpses of patriotisms and race +hatreds. + +Nor was the mixture of races in Europe the mere mingling of peoples +descended from a common Aryan stock, for if that were so, what has +become of the Persians and Egyptians, worshippers of AEon and Serapis and +Mithras, who garrisoned the Northumberland wall; of the host of Asiatic +and African soldiers and slaves scattered through Europe during the +Roman Empire; of the Negroes introduced into southern Portugal by Prince +Henry the Navigator; of the Jews that swarmed in every medieval city; of +the Moors in southern Spain? Did none of these intermarry with Aryans, +and leave a half-caste Semitic or Negro or Tartar progeny behind them? +How otherwise can one account for the extraordinary diversity in skull +measurement, in proportion and in colour which is found in the +population of every European country? + +If we except the inhabitants of remote islands probably there has never +been an unmixed race since the Palaeolithic Age. Long before the dawn of +history kingdoms rose and fell. Broken tribes, fleeing from invaders, +put to sea and founded colonies in distant lands. Troy was no exception +to the rule of the old world that at the sack of every city the men were +slain and the women reserved to be the wives of their conquerors. +Doubtless it was to keep the Hebrew blood pure that Saul was commanded +to slay "both man and woman, infant and suckling" of the Amalekites, the +ancestors of the Bedawin of the Sinai peninsula. + +It may be argued that the laws of custom have been swept away by +conquering races many times in the world's history without any +far-reaching consequences--those of the Neolithic people of the long +barrows by the warriors of the Bronze Age; those of the British by the +Romans; those of the Romano-British by the Saxons; those of the Saxons +by the Normans. But there was this difference: in all these cases the +new customs were forced upon the weaker race by the strong hand of its +conquerors, and as it had obeyed its own laws through fear of the +Unseen, so it adopted the new laws through fear of its new masters. It +was a rough, but in the end a wholesome schooling. We go another way to +work: we do not as a rule come to native races with the authority of +conquerors; we saunter into their country and annex it; we break down +their customs, but do not force them to adopt ours; we teach them the +precepts of Christianity, and in the same breath assure them that +instead of physical punishment by disease which they used to fear, their +disobedience will be visited by eternal punishment after death--a +contingency too remote to have any terrors for them; and then we leave +them like a ship with a broken tiller free to go whithersoever the wind +of fancy drives them, and it is not surprising that they prefer the easy +vices of civilization to its more difficult virtues. In civilizing a +native race the _suaviter in modo_ is a more dangerous process than the +_fortiter in re_. + +The law of custom is always interwoven with religion, and is enforced by +fear of earthly punishment for disobedience. This fear is strongest +among patriarchal races whose religion is founded upon the worship of +ancestors. To depart from the customs of the ancestors is to insult the +tribal god, and it is therefore the business of each member of the tribe +to see to it that the impiety of his fellow-tribesmen brings no judgment +down upon his head. In such a community a man is only free from the +tyranny of custom when he dies. As in the German's ideal of a +well-governed city, everything is forbidden. Hedged about by the tabu he +can scarce move hand or foot without circumspection. If he errs, even +unwittingly, the spirits of disease pounce upon him. In Tonga almost +every day he performed the _Moe-moe_, an act of penance to atone for +unconscious breaches of the tabu, and in the civil war of 1810 it was +the practice to open the bodies of the slain to discover from the state +of the liver whether the dead warrior had led a good or an evil life. + +Among the races held in bondage by custom there were, of course, rare +souls born before their time in whom the eternal "Thou shalt not" of the +law of custom provoked the question "Why?" But they met the fate +ordained for men born before their time; in civilized states the +hemlock, the cross and the stake; in uncivilized, the club or the spear. +Perhaps the real complaint of the Athenians against Socrates was that an +unceasing flow of wisdom and reproof is more than erring man can endure, +but the published grounds for his condemnation were that he denied the +gods recognized by the State, and that he corrupted the young. This, as +William Mariner tells us, is what men whispered under their breath when +Finau, the king of Vavau in the Friendly Islands, dared to scoff at the +law of tabu in 1810, and he was struck down by sickness while ordering a +rope to be brought for the strangling of his priest. In fact the +reformers of primitive races never lived long: if they were low-born +they were clubbed and that was the end of them and their reforms; if +they were chiefs, and something happened to them, either by disease or +accident, men saw therein the finger of an offended deity, and obedience +to the existing order of things became stronger than before. + +The decay of custom, which may be fraught with momentous consequences +for the civilized races, is proceeding more rapidly every year. It can +best be studied by examining the process in a single race in detail, and +for this purpose the Fijians, who are the subject of this volume, are +peculiarly suited, because by their isolation through many centuries no +foreign ideas, filtering through neighbouring tribes, had corrupted +their customary law before Europeans came among them, and so decay set +in with startling suddenness despite their innate conservatism. What is +true of the Fijians is true, with slight modifications, of every +primitive society in Asia, Africa and America which is being dragged +into the vortex of what we call progress. The fabric of every complete +social system has been built up gradually. You may raze it to the +foundations and erect another in its place, but if you pull out a stone +here and there the whole edifice comes tumbling about your ears before +you can make your alterations. It is the fashion to assert that native +races begin to decline as soon as Europeans come into contact with them. +This arises from our evil modern habit of making false generalizations. +The fact that some isolated races suddenly torn from the roots of their +ancient customs begin by decreasing rapidly is so dramatic that we +eagerly fasten on the generalization that weaker races are doomed to +wither away at the coming of the all-conquering European, forgetting the +steady increase of the Bantu races in Africa, and of the Indians and +Chinese up to and even beyond the limit of population which their +country can support. + +The main cause of the sudden decrease of a race is the introduction of +new diseases which assume a more virulent aspect when they strike root +in a virgin soil, but we are now beginning to learn that this cause is +only temporary. For a time a race seems to sicken and pine like an +individual, but like an individual it may recover. In the decrease from +disease there seems to be a stopping-place. It may come when the race +has been reduced to one-fifth of its number, like the Maoris, or to a +mere handful like the blacks of New South Wales, but there comes a time +when decay is arrested, and then perhaps fusion with another race has +set in. The type may be lost, but the blood remains. + +It is against the attacks of new diseases that the law of custom is most +helpless. The primitive theory of disease and death is so widespread +that we may accept it as the belief of mankind before custom gave place +to scientific inquiry. The primitive argument was this: the natural +state of man is to be healthy, and everything contrary to Nature must be +the doing of some hostile agency. When a man feels ill he knows that an +evil spirit has entered into him, and since evil spirits do not move +unless some person conjures them, his first thought on waking with a +headache is "An enemy hath done this." Out of this springs all the +complicated ritual of witchcraft, fetish and juju, which by frightening +natives into destroying or burying all offal and refuse that might be +used against them by a wizard, achieves the right thing for the wrong +reason. The "Evil spirit" theory of disease is thus not so very far +removed from the bacillus theory: in both the body has been attacked by +a malignant visitor which must be expelled before the patient can +recover. It is in the methods adopted for making the body an +uncomfortable lodging for it that the systems diverge. In all ages the +essential part of therapeutics has been faith in the remedy, whether in +the verse of the Koran swallowed by the Moslem, in the charm prescribed +by the medieval quack, in the "demonstration" of the Christian +Scientist, in the prescription of the medical practitioner. Mankind +survives its remedies as well as its epidemics. England has a population +of nearly forty millions, even though, less than a century ago, as we +learn from Creevy's memoirs, blood-letting was regarded as the proper +treatment for advanced stages of consumption. + +It is, I think, safe to assume that in the centuries to come there will +be representatives even of the smallest races now living on the earth, +and that the proportions between civilized and what are now uncivilized +peoples will not have greatly altered, though the political and social +ideas which underlie Western civilization will have permeated the whole +of mankind. It is therefore important to inquire whether the +uncivilized races are really inferior in capacity to Europeans. +Professor Flinders Petrie has expressed the view that the average man +cannot receive much more knowledge than his immediate ancestors, and +that "the growth of the mind can in the average man be but by fractional +increments in each generation." In support of this view he declares that +the Egyptian peasant who has been taught to read and write is in every +case which he has met with "half-witted, silly and incapable of taking +care of himself," while the Copt, whose ancestors have been scribes for +generations, can be educated without sustaining any mental injury. I +venture to think that there are more exceptions than will prove any such +rule. In New Zealand it has been found that Maori children, when they +can be induced to work, are quite equal to their white school-fellows. +Fijian boys educated in Sydney have been proved to be equal to the +average; Tongan boys who have never left their island write shorthand +and solve problems in higher mathematics; Booker Washington and Dubois +are only two out of a host of negroes of the highest attainments. + +Australian aborigines, and even Andaman Islanders, have shown some +aptitude when they have overcome the difficulty of a common language +with their teacher; New Guinea children do very well in the mission +schools. The Masai are the most backward of all the East African tribes, +yet Mr. Hollis, the Government Secretary of Uganda, employs two Masai +boys to develop his photographs. It is, in fact, doubtful whether there +is any race of marked mental inferiority, though, as among ourselves, +there are thick-witted individuals, and these may be more common in one +race than in another. Certainly there is no race that suffers mental +injury from teaching. In all uncivilized people there is a lack of +application, and any injury they sustain arises from the confinement +necessary for study. It is character rather than intellect that achieves +things in this world, and character is affected by education, by +climate, and by pressure of circumstances. There are now in almost every +uncivilized race individuals who are defying the law of custom to their +material profit, though not to their entire peace of mind, for they have +begun to understand that the riches of the European may be dearly +purchased, and that in anxiety about many things happiness and +contentment are not often found. + +But though all peoples are teachable there are racial idiosyncrasies +which we are only beginning to discover. Why, for instance, should the +Hausa and the Sudanese have a natural aptitude for European military +discipline while the Waganda find it irksome? Why do the Masai, whose +social development is Palaeolithic in its simplicity, make trustworthy +policemen and prison warders, while the Somalis have been found utterly +worthless in both capacities? Why are the Maoris and Solomon Islanders +natural artists in wood-carving while the tribes most nearly allied to +them are almost destitute of artistic skill? These natural aptitudes +suggest what these races may become when we have struck off their +fetters of custom and have forced them to compete with us. + +Cheap and rapid means of transit are sweeping away the distinctions of +dress, of custom, and, to some extent, of language, which underlie the +feeling of nationality, and the races now uncivilized will soon settle +for themselves the vital question whether they are to remain hewers of +wood and drawers of water for the white man, or whether they are to take +their place in free competition with him. The "Yellow Peril," which +implies national cohesion among the Mongolians, may be a chimera, but it +is impossible to believe that a white skin is to be for ever a sort of +patent of nobility in the world state of the future. + +History teaches us that there can be no middle course. Either race +antipathy and race contempt must disappear, or one breed of men must +dominate the others. The psychology of race contempt has never been +dispassionately studied. It is felt most strongly in the United States +and the West Indies; a little less strongly in the other British +tropical colonies. In England it is sporadic, and is generally confined +to the educated classes. It is scarcely to be noticed in France, Spain, +Portugal or Italy. From this it might be argued that it is peculiar to +races of Teutonic descent were it not for the fact that Germans in +tropical countries do not seem to feel it. It is, moreover, a sentiment +of modern growth. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Englishmen +did not regard coloured people as their inferiors by reason of the +colour of their skin. It appears, in fact, to date only from the time of +slavery in the West Indian colonies, and yet the Romans, the Spaniards, +and the Portuguese, who were the greatest slave-owners in history, never +held marriage with coloured people in contempt. The only race hatred in +the Middle Ages was anti-Semitic, and this was due to the Crusader +spirit. The colour line, as it is called, is drawn more firmly by men +than by women, and deep-seated as it is in the Southern States just now +it may be nothing more than a passing phase of sentiment, a subconscious +instinct of self-preservation in a race which feels that its old +predominance is threatened by equality with its former servants. If you +analyze the sentiment it comes to this. You may tolerate the coloured +man in every relation but one: you may converse with him, eat with him, +live with him on terms of equality, but your gorge rises at the idea of +admitting him to become a member of your family by marriage. In the +ordinary social relations you do not take him quite seriously; if he is +a commoner you treat him as your potential servant; if a dusky potentate +you yield him a sort of jesting deference; but in that one matter of +blood alliance with him you will always keep him at arm's length. That +is the view even of the Englishman who has not lived in a black man's +country, and upon that is built the extraordinary race hatred of the +Southern States, where a white man will not consent to sit in a tramcar +with a negro, though the white man be a cotton operative and the negro a +University professor. + +If this race contempt were a primitive instinct with the white race the +future of mankind would be lurid indeed, for it is impossible to believe +that one half of humanity can be kept for ever inferior to the other +without deluging the world with blood. But it is not a primitive +instinct. Shakespeare saw nothing repulsive in the marriage of Desdemona +with a man of colour. Early in the sixteenth century Sieur Paulmier de +Gonneville of Normandy gave his heiress in marriage to Essomeric, the +son of a Brazilian chief, and no one thought that she was hardly +treated. It may not be a pleasant subject to dwell upon, but it is a +fact that women of Anglo-Saxon blood do, even in these days, mate with +Chinese, Arabs, Kaffirs, and even Negroes despite the active opposition +of the whole of their relations. History is filled with romantic +examples of the marriage of European men with native women, to cite no +more than de Bethencourt with the Guanche princess; Cortes with his +Mexican interpreter; John Rolfe with Pocahontas. + +It is the fashion to describe the half-caste offspring of such mixed +marriages as having all the vices of both races, and none of the +virtues. In so far as this accusation is true it is accounted for by the +social ostracism in which these people are condemned to live. Disowned +by their fathers, freed by their parentage from the restraints under +which their mothers' people are held in check, it could scarcely be +otherwise, but those who have lived with half-castes of many races will +agree that in intellectual aptitude and in physical endowment they are +generally equal to the average of Europeans when they have the same +education and opportunities, and that there is no physical deterioration +in the offspring of the marriages of half-castes _inter se_. + +At the dawn of this twentieth century we see the future of mankind +through a glass darkly, but if we study the state of the coloured people +who are shaking themselves free from the law of custom, we may see it +almost face to face. Race prejudice does not die as hard as one would +think. The Portuguese of the sixteenth century were ready enough to +court as "Emperor of Monomotapa" a petty Bantu chieftain into whose +power they had fallen; and the English beachcomber of the forties who, +when he landed, called all natives "niggers" with an expletive prefix, +might very soon be found playing body-servant to a Fijian chief, who +spoke of him contemptuously as "My white man." In tropical countries the +line of caste will soon cease to be the colour line. There, as in +temperate zones, wealth will create a new aristocracy recruited from men +of every shade of colour. Even in the great cities of Europe and +America we may find men of Hindu and Chinese and Arab origin controlling +industries with their wealth, as Europeans now control the commerce of +India and China, but with this difference--that they will wear the dress +and speak the language which will have become common to the whole +commercial world, and as the aristocracy of every land will be composed +of every shade of colour, so will be the masses of men who work with +their hands. In one country the majority of the labourers will be black +or brown; in another white; but white men will work cheek by jowl with +black and feel no degradation. There will be the same feverish pursuit +of wealth, but all races will participate in it instead of a favoured +few. The world will then be neither so pleasant nor so picturesque a +place to live in, and by the man of that age the twentieth century will +be cherished tenderly as an age of romance, of awakening, and of high +adventure. The historians of that day will speak of the Victorian age as +we speak of the Elizabethan, and will date the new starting-point in the +history of mankind from the decay of the law of custom. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + INTRODUCTION vii + I. THE TRANSITION 1 + II. THE AGE OF MYTH 4 + III. THE AGE OF HISTORY 21 + IV. CONSTITUTION OF SOCIETY 56 + V. WARFARE 85 + VI. CANNIBALISM 102 + VII. RELIGION 111 + VIII. POLYGAMY 172 + IX. FAMILY LIFE 175 + X. THE MARRIAGE SYSTEM 182 + XI. CUSTOMS AT BIRTH 206 + XII. CIRCUMCISION AND TATTOOING 216 + XIII. THE PRACTICE OF PROCURING ABORTION. 221 + XIV. THE INSOUCIANCE OF NATIVE RACES 228 + XV. SEXUAL MORALITY 233 + XVI. EPIDEMIC DISEASES 243 + XVII. LEPROSY (_VUKAVUKA_ OR _SAKUKA_) 255 + XVIII. YAWS (_THOKO_) 270 + XIX. TUBERCULOSIS 277 + XX. TRADE 280 + XXI. NAVIGATION AND SEAMANSHIP 290 + XXII. PHYSICAL POWERS 297 + XXIII. ATTITUDES AND MOVEMENTS 299 + XXIV. TRAITS OF CHARACTER 304 + XXV. SWIMMING 316 + XXVI. FISHING 320 + XXVII. GAMES 328 + XXVIII. FOOD 334 + XXIX. YANKONA (_KAVA_) 341 + XXX. TOBACCO 352 + XXXI. THE TENURE OF LAND 354 + XXXII. CONCLUSION 387 + INDEX 391 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + BREADFRUIT _Frontispiece_ + + DESCENDANTS OF TONGAN IMMIGRANTS PERFORMING THE TONGAN DANCE _LAKALAKA_ + _To face page_ 22 + BRINGING FIRST FRUITS TO MBAU " 60 + BUILDING A CHIEF'S HOUSE " 70 + SPOIL FROM THE PLANTATIONS--(TARO, COCOANUTS AND YANGKONA) " 78 + PAINTING A _TAPA_ SHROUD " 130 + SERUA, AN ISLAND CHIEF VILLAGE IN THE _MBAKI_ COUNTRY " 154 + THE MBURE-NI-SA (CLUB HOUSE) " 176 + WOMEN FISHING WITH THE SEINE " 212 + A WAR DANCE " 286 + THE _THAMAKAU_ " 290 + THE HAIR PLASTERED WITH BLEACHING LIME " 302 + THE CHIEF'S TURTLE FISHERS " 320 + SLAUGHTERING THE TURTLE " 326 + BREWING YANGKONA " 344 + PICKING COCOANUTS " 364 + +_Photographs by_ Waters, _Suva, Fiji_. + + + + +THE FIJIANS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TRANSITION + + +The Fijian of to-day is neither savage nor civilized. Security from +violence has fostered his natural improvidence. The missionaries, who +have effected so marvellous a change in his moral and religious +sentiments, who have induced him to join in the suppression of such +customs as polygamy, cannibalism, strangling of widows, amputating the +finger as a mark of mourning, dressing the hair in heathen fashion, +wearing the loin bandage, tattooing and many others, have neglected to +teach him to care for his health and his physical well-being. They have +taught him to cultivate his mind rather than his food plantation, and +they have given him no immediate punishment for thriftlessness and +disobedience to take the place of the old club law. He was accustomed to +be ruled by a strong hand because no other rule was possible, and he is +suffering from the fact that civilization was not forced upon him. If, +instead of being ceded, the country had been conquered and each man +relegated to his place with a strong hand, the dawn of settled +government would have been less bleak. + +Having never known the struggle for existence that prevails in the +crowded communities of the old world, he was spurred into activity by +the fear of annihilation, for upon his alertness his existence depended. +Intertribal wars conquered the natural indolence and apathy of the +people, but, with the bestowal of the _pax Britannica_ this impulse +failed. The earth yielded all they required for their simple wants, and +they were free to indulge their natural indolence. They lack the +alertness of races who have to contend against savage animals, from +which the Fiji islands are free, and they have none of the steady +application of those who must compete with others for their daily bread. + +Yet, in being thriftless and apathetic, they are but obeying a natural +law which the modern state socialist is too apt to minimize if not to +ignore. Without the necessity for a struggle between man and man or man +and Nature there has never been any progress. Society must stagnate or +slip backwards without the spur of ambition or of fear; the natural bent +of all men is to be idle. The old world Paradise was a garden that +yielded its fruit without cultivation; the old world punishment for +disobedience was the decree that man should earn his bread by the sweat +of his brow. Industry and thrift are hardly to be looked for in a +luxurious climate among a sparse population, but rather among those +races whose climate and soil yield food only at stated seasons of the +year, and then grudgingly in return for unremitting labour, or in those +crowded communities whose local supply of food is insufficient. When we +blame the Fijians for their thriftlessness we are prone to judge them by +too high a standard, and to forget that they are land-owning peasants, a +class which even among ourselves is exempt from the grinding necessity +of perpetual toil--a state that has come to be regarded as the natural +lot of the poor. The primitive organization of village communities among +whom the tie of individual property is loose and ill-defined enough to +please the most advanced socialist, causes thrift to be regarded as a +vice, and wasteful prodigality the highest virtue. + +[Pageheader: LACK OF IMAGINATION] + +The Fijians have already adopted some of the tools of civilization; the +native canoe has given place to vessels of European model, and so far as +clothing is necessary, European fabrics have taken the place of the old +_Liku_ and _Malo_. "Mbau," say the natives, "is adopting European +fashions"--the superficial fashions that take the fancy--"and where Mbau +leads others will follow in time." In spite of the whirlwind of war and +rapine that devastated the country fifty years ago, it would now be +difficult to find a more honest and law-abiding community than the +Fijian, so far as intercourse among themselves is concerned. It is true +that their sympathies are not yet wide enough to allow them to think of +others. Many an otherwise excellent Fijian will, with a clear +conscience, deceive and cheat a foreigner; if his pig strays, he will +pierce its eyes with thorns, or throw quicklime into them to blind the +animal and prevent it from straying again; a poor half-witted woman who +annoys her neighbours by wandering into their houses has the soles of +her feet scored with sharp knives to keep her at home. Sympathy has had +no time to develop, and consequently his sentiments are confined within +the limits of his own joint family, and do not reach up to the foreigner +or down to the lower animals. + +In most respects the Fijian is some centuries behind us and it is +unreasonable to expect him to leap the gap at a single bound; yet it is +nevertheless unnecessary that he should follow the tortuous road by +which we arrived unguided at our present state of development. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE AGE OF MYTH + + +Of all inhabited countries in the world Fiji is probably the poorest in +history. No European, who left a record behind him, had intercourse with +the natives until 1810, and the historical traditions of the natives +themselves scarcely carry back their history beyond the middle of the +eighteenth century. While the chiefs of the Marquesas and Hawaii are +said to recall the names of their ancestors for seventy-three +generations,[1] the chiefs of Mbau cannot give the name of any of their +predecessors before Nailatikau, who reigned during the last quarter of +the eighteenth century, and the earliest name recalled by other tribes +of longer memory is only the sixth generation from the reigning chief. +It is not that the Fijians were less prone than other islanders to +embody their tribal history in traditional poetry, but that the +political _morcellement_ of the tribal units left the poets nothing to +record. A century ago Mbau was nothing but a petty fortified village in +the interior, governed by chiefs whose names were unknown three miles +from its public square. The chiefs of Rewa were equally obscure, and the +songs which celebrated their petty achievements died with the generation +that sang them. When the great wave of unrest in the interior of +Vitilevu sent them forth to fight their way to a new home on the coast, +and to found confederations of the tribes they had subdued, their +history was born; and at its birth died the old traditions of the tribes +they conquered, for vassals in Fiji have nothing to do with memories of +departed greatness. + +[Pageheader: THE BOND OF _TAUVU_] + +Besides the historical _meke_ there remain a few mythological sagas +which refer to a far older period. With ancestor-worshippers like the +Fijians the founders of their race attain immortality denied to their +descendants, who at the most become demi-gods enjoying a place in +mythology only as long as their deeds on earth are remembered. The +founders of the Fijian race are known as _Kalou-Vu_--Gods of Origin--and +the sagas that relate their exploits, overlaid as they are with glosses +by the poets, undoubtedly contain the germ of traditional history of a +very ancient date. The historical outline of the Nakauvandra sagas is +supported by another class of evidence, namely the _tauvu_. + +The word _tauvu_ means literally "Sprung from the same root," or "of +common origin." It is applied to two or more tribes who may live in +different islands, speak different dialects, and have, in short, nothing +in common but their god. They do not necessarily intermarry; they may +have held no intercourse for generations; yet, though each may have +forgotten the names of its chiefs three generations back, the site of +its ancient home, and the traditions of its migrations, it never forgets +the tribe with which it is _tauvu_. Members of that tribe may run riot +in its village, slaughter its animals, and ravage its plantations, while +it sits smiling by; for the spoilers are its brothers, worshippers of +its common ancestor, and are entitled in the fullest sense to the +"freedom of the city." In several instances I have traced back the bond +of tauvu to its origin, the marriage of the sister of some high chief +with the head of a distant clan. Her rank was so transcendent that she +brought into her husband's family a measure of the godhead of her +ancestors, and her descendants have thenceforth reverenced her +forefathers in preference to those of her husband. But in the majority +of cases--and it is the exception to find a clan which is not tauvu to +some other--the bond is too remote for tradition to have preserved its +origin, and in these the two clans were probably offshoots from the same +stock. Perhaps there was a quarrel between brothers, and one of them was +driven out with his family to find another home; or a young swarm from +an overcrowded hive may have crossed the water to seek wider planting +lands for their support, as the first Aryan emigrants burst through the +barriers of their cradle-land and overran Europe. Had the Aryans been +ancestor-worshippers Rome would have been _tauvu_ with Athens, and the +descendants of the youths driven forth in the Ver Sacrum _tauvu_ with +Rome. + +The general tendency of the bonds of _tauvu_ in the western portion of +the group is to confirm the sagas of Nakauvandra in suggesting that the +cradle-land of the Fijians was the north-western corner of Vitilevu, +whence the tide of emigration set northward to Mbua, eastward along the +Tailevu coast, and south-eastward down the Wainimbuka branch of the Rewa +river. Besides the saga of Turukawa, printed in another chapter, there +are fragments of a still earlier poem relating the first arrival of the +_Kalou-Vu_ in a great canoe, the _Kaunitoni_, tempest-driven from a land +in the far West. The fragmentary saga of the _Kaunitoni_ must be +accepted with caution, since it was committed to writing so late as +1891, when educated Fijians were already aware that Europeans were +seeking evidence of their arrival in the group. + +But there is proof enough of the western origin of the Fijians in the +fact that they are the eastern outpost of the Melanesian race and +language, that their blest abode of spirits lies beyond the setting sun, +and that the Thombo-thombo, or Jumping-off-places of the Fijian shades, +all point westward; there is proof enough of the Nakauvandra range being +their cradle-land in the belief that the shades of the people of the +Rewa delta must repair to Nakauvandra as the first stage in their last +sad journey. + +[Pageheader: FIJI PEOPLED FROM THE WEST] + +The following is a translation of an ingenious commentary upon these +fragments, written by Ilai Moto-ni-thothoka (Eli Stabbing-spear)--- + + "Long ago in a land in the far West there were three great chiefs, + Lutu-na-sombasomba, Ndengei, and Wai-thala-na-vanua; of these + Lutu-na-sombasomba was the greatest. And they took counsel together + to build a vessel in which they might set sail with their wives, + their children, their servants, and their dependants, to seek some + distant land where haply they might find a good country where they + might abide. So they sent a messenger to a chief named Rokola + bidding him build them a vessel. And Rokola told his clan, who were + the carpenter clan, the orders of the chiefs, and the carpenters + built a vessel and called it the _Kaunitoni_. And when the vessel + was made ready, they prepared their provisions and their freight, + and went on board. Now there were many other families that made + ready their vessels to accompany them. In the _Kaunitoni_ went + Lutu-na-sombasomba and his wife and five children, together with + his chest of stone in which were stored many things--his patterns + of work (_Vola-sui-ni-thakathaka_) and his inscribed words, and + many other inscriptions.[2] And with them went Ndengei and + Wai-thala-na-vanua and other families, a great company of men and + women. And the chief Rokola went also with his family. After + sailing many days they came to a land which seemed pleasant to many + of them, and these beached their vessels, and abode there. But the + remainder kept on their course. Perhaps this land at which the + others stayed was New Guinea. And as they sailed on, lo! another + land was sighted, and some of them, being eager to land there, + beached their vessels and occupied it. Perhaps this land was New + Britain. And they came upon other lands at which some tarried until + there was left only the _Kaunitoni_ and a few other vessels. And + these launched forth into the boundless ocean where they found no + land. And the sky grew dark, so that the vessels parted company, + for tempestuous weather was upon them. It was no common storm, but + a great cyclone that struck them, for it was the wind called + _Vuaroro_ or _Ravu-i-ra_ (west-north west). And the blast struck + the _Kaunitoni_, so that they were sick with terror, and could + think of nothing but that they must die. + + "In the blackness of the storm the vessels were scattered, and the + _Kaunitoni_ drifted ever eastward down the path of the storm. And + as the hurricane continued for thirty days, and the vessel ran + before the wind without finding any land, Lutu-na-sombasomba's + chest of inscriptions fell overboard into the sea. But on the + thirtieth night the keel of the vessel struck upon a rock, and she + lay fast, and immediately the storm abated. Then they saw land + before them, and knew that they were saved. And in the morning they + went ashore and built shelters there: therefore the place was + called _Vunda_ (_Vu-nda_--lit. 'Our Origin'), because it was the + first village that they built, and they rejoiced that they were + saved from the hurricane that had beset them. + + "This is the _meke_ of the cyclone that struck them-- + + "'Rai thake ko Ndaunivosavosa, + Na vua ni thagi lamba sa toka, + Na kena ua ma mbutu kosakosa + Na _Kaunitoni_ ka sa vondoka, + Na kena ua ma rombalaka toka, + Tangi mate ko Lutunasombasomba, + Nonku kawa era na vakaloloma, + Nonku kato vatu ka mai tasova, + Mai lutu kina na nonkui vola, + Da la' ki moce ki ndaveta ni kamboa.' + + "'Lutunasombasomba gazed afar, + Behind him gathered the scud of the hurricane + The mighty rollers battered him, + And beat upon the _Kaunitoni_, + The mighty rollers burst over him, + Lutunasombasomba cried a bitter cry, + Alas! Alas! for my descendants, + My chest of stone is overset, + My inscriptions (_vola_) have fallen out of it, + Let us go and sleep in the harbour of the Kamboa (a fish).' + + "And all the time they tarried at Vunda, the chief + Lutu-na-sombasomba could not rest for thinking of his inscriptions + that had been lost in the sea. And he sent some of his young men to + go and seek them,[3] for he reflected that his descendants would + grow up ignorant if these inscriptions were indeed lost to them. So + the young men set out with their sail close hauled, and as they + voyaged they were astonished at the sight of islands right in their + course to the westward, and disputed among themselves, some + affirming these to be the islands at which some of their company + had landed before the hurricane struck them, while others cried, + 'Impossible; they were far away.' So they called the islands Yasa + yawa[4] (Yasawa). Long did they scull the vessel up and down the + sea seeking the lost inscriptions, but finding them not. And then + he who commanded the _Kaunitoni_, and was named Wankambalambala + (Tree-fern-canoe), spoke, and said that they should return to Vunda + and tell their Lord, Lutu-na-sombasomba, that his inscriptions + could not be found. For they were wearied with rowing up and down, + and the wind had failed them. Then one of them called + Mbekanitanganga climbed the mast to look for the ripple of the + wind, and saw a puff of wind coming up from the west, and when this + reached them Wankambalambala, the sailor, ordered the great sail to + be hoisted and they set their course for Vunda. But they knew not + where Vunda lay, and they beached the vessel at an island, and + landed upon it, wondering at the fertility of the place, and they + said 'Let us stay here awhile (tiko manda la eke) and presently we + will seek the land where Lutu-na-sombasomba is, to tell him that we + cannot find the inscriptions we were sent to seek.' But + Wankambalambala said that they should go first, and afterwards + return to live on the island 'Manda-la-eke.' So they composed a + song telling how they found Manda-la-eke, and since the name was + too long for the rhythm of a song they shortened it to Malake to + suit the rhythm, as they also shortened the name Yasa yawa to + Yasawa. This is the song they made-- + + "'Rai vosa ko Lutunasobasoba, + I Ragone, dou vakarau toka, + Na _Kaunitoni_ mo dou tavotha, + Mo nou yara manda nai vola, + Nodratou latha ratou thokota, + Ra tathiri ni lutu ni iloa, + Sokosokoni mbongi ma siga vaka, + Sa siri ko Natu Yasawa, + E ruru na thangi ka thiri na wanka + Mai kamba ko Mbeka ni tayanga + Me sa la' ki lewa thangi toka manda, + Yau koto na nde ni thangi thawa, + Mbula koto mai na thangi raya, + Ninkai vosa ko Wankambalambala, + Mai mua ki vanua nonda wanka, + Latha levu era vakarewataka, + Rai ki liu na nkoluvaka, + Ka kuvu tiko na muai manda, + Ucui Malake ka kombuata, + Uru ki vanua me ra thambe sara, + Yanuyanu ka ra volita manda, + Sa nkai ndua na koro vinaka, + Era siro sombu ki matasawa, + Na tokalau ka yau talatala, + Sa thangi tamba na soko ki raya, + Ka ndromu na singa e vakana nawa.' + + "'Then Lutunasombasomba spoke, + Make ready boys, + Haul down the _Kaunitoni_, + And go and seek the inscriptions, + Bend our sails to the yards, + They drifted hither and thither till all landmarks were lost, + The Yasawa group is seen on the horizon + The breeze dies away; the vessel is becalmed, + Bekanitanganga climbs aloft, + To sit and look for signs of wind. + The flying wrack of the hurricane is at hand, + A breeze from the west is freshening + Then speaks Wankambalambala + Set our course towards the land, + They hoist the great sail, + We shout as we look ahead, + The spray shoots up from our prow, + We make the cape of Malake + And lower the sail to go ashore, + They make the circuit of the island, + This is indeed a pleasant land, + They go down to the landing-place, + This wind is in exchange for the south-east wind, + A wind permitting no westward voyage, + The sun sets in the ocean gulf. + + And they set out from Malake and sculled[5] their vessel to the + mainland; and there they met Ndengei standing on the shore, having + come to explore the country. Him they told of their discovery of a + very fair island. And they asked him of Vunda, and were directed + towards the west. So Ndengei came on board and they coasted + westwards to Vunda. And when they told Lutu-na-sombasomba how his + inscriptions were lost for ever, he was sore grieved, and from this + time his body began to be infirm because his heart was grieved for + his lost inscriptions. + + [Pageheader: THE FIRST SETTLEMENT] + + "And when Ndengei saw that Lutu-na-sombasomba grew infirm he + commanded that they should abandon Vunda, and remove to a fair land + that he had seen, lest the old chief should die and never see it. + So he bade the chief Rokola to build other canoes to be tenders to + the _Kaunitoni_ in the eastward voyage. And as soon as all these + canoes were built they poled them along the coast, and beached them + opposite the land they wished for, and their stuff they carried up + into the hills, and the first house they built was for + Lutu-na-sombasomba. The posts and the beams of this house were all + of pandanus trunks. In this house, therefore, abode their chief, + and he called the whole land Nakauvandra (Pandanus Tree) to be a + memorial of the first house built there which was built of pandanus + trunks. And therefore, the country is called Nakauvandra even to + this day." + + +Although, as I have said, this commentary is to be received with +caution, there can be no doubt that a few years ago there were still to +be found on the north-east coast of Vitilevu fragmentary traditions of a +voyage to Fiji undertaken by the personages mentioned in the poem, and +the name, Vunda, which is still attached to the north-western corner of +Vitilevu certainly indicates that it was the earliest settlement of some +party of immigrants. It would, indeed, be strange if the westerly winds, +that sometimes blow steadily for days together during the summer months, +had not brought castaway canoes to a group of islands which cover five +degrees of longitude. Instead of one arrival there must have been +several, and whether Ndengei came in the first or a later company is not +important. The subsequent superiority of Ndengei as a _Kalou-Vu_ over +his chief Lutu-na-sombasomba may be accounted for by his heroic exploits +in the great civil war that divided Nakauvandra as related in the epic +of Nakavandra which is given in another chapter. + + * * * * * + +[Pageheader: ANTIQUITY OF THE FIJIANS] + +In attempting to fix a date for the first Melanesian settlement in Fiji +the widest field lies open to the lover of speculation, for it is +unlikely that when a few years have passed, and the last guardians of +tradition have made way for young Fiji, any fresh evidence will come to +light. The only monuments of a past age are rude earthworks in the form +of moats and house foundations, a few stone enclosures known as _nanga_, +no older than the period covered by tradition, and a stone cairn or two +erected by the worshippers of the _luve-ni-wai_. The Melanesians buried +their dead in their own houses if they were chiefs, leaving the house to +fall to ruin over them; in the open if they were commoners, or in +limestone caves wherever there were to be found, and there is no trace +of tombs or hewn stone such as are found in Tonga and other islands +colonized by Polynesians. Until the stalagmitic floors of the limestone +caves have been examined systematically it is not safe to say that +Paleolithic Man never inhabited the islands, but it is at least very +unlikely. The earliest trace of human occupation yet discovered is a +polished hatchet found in alluvial deposit on the bank of the River Mba +about twelve feet below the surface, during excavations carried out in +the erection of a sugar mill; but in a river subject to heavy annual +floods, during which great quantities of soil are brought down from the +hills, the depth is no proof of age. In the island of Waya (Yasawa) a +_cache_ of polished hatchets was discovered in 1891. Three of these were +gouge-shaped for cutting away the wood on the inside of canoes or drums, +and of elaborate finish, but there was nothing to show that they were of +ancient date. + +On the other hand, if the islands were peopled from a single immigration +as native traditions seem to show, or even by successive arrivals of +castaway canoes, many centuries would be required to raise the +population to a total of 200,000. The widespread bond of _tauvu_ between +tribes speaking different dialects, and already showing divergence of +type as in the cases of Nayau and Notho, and Mbau and Malake, sets back +the original immigration many generations. There is nothing in Fijian +tradition corresponding to Mr. Fornander's discovery in Hawaiian myth of +a culture among the early immigrants superior to their condition when +Europeans first came among them. Mr. Fornander believes that the +Polynesians were acquainted with metals in their old home and navigated +in large vessels built of planks. Their degeneracy was the natural +result of their new surroundings, for if we were to take a number of +European craftsmen, carpenters, smiths and fitters, and transport them +with their families to an island destitute of metals, where they would +be cut off from renewing their tools when worn out, we should find them +in the second generation with nothing left of their former culture but +the tradition, and perhaps the name of the metals their fathers used. +This was the case with the Hawaiians. The tradition survived, and they +had a name for the iron tools which they saw in the hands of their +Europeans visitors. But the Fijians had no name for metal. Their first +iron tools were brought to them by the Tongans, and they adopted the +Tongan name, with the prefix of _Ka_, "thing--"_Ka-ukamea_ (Kaukamea), +"iron thing," just as their name for Europeans--_Vavalangi_--was taken +from the Tongans from whom they first learned of the existence of the +white race. + +[Pageheader: FORNANDER'S THEORY] + +It is impossible to discuss the age of the Melanesian settlement in Fiji +without considering the traditional history of the Polynesians, and it +is with real regret that I am driven to disagree with the bold +conclusions of the principal authority on Polynesian history--Mr. +Abraham Fornander.[6] The true value of his book lies in the +preservation of the ancient genealogies and songs of the Hawaiians, +which would otherwise have died with the generation of bards who chanted +them, and in its ingenious reconstruction of the native history of +Hawaii. The industry and research which he has brought to bear upon the +kinship of the Polynesians with the Cushite races of the old world have +resulted in little more than the collection of a mass of undigested +evidence. There is no close chain of deduction to bind the whole, and +nothing stands out from the confusion except the undoubted fact that the +Polynesians are an offshoot from one of the ancient Asiatic races, and +that they reached their present widely scattered abodes by way of the +Malay Archipelago. If Mr. Fornander had not insisted upon a prolonged +sojourn (_sejour_ he prefers to call it) in Fiji before they colonized +the eastern groups, as the principal link in his chain of argument, it +would not be necessary to review his opinions here; and, so high a +respect is due to his knowledge of the Hawaiian myths and so wasteful of +energy is controversy between two workers in the same field, that I +should allow his assertions to pass unnoticed but for the fact that they +undermine the very foundations of Fijian history and ethnology. As it is +I shall confine my criticism to the portion of his argument based upon +Fiji, and leave the rest of his work to be reviewed by Polynesian +ethnologists. Fornander's temptation lay in knowing Hawaii thoroughly, +the other Polynesian groups imperfectly, and Fiji not at all. Making his +deduction from Hawaii, he sought his proofs from the others by +guesswork. The true history of a native race can never be written by one +who is not thoroughly soaked in the traditions and language of the +people, and since no one man can be an authority upon more than one +branch of a people so widely scattered as the Polynesians, a perfect +treatise will not be written until Fornanders shall be found +contemporary in Tonga, Samoa, New Zealand, Tahiti, the Marquesas, +Rarotonga, Futuna, Wallis, and Hawaii, and collaboration arranged +between them. To such a task the Polynesian Society in Wellington might +well devote its energies. + +Fornander's conclusions may be summarized as follows-- + + (1) That the Polynesians are of pre-Vedic Aryan descent. + + (2) That at from a.d. 150-250 they "left the Asiatic Archipelago + and entered the Pacific, _establishing themselves in the Fiji + Group_, and thence spreading to the Samoan, Tonga, and other groups + eastward and northward." + + (3) That about the fifth century a.d. Hawaii was settled by + Polynesians who reached the group by a chain of islands that have + since disappeared, and were isolated there for some six centuries. + + (4) That in the eleventh century began a period of unrest, during + which there was frequent intercourse between the Marquesas, + Society, Samoan and Hawaiian peoples for five or six generations. + +I quote the fourth conclusion because I believe that it has a bearing +upon the Polynesian strain of blood which we find in the eastern portion +of the Fiji islands. + +Now, Fornander's route for the Polynesians rests upon the assumption +that they sojourned for more than three centuries in Fiji after the +country had been settled by Melanesians, and that they were driven out +bag and baggage by the Melanesians with whom they left behind nothing +but their mythology and customs. If this is true the first arrival of +the Melanesians in Fiji is set back beyond our era; if it is false, +Fornander's theory falls to the ground. He bases his belief not upon any +indisputable references to Fiji in Polynesian traditions, but upon "the +number of Polynesian names by which these islands and places in them are +called, even now, by their Papuan inhabitants,"[7] and upon the +Polynesian words and folklore to be found incorporated in the language +and Mythology of Fiji.[8] Upon this he estimates the Polynesian sojourn +in Fiji to be thirteen generations, and says that these alleged facts +"argue a permanence of residence that cannot well be disputed."[9] And +so they would if they were true, but, unhappily for his argument, they +are not. He conjectures the Polynesian's landing-place to have been in +the western portion of Vitilevu, where, with one exception, the local +and tribal names are pure Melanesian, and this exception--the tribe of +_Noikoro_ in the centre of the inland district--has a well-preserved +tradition of emigration from the south-eastern coast of the island. +Moreover, the dialects of Western Vitilevu are Melanesian, with less +infusion of Polynesian words than any of the languages lying eastward of +them. And lastly, it is impossible to believe that so momentous an event +as the struggle between the two races, and the final expulsion of one of +them, would have left no trace behind it in the traditions of the +victors, when so insignificant an event as the arrival of two castaways, +the missionaries of the Polynesian cult of the _Malae_ is recorded in +detail. Had Fornander had the talent for sifting evidence he held the +clue in his hand when he wrote, "The large infusion of vocables in the +Fijian language, and the mixture of the two races, _especially in the +south-eastern part of the group_, indicate a protracted _sejour_, and an +intercourse of peace as well as of war," for it is in this very fact +that the Polynesian infusion is strongest on the eastern margin of the +group, and wanes with every mile we travel westward, until it is lost +altogether, that the real truth lies. It is this. The Melanesians landed +on the north-western shore of Vitilevu, and thence spread eastward +throughout their own group. At the islands of the Lau group they met a +check in the 400 miles of open ocean that lay beyond, swept by the +contrary wind of the south-east trades. Meanwhile the Polynesians, +having long colonized the eastern groups, perhaps by way of Micronesia +or Futuna or even by the north-eastern islands of the Fiji group, but +certainly not by Great Fiji, entered on their period of navigation which +Fornander assigns, I believe erroneously, to the eleventh century, were +carried westward by the south-east trades, by single canoes whose male +castaways were generally killed and eaten, but whose females were taken +to wife by the chiefs. The superior attractions of their lighter +coloured progeny led to the women of the mixed race being in request as +wives among the darker Melanesians to the west. Many such castaway +colonies are referred to in Tongan tradition. Early in the sixteenth +century King Kauulu-fonua pursued the murderers of his father through +the islands of the Samoan group to Futuna in vessels more seaworthy than +the Tongiaki of Cook's day.[10] Kau Moala, the navigator, voyaged to +Fiji at the close of the eighteenth century,[11] when we learn that the +_grand tour_ for a Tongan gentleman included a campaign in Fiji. + +[Pageheader: POLYNESIAN CASTAWAYS] + +The people of Ongtong Java ascribe their origin to a Tongan castaway +canoe; the names of the Tongan ancestors of the Pylstaart Islanders +(since removed to Eua in Tonga) are recorded, though their shipwreck is +two centuries old. The people of the reef islands of the Swallow group, +though purely Melanesian in everything but their tongue, have traditions +of castaways who were influential enough to impress their language, but +not their blood upon their entertainers, just as the Aryan immigrants +impressed their customs, folklore and language upon the Neolithic +peoples they found in Europe.[12] The natives of Rennell I. and Bellona +I. in the Solomons have preserved the physical characteristics of +Polynesians. It is far more probable that Nea and Lifu in the Loyalty +Islands, and Numea (Noumea) in New Caledonia received their Polynesian +names from such chance settlement, than that they are, as Fornander +would have it, echoes of permanent colonies which passed away more than +fifteen centuries ago. Turning to Fiji itself we find innumerable +traditions of such Polynesian visitors, though never a trace of the far +more important event of a Polynesian occupation. The chief family of +Nandronga traces its descent from a single Polynesian castaway who was +washed up by the sea about 1750. The chief of Viwa three generations ago +took to wife a Tongan girl, the only survivor of a murdered crew. The +chiefs of Thakaundrove claim relationship with the kings of Tonga +through an ancestress of that family who was cast away early in the +eighteenth century and saved by clinging to the deck-house when all her +companions perished.[13] + +These are only a few out of a series of Polynesian immigrations that may +be numbered by hundreds, of which a tithe would suffice to account for +the Polynesian language and blood to be found in Fiji. A stepping-stone +in Fiji was necessary to Fornander's theory of Polynesian migrations, +and if he had not been blinded by his desire to find it, he would have +seen the obvious import of his declaration that in the eleventh century +the Polynesians had a _renaissance_ of navigation. Such a period of +unrest, of distant voyages undertaken with no compass but the stars, in +clumsy craft, on seas swept continually by a south-east wind, must have +resulted in numerous shipwrecks on the eastern shores of islands lying +to the westward. + +His work contains but three appeals to Fijian folklore, which are, +besides, the only evidence he stops to specify. "In the Fijian group, +where much of ancient Polynesian lore, now forgotten elsewhere, is still +retained, the god 'Ndengei,' according to some traditions, is +represented with the head and part of the body of a serpent, the rest of +his form being of stone." This he regards as a trace of serpent-worship, +a "peculiarly Cushite out-growth of religious ideas." If this be +evidence of Polynesian kinship, then were the ancient +serpent-worshippers of Kentucky also Polynesian, together with a host +of other races, who, being human, evolved the religious ideas common to +humanity. Moreover, the serpent nature of Ndengei is a modern gloss +added by the poets of Raki-raki after the Ancestor-god had been +consigned to the gloomy cavern of Nakauvandra, for to the Fijian of the +west every cave has a monstrous eel or serpent lurking in its recesses, +and issuing to glut its maw upon unwary mortals who venture too near. + +[Pageheader: TRADITION OF A DELUGE] + +Fornander's second quotation from folklore is designed to prove no less +than a Polynesian reminiscence of the Hebrew legend of the building of +Babel, forgotten by the Polynesians, but "stowed away" by them in the +memory of their former hosts, the Fijians. Thomas Williams is +responsible for this tradition of a vast tower erected on a great mound +in Nasavusavu Bay, Vanualevu, which collapsed, scattering the builders +to the four winds. No trace of this tradition is now to be found, and +one cannot but remember that Williams drew his information from his +converts, to whom he was teaching that the Mosaic books related the +genesis of their own race, and who knew that a confirmation drawn from +their own traditions would be highly comforting to their missionary. But +though there was no great mound to point to, and the existence of any +such tradition may be doubted, to what, even if true, does it amount? To +a coincidence such as is to be found in many primitive religions, or, if +you will, to a suggestion that the Fijians are an offshoot of the +Semitic stock, but scarcely to evidence that the Polynesians, who have +no tradition of the kind, bequeathed it to the Fijians. + +Fornander's third link is the tradition of the Deluge which is found in +the folklore of both races. This, as might be expected, is quite +sufficient evidence for him, not only of a Polynesian sojourn in Fiji, +but of Polynesian descent from the "Cushite-pre-Joklanite Arabs," who, +it is true, have no such traditions themselves, as far as we know, but +certainly ought to have been at least as well favoured in this respect +as the Semites and Aryans.[14] This is not the place to discuss the +Deluge traditions. It is enough to say here that every island in the +cyclone-belt is subject to destructive floods, that every district in +Fiji has its own distinct tradition, and that in the provinces of Rewa +and Mbua floods that are known to have occurred within the last 125 +years have already been canonized in the realm of myth. If the Fijian +and Polynesian heroes had sent forth a dove, which was the distinctive +feature in both the Babylonian and Hebrew accounts, owing to the custom +of the Semitic navigators carrying doves as part of their necessary +equipment to ascertain the proximity of land, then something might be +said for the traditions as evidence. But to quote so universal a human +tradition as the Deluge-myths as evidence of intercourse or common +origin is as rational as to draw such deductions from the belief in +malevolent deities. + +[Pageheader: DATES CALCULATED FROM GENEALOGIES] + +Now, although Fornander's chronology has no direct bearing upon the date +of the Melanesian arrival if, as I have shown, the Polynesians had no +settlement in the group, the method of calculating dates should be the +same for both races. Our only guide for events that happened in +Polynesia before Tasman's voyage, 1642, is in the natives' genealogies, +calculating by generations. They contain two obvious tendencies to +error. It was very rare for a man of consequence to carry the same name +throughout his career. Adoption, any notable exploit, or succession to a +title were constant excuses for such changes, and it is quite possible +that in the older genealogies the same hero is recorded twice under +different names. Moreover, it is by no means certain that the names were +not those of the reigning chiefs, and seeing that the succession often +went to the next brother when the son was not of an age to wield the +power, it is highly doubtful whether every name represented a +generation. I know one genealogy where, in the portion relating to +historical times, one of the recorded names was younger brother to the +chief who precedes him.[15] This may account for the great diversity of +readings found in the same genealogy, one version being shorter than +another. On the other hand, there is the tendency to omit the names of +remote personages whose short reign or insignificant character have +failed to stamp themselves on the memory of posterity. There is thus a +double tendency to error--on the one side to multiplication of +generations, and on the other to curtailment by omissions. But even +supposing that Fornander's genealogies are correct, it is difficult to +see how he could arrive at an approximate date without showing more +discrimination in fixing the length of a generation. All his dates are +calculated upon a generation of _thirty years_, because that is the +average length generally assigned in Europe. But Polynesia is not +Europe, and generations in Polynesia, where men marry much earlier, are +less than thirty years, as he might have discovered by taking the +average in historical times. This I have done both in Tonga and Fiji, +with the result that the generations in both races average from +twenty-five to twenty-seven years. The Tui Tonga family is a very fair +guide, because the office went invariably from father to son, and the +holder was so sacred that he was never cut off by a violent death. The +generations of this family since 1643 average twenty-seven years, while +those of the temporal sovereign, the Tui Kanakubola who were often the +victims of rebellion, average only twenty years apiece. The history of +Hawaii was so bloodstained, that it is unlikely that Hawaiian +generations averaged more than twenty-five. Five years in a generation +makes a vast difference, for the date given by Fornander for the +Polynesians' arrival in the Pacific is set forward from the fifth to the +seventh century, and for their arrival in Hawaii from the eleventh to +the thirteenth. + +Abraham Fornander has done inestimable service to future students of +Oceanic ethnology by preserving for their use songs and traditions that +would otherwise have passed into oblivion, but he will be used as a +storehouse of data rather than as an exponent of history, and I feel +that I am best serving his reputation by cutting away the false +deductions that would have tainted the sound and wholesome facts which +form the larger portion of his work. I cannot leave him without wishing +that he had made better use of Bancroft's saying, which he printed as +his text on the title-page, "It is now a recognized principle in +philosophy that no religious belief, however crude, nor any historical +traditions, however absurd, can be held by the majority of a people for +any considerable time as true, without having in the beginning some +foundation in fact." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: _The Polynesian Race_, by A. Fornander, Vol. i, p. 193.] + +[Footnote 2: We detect here a flavour of the commentator's superior +education.] + +[Footnote 3: A somewhat futile proceeding unless they were of wood.] + +[Footnote 4: Distant land] + +[Footnote 5: Fijian canoes are sculled with long oars worked +perpendicularly in a rowlock formed by the cross-ties of the outrigger, +or of the two hulls in a twin canoe. With powerful scullers a speed of +three miles an hour is attained in a dead calm.] + +[Footnote 6: _The Polynesian Race, Its Origin and Migrations._ London, +1880.] + +[Footnote 7: _The Polynesian Race, Its Origin and Migrations_, Vol. i, +p. 33.] + +[Footnote 8: _Ibid._, Vol. i, p. 167.] + +[Footnote 9: _Ibid._, Vol. i, p. 33.] + +[Footnote 10: See my _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p. 308.] + +[Footnote 11: Mariner's _Tonga_.] + +[Footnote 12: _The Melanesians_, Codrington.] + +[Footnote 13: Tukuaho, Premier of Tonga, and descendant of the Tui Tonga +and Tui Haatakalaua families, was staying with me at Auckland, N.Z., +when Ratu Lala, Tui Thakau, of Fiji, arrived in the town. Both chiefs +asked me to bring about a meeting on the ground of their relationship. +Though each could speak the language of the other their shyness led them +to insist that I should interpret the conversation, which was carried on +in Fijian and Tongan. After the usual formalities the two chiefs spoke +of the adventures of their Tongan princess through whom they were +related, and the Tongan and Fijian versions of the tradition were +substantially identical.] + +[Footnote 14: "Unfortunately we have no well-preserved account of the +Flood from the Cushite-Arabian quarter; but I am inclined to consider +the Polynesian version as originally representing the early traditions +on this subject among the Cushite-pre-Joklanite Arabs."--_The Polynesian +Race, Its Origin and Migrations._ London, 1880, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 15: The Vunivalu geneology of Mbau.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE AGE OF HISTORY + + +Of the centuries that lie between the age of myth and the age of history +there are but the feeblest echoes. From the ethnology of the people of +to-day we may infer that the stream of immigration swept down the +northern coast of Vitilevu, and, radiating from Rakiraki, crossed the +mountain range, and wandered down the two rivers, Rewa and Singatoka, +until it reached the southern coast and peopled Serua and Namosi. +Another stream must have crossed the strait to Mbua on Vanualevu, and +spread eastward. Melanesian blood can be traced even in the Lau +sub-group, but before any permanent settlement was made there Polynesian +castaways, driven westward by the prevailing wind, must have begun to +arrive. At the dawn of history, about 1750, Vitilevu was almost purely +Melanesian, but the Lau and Lomaiviti islands, Taveuni, Vanualevu, and +Kandavu were peopled by half-breeds between Melanesian and Polynesian, +the Polynesian strain waxing stronger with every mile from west to east. + +The peopling of the waste lands was accelerated by war. There is +scarcely a tribe that does not claim to have migrated from another +place, sometimes from parts relatively remote from its present locality, +and if it were worth the labour, the history of the migrations of each +of them might even now be compiled, partly from its own traditions, +partly from the tie of _tauvu_ (common Ancestor-gods) with other tribes +distantly related to it. But, as it would be merely the history of a few +fugitives from the sack of a village, driven out to find asylum in a +waste valley, and founding in it a joint family which lived to grow +into a tribe, such an inquiry would be barren and profitless. + +The traditions of Tongan immigration are too numerous to be set down +here. From 1790, if not earlier, an expedition to Fiji was an annual +occurrence. The most important was the arrival of the Tui Tonga's canoe +in Taveuni, from which sprang the chief family of the Tui Thakau, and +the stranding of the two little old men who instituted the _Nanga_ Cult, +which recalls the rites of the Polynesian _Malae_. The chiefs of the +Nandronga and Viwa (Yasawa) also trace their descent from Tongan +castaways, and are very proud of the connection. + +The fact that traditionary history is so meagre is in itself an +indication that there were no powerful confederations before the +nineteenth century. The related tribes of Verata and Rewa in the south +and Thakaundrove in the north-east seem to have been the only powers +that wielded influence beyond their borders, but their intercourse with +other tribes must have been very restricted. In islands where male +castaways, having "salt water in their eyes," were killed and eaten, +there was little spirit for discovery and adventure. + +The imprint of the Tongan immigration is to be seen, not only in the +blood of the tribes with whom the immigrants mingled, but in their +mythology, for whereas the religion of the inland tribes is pure +ancestor-worship, that of the coast tribes is overlaid with a mythology +that is evidently derived from Polynesian sources. + +[Illustration: DESCENDANTS OF TONGAN IMMIGRANTS PERFORMING THE TONGAN +DANCE _LAKALAKA_.] + +Early in the eighteenth century there seems to have been an upheaval +among the inland tribes of Vitilevu which sent forth a stream of +emigrants to the coast, whether as fugitives, or as voluntary exiles in +search of new lands, there is no tradition to show. This event was +destined to have a tremendous influence upon the political destiny of +the islands, for among the emigrants was the tribe of Mbau, sturdy +mountain warriors, still bearing in their physiognomy and dark +complexion the proof of their Melanesian blood and their late arrival in +the sphere of Polynesian influence. This tribe, humble as it was in its +origin, was destined, partly through chance, partly by its genius for +intrigue, to win its way within a century to the foremost position in +the group. + +[Pageheader: THE RISE OF MBAU] + +Rewa, descended from the earliest settlers on the delta of the great +river, could alone boast an ancient aristocracy and a complex social +organization which entitled it to be called a confederation. The rest of +the group was split up into tribes, little larger than joint families, +which treated all strangers as enemies, and held their lands at the +point of the spear. + +The Mbau people settled upon the coast about a mile from the islet now +called by their name, but then known as Mbutoni, which is connected with +the mainland by a coral reef fordable at high water. Upon the islet +lived two tribes of fishermen, named Levuka and Mbutoni, who were +supplied with vegetable food by the inland chiefs in return for fish. +Being subject to the Mbauans, they supplied them with a navy, for a +tribe lately descended from the mountains was distrustful of the sea. + +Wedged in between Verata on the north and Rewa on the south, Mbau was +continually at war with one or the other. Her pressing need was men, +"the men of Verata and Rewa" (to quote from the _meke_ that records her +history), and as she held her own, those who had grievances against her +powerful neighbours, broken tribes fleeing from their conquerors in the +hills, flocked to her for protection, and her needs were satisfied. But +her territory did not exceed ten square miles. + +About 1760, Nailatikau being Vunivalu, or secular king, the chiefs moved +from the mainland to the islet, which was known thenceforward as Mbau. +The fishermen had for some time been waxing insubordinate, and their +offences culminated in the eating of an enormous fish which ought, by +custom, to have been presented to their chiefs. They were expelled from +the island. The Levuka tribe fled to Lakemba, still retaining their +hereditary right to instal each successive Vunivalu in his office. The +Mbau chiefs scarped away the face of the island so as to form the +embankment upon which the present town is built. Nailatikau died about +1770, and was succeeded by his second son Mbanuve. During his reign the +fishermen of Lasakau from the island of Mbenka, and of Soso, from the +island of Kandavu, were employed in reclaiming more land from the sea, +and were allowed to settle on the island. The first intermarriage with +the Rewa chiefs dates from this period. The story goes that a Rewa +canoe, being hailed as she passed Mbau, replied that she was bound for +Verata for a princess to mate with the king of Rewa; that the crew was +induced to take a Mbau lady in her stead, and that a Rewa princess was +sent to Mbau in exchange. Thus the Mbau chiefs passed from being +_parvenus_ to a place in the aristocracy of their adopted country. + +As the date of the first arrival of Europeans, which was to have so +profound an influence upon the natives, is in dispute, it may be well to +mention the recorded voyages chronologically. + +Tasman, who sighted Vanua-mbalavu in 1643, did not communicate with the +natives. Cook, who had had information about the group from Fijians +settled in the Friendly Islands, discovered the outlying island of +Vatoa, the southeasterly limit of the group, and called it Turtle +Island, but bore away to the north-east. + +In April 1791, a few days after the famous Mutiny of the _Bounty_, Bligh +passed through the centre of the group in an open boat. His urgent need +of provisions would doubtless have impelled him to communicate with the +shore had he possessed firearms, and had he not just lost his +quartermaster in a treacherous attack made upon him by the natives of +Tofua. As it was he was chased along the northern coast of Vitilevu by +two sailing canoes, which only left him when he cleared the group by +Round Island, the most northerly of the Yasawa sub-group. + +[Pageheader: THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS] + +The first Europeans who had intercourse with the natives, so far as we +know, were the prize crew of the little schooner built of native timber +in Tahiti by the _Bounty_ mutineers in 1791. Having shut up the +mutineers in "Pandora's Box" (as the little roundhouse on the +quarter-deck of H.M.S. _Pandora_ was called) Captain Edwards victualled +and manned the mutineer's schooner as his tender, but he parted company +with her in a storm off Samoa an hour before a fresh supply of stores +and water was to be put on board of her. The island of Tofua had been +the appointed rendezvous in such a contingency, and the schooner duly +made the island, but, having waited in vain for the _Pandora_, her +commander, now desperate for want of provisions, made sail to the +northwest, and cast anchor at an island which was almost certainly +Matuku in the Lau sub-group of Fiji. Here she lay for six weeks with +boarding nettings up, but the natives appear to have treated their +strange visitors with friendliness and hospitality. After terrible +sufferings, from which the midshipman lost his reason, and numerous +encounters with the natives of the Solomons or the New Hebrides, this +handful of brave seamen made the Great Barrier Reef opposite Torres +Straits, which, for want of time to search for a passage, they boldly +rode at in a spring tide, and jumped, escaping without injury to their +little vessel. Mistaken for pirates by the Dutch authorities, they were +clapped into prison, where Captain Edwards found them after himself +suffering shipwreck on the Barrier Reef. + +Unfortunately neither Oliver, the gunner in command of the schooner, nor +any of his shipmates published the story of these adventures, and the +Record Office has been searched in vain for the log which they must have +handed over to Edwards; otherwise we might have had a very valuable +description of the Fijians a century ago. One or other of the native +poems describing the first arrival of European ships may refer to this +voyage. + +This visit, or perhaps an unrecorded one about the same year, 1791, had +a sinister influence upon Fijian history, for the evidence which will be +set forth in a later chapter points to it as the cause of the terrible +epidemic of _Lila_ (wasting sickness) which decimated the group. + +In the following year, 1792, Captain Bligh ran along the coast of +Taveuni in H.M.S. _Providence_, and was followed by canoes. + +On April 26, 1794, the "snow" _Arthur_ touched at the Yasawa Islands, +and was attacked by the natives. + +In 1802, or 1803, a vessel was wrecked on the Mbukatatanoa Reef, +subsequently named Argo, from a vessel of that name which was cast away +upon it. A number of Europeans wearing red caps over their ears and +smoking pipes were rescued by the natives of Oneata, and gunpowder seems +to have come into the hands of the natives, who used the powder for +blackening their faces and hair, and the ramrods of the muskets as +_monke_ (hair ornaments).[16] The tradition says that some of the white +men were killed and some taken to Lakemba by the Levuka tribe, the same +that had been expelled from Mbau, who happened to be at Oneata at the +time. We do not know what became of these survivors. Perhaps they were +slain as a propitiatory sacrifice to the god of pestilence, for from the +traditions of Mbau we learn that Mbanuve, the son of Nduru-thoko +(Nailatikau), the Vunivalu of the Mbau, died of a new disease introduced +by a foreign vessel, and was surnamed Mbale-i-vavalangi (He who died of +a foreign disease) in accordance with the custom of calling dead chiefs +after the place where they were slain, as Mbale-i-kasavu (He who fell at +Kasavu, etc.). On his death the Levuka people came from Lakemba to +instal his successor, Na-uli-you (New steer-oar), and they brought with +them a canvas tent, which was the first article of European manufacture +which the Mbau people had seen. We may fix this date with some +confidence. On the day of the installation there was a total eclipse of +the sun, the heavens were like blood, the stars came out, and the birds +went to roost at mid-day. While the dysentery was sweeping through the +islands the people were startled by the appearance of a great hairy star +with three tails. Now, the only total eclipse of the sun visible in Fiji +about this period was that which occurred at 9.20 a.m. on February 21, +1803. The total phase lasted 4.2 minutes, or within one minute of the +longest possible total phase. The comet is not so easy to identify. It +may have been Encke's comet of November 21, 1805, or the famous comet of +1807.[17] + +[Pageheader: THE FIRST BEACHCOMBERS] + +Shortly after Naulivou's accession, that is to say some time between +1803 and 1808, the first of the sandal-wood traders touched at Koro, +where some Mbau chiefs happened to be.[18] Joseph Waterhouse, the +missionary, was told that a white man, called "The Carpenter," and a +Tahitian deserted from this ship, and came to Mbau; that the white man +became inspired by Mbanuve, the late Vunivalu, and shivered and foamed +at the mouth like an inspired Fijian, and was, much to his own profit, +accepted by the Na-uli-you as a genuine priest. He dwelt in the house +erected over Mbanuve's grave, where he took to drinking kava to his own +undoing, but that before his death he told the natives that there was a +God superior to Mbanuve or any Fijian deity. I have never been able to +obtain any confirmation of this story: on the contrary I have been +assured that Charles Savage was the first European to land at Mbau, but +as the arrival of ships must have been not infrequent as soon as the +presence of sandal-wood had become known, and whalers were ranging the +Pacific, it is not improbable.[19] + +[Pageheader: MISCONDUCT OF THE WHITES] + +In 1808 there happened an event which left an enduring mark upon Fijian +history. The American brig _Eliza_, with 40,000 dollars from the River +Plate on board, was wrecked on the reef off Nairai. The majority of the +crew escaped in the ship's boats, and boarded another American vessel +which was lying off Mbua for sandal-wood; the rest took passage in +native canoes that happened to be at the island, one to Mbau and the +others to Verata, while the natives looted the wreck. The man who went +to Mbau was the Swede, Charles Savage, a man of much character and +resource. Having been refused leave to return to Nairai to search for a +musket, he pointed to a _nkata_ club, which bears a distant resemblance +to a gun, and bade them bring him from the wreck a thing of that shape, +and a cask of black powder like their own hair-pigment. The native +messengers were successful; the musket was found built into a yam-hut as +one of the rafters. Having demonstrated the uses of a musket before the +assembled chiefs, Savage took part in a reconnaissance towards Verata, +the state with which Mbau was then at war. He took with him a gourd +containing a letter addressed to the white men at Verata, bidding them +flee to him at Mbau, as it was the stronger state. The gourd was tied to +a stick just out of arrowshot, and as the canoe retired the Verata +people carried it into their fort, and in a few days later the other +whites joined him at Mbau. Savage with his musket now began to carry all +before him. He had a sort of arrow-proof sedan chair made of plaited +sinnet, in which he was carried into musket-shot of the enemy's +entrenchments, and from which he picked off the sentinels until the +garrison fled. Thus Mbau subdued all the coast villages as far as the +frontiers of Rewa. Savage cleverly kept his fellow-Europeans in the +background without arousing their enmity. He alone carried the musket; +he alone could speak the language fluently, and to him the other whites +thought that they owed the good-will of the natives. Two great ladies +were given him to wife, and the order of _Koroi_ was bestowed upon him +with the title of Koroi-na-vunivalu. Yet he stoutly refused to conform +to native customs, and so he kept the respect of the chiefs. Shortly +after the shipwreck the visits of ships became frequent, from India, +America, and Australia. They lay for many weeks off the Mbua coast, +while the crew cut and shipped sandal-wood; and the sailors, allured by +the story of the dollars lost in the _Eliza_, deserted, or were +discharged in considerable numbers. The dollars, though one or two were +found as lately as 1880, were scattered beyond recovery, and the sailors +drifted away, some to Mbau, and others to the villages on the +sandal-wood coast, where they took native wives, and adopted every +native custom except cannibalism.[20] The natives could give them +everything they wanted except tobacco and spirits, and to acquire these, +and to keep their position among their hosts, they would hire themselves +out to the masters of sandal-wood ships at a monthly wage of L4, paid +partly in knives, tools, beads, and firearms. William Mariner, who +visited Mbau in 1810 on board the _Favourite_, the vessel in which he +escaped from Tonga, found a number of whites there whose reputation both +for crimes, vices, and for quarrelling among themselves was so bad that +his informant, William Lee, was glad to make his escape from them. +During Savage's absence with the army they nearly brought annihilation +upon themselves. At a great presentation of food, the king's _mata_ +omitted to set aside a portion for the white men, and they, incensed at +what they took for an intentional insult, ran to the stack of food, and +slashed the yams with their knives. Now, this is an insult which no +Fijian will brook, and they were promptly attacked. They killed a number +of their assailants with their muskets, but when the hut in which they +had taken refuge was fired, they had to make for the sea. Three were +clubbed as they ran, but two, Graham and Buschart, swam out to sea, and +returned only when they were assured of the chief's protection. Thus did +they save their lives, the first to perish more miserably at Wailea, the +second to be the means of discovering the fate of de la Perouse. + +Savage could not afford to jeopardize his influence with the chiefs by +mixing in the quarrels of the other Europeans. With his two wives, who +were women of the highest rank, he lived apart from the others, in the +enjoyment of all the privileges of a native chief who was Koroi. But +when not engaged in fighting, he also spent the winter months on the +sandal-wood coast, working for the trading ships. Among the regular +arrivals was the East Indiaman _Hunter_ (Captain Robson), which, on her +third voyage to Fiji in 1813, carried Peter Dillon as mate. Dillon had +spent four months in the group in 1809, and had acquired a slight +knowledge of the language, besides winning the respect of the people for +his magnificent physique, and his Irish good humour. He had, as he tells +us, prepared a history of the islands from the date of their discovery +to 1825, but the manuscript has disappeared, and is not likely now to +come to light. Interesting as it may have been, its value as a history +would have suffered from the lively imagination of the writer. + +Captain Robson's methods of obtaining a cargo would not have commended +itself to the Aborigines' Protection Society. On anchoring at Wailea, he +was wont to enter into a contract with Vonasa, the chief, to aid him in +his wars in return for a full cargo. The enemy's forts were carried with +a two-pounder, and the bodies of the slain were then dismembered, +cooked, and eaten in Robson's presence. On this occasion the same policy +was pursued, but whether owing to the exhaustion of the forest or to the +indolence of the natives, a full cargo was not forthcoming. At the end +of four months, two hundred Mbauans, led by two of the king's brothers, +arrived in their canoes to take their white men back to Mbau, and with +their help Robson resolved to punish the faithlessness of the Wailea +people. The landing party fell into the ambush known in Fijian tactics +as _A Lawa_ (The Net), that is to say, they were drawn on by the feigned +flight of a party of the enemy until they were surrounded. Dillon, with +Savage and three others, gained the summit of a low hill, where they +kept their assailants at bay, while the bodies of their comrades were +cooked and eaten in their sight. Despairing of help from the ship, +Savage went down to try his powers of persuasion on the chiefs, but he +too was treacherously killed and laid in the oven before Dillon's eyes. +Their ammunition exhausted, the prospect of torture before them, the +three Europeans had resolved upon suicide, when by a fortunate accident +they were able to seize a heathen priest who had ventured too near, and +by holding him as hostage for their lives, they made their escape. In +the following year Mbau took ample vengeance for the massacre of their +chiefs.[21] + +[Pageheader: THE MASSACRE OF WAILEA] + +There is a story that Maraia, Savage's half-caste daughter, then a child +of four,[22] remembered her father's last night at Mbau. Lying awake she +saw him open his sea-chest which he always kept locked, and take from it +a string of glittering objects. Startled by her childish exclamation, +for he thought himself alone, he kissed her and said that he was going +away for a long time, and must hide his property in a place of safety. +That night he poled himself over to the mainland, and when she awoke +next morning the canoes had sailed for Mbua, from whence her father +never returned. Probably the string was made of Chilian dollars from the +wreck, which now lie buried somewhere on the mainland opposite Mbau. + +After Savage's death Mbau continued to consolidate her power. News of +her success tempted the broken tribes to flee to her for protection, and +settle on the conquered lands. Thus did Namara become borderers +(_mbati_) to Mbau. The story is a curious illustration of Fijian +contempt for human life. Two brothers of Namara had stolen down to the +sea shore for salt, and were seen by the king, Naulivou, then cruising +along the shore in his great canoe. He presented them in sport with a +shark and a sting-ray. Overwhelmed by his condescension, the brothers +began to contend for the honour of giving his dead body in return for +the fish. Their cousin standing by exclaimed, "Is a man's life more +precious than a banana? Let the elder be clubbed." So the elder bowed +his head to the club of the younger brother, who presented the body to +the chief. Grieved at what they had done, Naulivou ordered the body to +be buried, and said, "I wanted no return for the fish. Go, fetch your +wives and children, and settle on this land, and be my _mbati_ +(borderers), for I have need of true men." + +The navigable canal called Nakelimusu, which shortens the voyage between +Mbau and Rewa by connecting two of the river mouths, and is almost the +only example of native engineering, was constructed in this reign +shortly after the sack of Nakelo in 1810. The Queen of Rewa at that time +was a Mbau princess, and when Nakelo sent her submission to Mbau, +craving leave to rebuild the fortress, one of the conditions imposed was +that the isthmus between the two rivers should be cut at its narrowest +point, where it is about 400 yards wide. The Nakelo men dug a ditch into +which the water could wash at high tide, and the rapid current did the +rest. + +Though Mbau did not long enjoy a monopoly of muskets she was able to +purchase more ammunition than her rivals. European sailors still +continued to pour into the islands, for after the exhaustion of the +sandal-wood forests, whalers began to frequent the group, and there +sprang up a desultory, but profitable trade in _beche-de-mer_, the +sea-slug so highly prized by Chinese epicures, and in cocoanut oil. None +of these attained the same influence as Savage. They were rather the +chief's sycophants and handy men, who mended muskets, and beguiled his +leisure by telling stories of far-off lands. A chief likes to have in +his retinue some alien, unfettered by the _tabu_, whom he can make his +confidant, and a chief who could not boast of having a tame white man +was not much esteemed. A tame negro was a curiosity even more highly +prized. The natives as a body appear to have treated the white men with +tolerant contempt, as beings destitute of good manners and the +deportment proper to those who consort with chiefs. + +In 1828 Mbau was at the zenith of her power. She had absorbed the +Lomaiviti islands, and was disputing the Lau group with the Tongan +immigrants. On the northern coast of Vitilevu her influence was felt as +far west as Mba, and she exercised a nominal suzerainty over Somosomo, +the state then paramount over the eastern half of Vanualevu. The inland +and western tribes of Vitilevu alone were entirely independent of her +influence. + +[Pageheader: INSURRECTION AGAINST TANOA] + +That her empire was the influence of a person rather than of a state was +shown in 1829, when her leader, Naulivou, better known by his posthumous +title of Ra Matenikutu (Lord Lice-Slayer) died. His younger brother, +Tanoa, who succeeded him, had neither his ability nor his physique. +Among the Europeans he was known contemptuously as "Old Snuff," from his +habit of daubing himself with black pigment, and he was unpopular among +his own people. From the day of his accession there were rumours of +conspiracy, and during his absence at Ovalau in 1832 the rebellion broke +out. Tanoa fled to Koro, and would there have been put to death, had not +Namosimalua of Viwa, who had been sent to arrest him, secretly connived +at his flight to Somosomo, where he was safe. The rebels installed as +Vunivalu one of his brothers named Tuiveikoso, chosen because he could +be trusted to act as their tool, and refrained from the usual custom of +putting Tanoa's adherents to death, though Namosimalua of Viwa, whose +motives are not easy to understand, urged that the king's son, Seru, +should be killed. But the boy was allowed to live on at Mbau, where he +grew to manhood, without exciting any suspicion of the mark which he was +to make upon Fijian history. + +At first the Europeans took no part in these political disturbances. The +more respectable of them had removed to the adjacent island of Ovalau, +where they formed a settlement under the protection of Tui Levuka, +plying the trades of boatbuilding and sail-making, and selling native +produce to passing vessels. Those who chose to remain at Mbau were +Fijianized whites who lived upon the natives. + +Tanoa was not idle. Being _vasu_ to Rewa he had no difficulty in +inducing the king of that state to ally himself with Somosomo and to +declare war with Mbau. By the promise of a cargo he even hired an +American vessel to bombard Mbau. Having taken up a position at the +anchorage she fired a broadside, but the Europeans on the islet, having +trained a gun upon her, carried away her jib-boom at the second shot, +and she slipped her cable and returned to Somosomo. + +The leader of the rebellion was Ratu Mara, a man born before his time. +Professing to be in favour of peace, of free intercourse, and of a new +era of bloodless government, he was immensely popular with the whites. +He is still remembered as the only Fijian warrior who took fortified +villages by direct assault, and who was absolutely fearless in battle. +It is even said that, on hearing of the missionaries in Tonga, he +declared his intention of inviting them to Fiji to displace the religion +in which he no longer believed. In person he was tall and very powerful, +and his acts show him to have been of great intelligence and +perseverance. Friendly as they were to Mara, the Europeans so much +disliked the other chiefs of the usurping government, who had advocated +a massacre of all foreigners, that they resolved to support Tanoa, and +secretly sent him a contribution of arms and ammunition. + +Tanoa had meanwhile been undermining the power of the usurpers by the +old expedient of bribing the borderers. In obedience to an oracle at +Somosomo he had removed to Rewa, and was intriguing with a party at +Lasakau, the eastern end of Mbau, inhabited by fishermen. A number of +villages on the mainland had also been won over. Seru meanwhile, though +grown to manhood, was believed to be above suspicion. His only objects +in life seemed to be its amusements. He was the leader and the idol of a +band of youths of his own age, who passed the days and nights in sports +and wantonness. Suddenly, by a preconcerted arrangement a number of +villages declared for Tanoa, and when the news reached Mbau one morning, +it was found that the Lasakauans had built a war fence during the night, +dividing their quarter of the town from that of the chiefs. Aghast at +this turn of events the chiefs summoned a council of war. Namosimalua +urged the immediate arrest of Seru, and his own nephew, Verani, whom he +suspected of treachery, but it was then too late. The two youths had +taken refuge in Lasakau. Namosimalua's musket, fired at his nephew, was +the signal for civil war. But the _coup d'etat_ was complete. The +Lasakauans had prepared a number of flaming darts which they threw into +the thatch of the nearest houses. A strong wind swept the conflagration +through the town. In half-an-hour every house was in ashes, and the +inhabitants were fleeing to the mainland. + +[Pageheader: THAKOMBAU'S _COUP D'ETAT_] + +As soon as the news reached Rewa, the army was put in motion. Village +after village was destroyed, though, contrary to the wish of Seru, its +inhabitants were spared by the king of Rewa. Tanoa himself re-entered +Mbau at the close of 1837, after an exile of five years. Seru received +three names. His own party called him Thikinovu (the centipede), which +bites without warning; the usurpers called him Na Mbi (the turtle pond), +in allusion to the number of people who were killed and eaten by him, +but the name by which he was generally known was Tha-ko-mbau +("destruction to Mbau," or "Mbau is undone "),[23] signifying the +success of his _coup d'etat_. + +The day of reckoning had come. A price was set upon the head of all the +usurping chiefs, and no one dared to give them asylum. Thakombau slew +many of them with his own hand, and they were cooked and eaten by the +Lasakauans, whose hereditary duty it was to provide material for the +cannibal ovens. Grisly stories are told of this orgy of revenge. It is +said that a rebel whom Thakombau hated was brought before him, he +ordered his men to cut out the man's tongue, and that he ate it raw, +joking with the wretched man about the change in his fortunes. When +tired of the sport he sent him out to be further tortured, and when +death released him from his sufferings he was cooked and eaten. + +The arch-rebels, Mara and Namosimalua, were the last to be taken. +Thakombau pursued Mara from village to village until he came to Namata, +where he suffered a repulse. He then set himself to buy over the Namata +chief. Early one morning Mara's faithless hosts surrounded him. His +magnificent courage did not desert him. For some time he fought +single-handed for his life, but numbers prevailed. Gashed by hatchets +and knives, he fell at last, and his body was presented to Thakombau. +Namosimalua was allowed to return to Mbau, and Tuiveikoso, the +figure-head of the rebellion, and Tanoa's elder brother, were not +molested. + +In 1837 the first missionaries, Mr. Cross and Mr. Cargill, of the +Wesleyan Missionary Society, arrived in the group. The Lau islands, +already colonized by Tongans, were the natural starting-point for their +labours; but Mr. Cross visited Mbau, and had an interview with +Thakombau, from whom he sought permission to settle on the islet. The +moment was unfortunate, and the young chiefs answer very natural under +the circumstances. "Your words are good to me, but I will not hide from +you that I am now at war, and cannot myself hear your instruction nor +even assure you of safety." Mr. Cross misunderstood the answer. If he +had seized upon the bare permission to reside at Mbau, itself a great +concession, his labours would have been greatly lightened. As it was, +his departure gave great offence to Thakombau, who opposed all further +overtures from the missionaries, and the offer was not renewed for +fifteen years. + +In September, 1837, a great meeting was held at Mbau. Having made +submission to his brother, Tuiveikoso, an aged, corpulent and lame man, +was pardoned by Tanoa, who described him as "a great hog, grown too fat +to walk about, and able to do nothing but sleep, and wake to pick his +food." The sole guilt of the rebellion was fixed upon Namosimalua. On +the following day he was brought to trial, when he frankly admitted +having accepted six whales' teeth to kill Tanoa. To the astonishment of +everybody Tanoa gave him his life. The secret of the confession and +Tanoa's clemency was that, to use a Fijian metaphor, Namosimalua had +been "eating with both sides." It says much for his diplomacy that he +preserved his life against the hatred of Thakombau, who had not +forgotten his endeavours to persuade the rebels to kill him. + +[Pageheader: PUNISHMENTS FOR PIRACY] + +The rebels had made one serious mistake. During Tanoa's exile in 1833 +they had urged Namosimalua to seize the French brig, _L'Aimable +Josephine_ (Captain Bureau), lying at Viwa. The Viwa chief, scenting +danger, declined at first to have anything to do with the project, but +his scruples were overborne, and the crew was massacred by Namosi's +nephew, who was thereafter called Verani (Frenchman). The captured +vessel did not prove to be of much value. Her native crew did not dare +to sail her within sight of other vessels, and eventually she was cast +away. In October, 1838, M. Dumont d'Urville, who touched at the group on +his return voyage from the Antarctic sea, exacted reparation for this +act of piracy by burning Viwa, the inhabitants being in hiding in the +neighbourhood. He did not then know that Captain Bureau had to some +extent provoked his fate by taking part in native wars. + +In 1840 Captain Wilkes, of the United States Exploring Expedition, +visited the group, and deported Veindovi, the king of Rewa's son, for +having instigated the massacre of part of the crew of an American +vessel. He also severely punished the people of Malolo, an islet at the +western extremity of Vitilevu, for the murder of two of his officers. +These proceedings undoubtedly had a great effect in protecting the lives +and property of Europeans from chiefs whom they had offended. + +In the same year war broke out between Somosomo and Vuna, two districts +in the island of Taveuni. Mbau pursued her usual policy of weakening her +rivals by supporting the weaker side, and, regardless of the debt owed +to Somosomo by Tanoa during his exile, espoused the cause of Vuna. +Thakombau's elder brother, Wainiu, who was vasu to Somosomo, and had +designs upon the succession to Tanoa, took the opportunity of betraying +his intentions. He fled to Somosomo, whence he proceeded to buy over the +borderers of Mbau on the mainland, within a few miles of the town. The +most formidable of the tribes that joined him was Namena, which +Thakombau was powerless to reduce by open attack. The stratagem which +reduced Namena from a powerful tribe to its present condition of serfdom +is worth narrating for the light it throws upon Fijian methods of +diplomacy. Namena sent messengers to Viwa to win over Namosimalua to the +cause of Wainiu. The chief received them apparently with open arms, but +secretly informed Thakombau that he had a plan for effecting the +massacre of all Namena's fighting men without a campaign. The plan was +simple. Mbau was to lay siege to Viwa, and the Viwans were to invite +Namena to garrison the town. But only blank cartridge was to be used, +and the rest was to be left to him. The Viwans, many of whom were +nominally Christians, for the missionaries had settled in the island, +were kept in the dark till the last moment. Mbau played their part in +the comedy admirably. When the blank cartridge was fired many of the +warriors feigned death, but when they reached the moat, the gates were +thrown open, and the Viwans joined their mock assailants in massacring +the unfortunate Namenans. One hundred and forty warriors were slain, and +forty widows were strangled to their manes, a blow from which the tribe +has never recovered. + +Thakombau had now virtually become regent. He had not only to direct the +foreign policy of the confederation, but to keep a watchful eye upon +conspirators at home. One of his brothers, Raivalita, sailed from Vuna +with the intention of assassinating him. But the plot was betrayed, and +as Raivalita left the house after reporting his arrival to his father, +he was waylaid and clubbed. In 1845 war broke out between Mbau and Rewa, +owing chiefly to a personal feud between Thakombau and Nkara, son of the +king of Rewa, who had had an intrigue with one of Thakombau's wives. It +was an illustration of the old Fijian proverb that a quarrel between +brothers is the most difficult to patch. There had been almost annual +skirmishes between the border villages, in which the chiefs took +desultory interest, but in this war the issue lay between the chiefs +themselves. Hostilities were precipitated by an act of treachery. Rewa +had burned the town of Suva[24] during the absence of the fighting men, +and had sent a message to Mbau saying that, as honour was satisfied, the +people would be spared. But on the following day the fugitives were +ambushed on the Tamanoa heights.[25] The war dragged on for six months, +being for the most part little more than the burning of outlying +villages, and the cutting off of stragglers, all of whom were killed and +eaten. The ties of vasu between members of the royal families had much +confused the issue. One of the sons of the king of Rewa, Thoka-na-uto +(or Mr. Phillips, as he preferred to call himself) had joined Mbau from +the first, and a number of the border villages had followed his example, +and were in the field against their feudal lord. White men were fighting +on both sides, in one or two cases naked and blackened like the natives. + +[Pageheader: DESTRUCTION OF REWA] + +The end came in June, 1845. Defections from Rewa had been frequent; +indeed, in this war desertion was scarcely regarded. Early in June the +Rewans had sent a chief to Mbau to treat for peace, a fatal step, for +Thakombau bought over the envoy to betray his countrymen. The Mbau army +was to invest the town, and while it was attacking, traitors within the +walls were to set it on fire, and begin slaying their fellow-citizens. +The plot was entirely successful. As the enemy reached the bank of the +river opposite Rewa, the town burst into flames. The traitors within its +walls had already begun slaughtering. Meanwhile, a Mbau chief shouted to +the queen to cross the river in a canoe to her own people, the Mbauans, +and to bring her children and Mbau retainers with her. As they were +embarking the king himself came down to the canoe. The Mbauans shouted +to him to go back, but he would not. As he was crossing the river he was +fired upon; he was wounded by a spear as he was disembarking. Then +Thakombau ordered one of his brothers to club him, but he was afraid to +strike so great a chief. The wretched king pleaded hard for life, and +his wife joined her entreaties; but Thakombau reminded him of the +calumnies he and his sons had spoken, and told him sternly that he must +die. Snatching from an attendant a club with an axe head lashed to it, +he clave his skull to the jaw, and his wife and children were splashed +with his blood. + +Indirectly the Rewa war had a sinister bearing upon the fortunes of the +whites. In May, 1844, a European, who had fought on the Rewa side +against Mbau, sailed for Lakemba with one of Tanoa's wives, who had run +away from Mbau, and was now deputed by the Rewans to induce Lakemba to +revolt from Thakombau's government. He was wrecked on the island of +Thithia, and the Europeans of Levuka, hoping to recover some of the +vessel's gear, of which they stood in need, sailed to that island. +Failing in this, they went on to Lakemba, whither the shipwrecked man +had escaped. For a time they hesitated to give him a passage to Rewa, +for he was as much disliked by them as he was by the natives, and they +knew the danger of displeasing Thakombau. But he offered a sum of +passage-money which overcame their scruples, and they carried him off +just in time to escape the war canoe which Thakombau had sent in pursuit +of him. + +Thakombau not unnaturally regarded this as an act of hostility, and Tui +Levuka, who was becoming alarmed at the power of the whites in his town, +and at the extent of land which he had alienated to them, seized the +opportunity for beseeching his suzerain to deport them from the island. +The peremptory order for their removal was a severe blow to the +prosperous little settlement, which had to abandon the fruits of so many +years of labour, and begin life afresh. A fine schooner, half built, had +to be abandoned on the slips, and the houses left to be gutted by the +natives. It speaks well for their peaceable disposition that they did +not remove to Rewa, where they might have restored its waning fortunes +in the struggle with Mbau, and that they chose Solevu Bay in Mbua, which +was at peace with Thakombau. The new settlement was unhealthy and +inconvenient for communication with ships, and long before the five +years of exile was completed Tui Levuka and the Mbau chiefs had repented +of their precipitancy, which had cut them off from the services of the +white artisans which were so necessary to them. The request for +permission to return, made early in 1849, was readily granted. + +[Pageheader: THE SECOND REWA WAR] + +In 1846 Thakombau led an army of 3000 men, nominally to help Somosomo +against Natewa, but in reality to increase his own influence at the +expense of his ally. This he did by commanding the attack in person, +and contriving to spare the lives of the defenders, while receiving +their submission himself. The result of this campaign, for which +Somosomo paid an enormous subsidy, was to make Natewa a tributary of +Mbau, and diminish the influence of Somosomo. + +On September 1, 1847, Rewa was again destroyed by Thakombau. The sister +whom he had promised to Tui Nakelo as a bribe for his treachery to Rewa +had been given instead to Ngavindi, chief of Lasakau, and Tui Nakelo in +revenge offered to join Ratu Nkara, the son of the king of Rewa, whose +feud with Thakombau had provoked the last war. Between them they rebuilt +Rewa, and repulsed the Mbauans sent to prevent them. But Tui Nakelo was +assassinated by means of a plot devised by Thakombau, who advanced to +Tokatoka, and sent thence a message to Ratu Nkara that he wished him no +ill, and that if he would remove with his people to the islet of +Nukulau, and allow him to burn Rewa _pro forma_, he would molest him no +further. Ratu Nkara accordingly withdrew all his men, not to the islet +mentioned in the message, but to a hill top whence he could watch the +Mbau canoes surrounding Nukulau to capture him, "Pig's dung!" he +exclaimed; "does Thakombau take me for a fool!" + +In 1849 Captain Erskine visited the group in H.M.S. _Havannah_, and gave +Thakombau an exhibition of the precision of marine artillery, which had +an important bearing on the history of the next few years. It inflamed +the king with a desire to possess a gunboat of his own, and two were +ordered, one from America and one from Sydney. The almost annual visit +of ships of war about this time had impressed Thakombau with the +importance of doing nothing that would give any excuse for foreign +intervention. But neither Captain Fanshaw, Captain Erskine, nor Sir +Everard Home, who urged Thakombau in turn to abandon cannibalism and the +strangling of widows, the last named so vehemently that they parted on +bad terms, had much effect upon him. The fact was that, as after events +proved, Thakombau did not feel himself strong enough to do so. In the +fifteen years between 1835 and 1850 he had fought his way into the +foremost place in Fiji, and his influence in the latter year was such +that the American Consul, Mr. Miller, in a letter of remonstrance +actually addressed him officially as Tui Viti (King of Fiji). But the +Europeans could not see beneath the surface, and none knew, as he +himself did, upon what a quicksand his power was built. His maintenance +of the ancient customs, his opposition to Christianity, denounced so +bitterly by the missionaries, was part of a set policy. Had he embraced +Christianity when it was first pressed upon him, he would have remained +the petty chief of a few square miles, a mere vassal of the mission, all +his days, for the missionaries discountenanced war, and it was only by +war that he could hope to extend his influence. He alone of all his +people foresaw that the mission would destroy, first the ancient polity, +and ultimately the independence of the Fijians. His dialogues with the +missionaries,[26] who for fifteen years were importuning him to let them +live at Mbau, bantering as they were in tone, show how consistent was +his policy, and they do not justify all the abuse that was heaped upon +him by the mission historians. He respected the men; he objected to +their doctrine, which, he said, might be suitable enough for Europeans, +but was not adapted to the Fijians. His forbearance to the missionaries +who so often thwarted him was remarkable: he allowed them to live at +Viwa, within sight of Mbau, and to proselytize his subjects: he was +personally kind and courteous to them, though he received nothing at +their hands in return, as by Fijian usage he had a right to expect. The +missionaries, so far from allowing him any personal credit for his +kindliness, crowed over his courtesies as surrenders to their diplomacy. +As an absolute sovereign he had cause enough to quarrel with them. +Without preaching actual treason, they were always denouncing the +customs which he practised, and denying the pretensions to divinity +which were accorded to every ruling chief; the mission stations were +cities of refuge to which every disaffected native fled when his treason +was discovered. They themselves admit that the converted natives openly +boasted that they were exempt from service in the army, and that +murderers, "who were punishable even by Fijian law, fled to mission +stations, and hypocritically professed an anxiety for Christian +instruction."[27] The Christian natives refused to fight for their +country. There was in fact a party in the state which denied their +ruler's authority, and were not only apostates from the national +religion, but disaffected towards the government. It was therefore +remarkable, not that he made an attempt to persecute, but that he made +only one. + +[Pageheader: PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIAN CONVERTS] + +In December, 1850, Thakombau declared war on all Christians. The heathen +villages on the Tailevu coast for a distance of fifty miles rose, and +laid siege to Dama and to the island of Viwa, where the missionaries +lived, but Thakombau had issued orders that no injury should be done to +the lives and property of the Europeans, lest there should be a pretext +for foreign intervention. The missionaries appealed to a Tongan chief, +who, with 300 men, was on a visit to Mbau. This chief dispatched a canoe +to act as a guard for the missionaries, and some of its crew were killed +by the besieging force. The Tongans were now involved in the war, and as +the whites were also supporting the Mission with supplies, Thakombau +very wisely called off his troops and there was peace. + +In 1850 Thakombau had touched the pinnacle of his fortunes, and we are +now to see upon what his authority rested. So long as he ran in the +grooves of custom his power was absolute, but no sooner did he introduce +innovations than it began to crumble beneath him. Late in 1851 the two +gunboats of sixty tons, ordered by him abroad, were delivered, and the +agents began to press for payment. He ordered a levy of _beche-de-mer_ +throughout his dominions. The labour entailed by this new tax was far +less than that of house-building or providing food, but the one was new, +and the others sanctified by custom. Moreover, his subjects knew that +the _beche-de-mer_ they were called upon to fish would find a ready sale +with the Europeans. Many of the villages flatly declined to obey; some +took the sacks, and let them rot in their houses; others burned the +sacks before the eyes of the king's messengers. In January, 1852, +Thakombau, who seldom abandoned any project in the face of opposition, +took 1000 fishers with him to Mathuata, and set them an example by +fishing with his own hands, but his men worked grudgingly, and the +proceeds of the expedition were small. He then sent a party in the ship +to New Caledonia, where sufficient _beche-de-mer_ was collected to pay +for one of the vessels, and she was handed over to him. This purchase +was the most unpopular act of his reign. + +The long-expected death of old Tanoa occurred in 1852, and, despite the +protests of the missionaries and captains of ships-of-war, Thakombau +took part in the immemorial ceremony of strangling his father's widows, +who, in accordance with custom, themselves contended for the honour of +being strangled to prove their loyalty to the dead. The missionaries +affect to trace his troubles to this act of barbarity, but they had +probably the effect of delaying them, by proving to his chiefs that +their king was before all things a Fijian still. + +[Pageheader: REVOLT AGAINST THAKOMBAU] + +On the death of Thoka-na-uto (Mr. Phillips), who as Thakombau's ally was +nominally king of Rewa, Ratu Nkara came from his hiding-place in the +mountains and succeeded to the chieftainship. He is the most romantic +figure in Fijian history. Years of guerrilla warfare, when he was a +fugitive with a price upon his head, had not broken his indomitable +spirit, nor weakened his lifelong defiance of his victorious enemy, +Thakombau. He had never stooped to the acts of treachery that had +stained the career of his rival, and had he lived longer his courage and +skill in warfare would have raised the city of his fathers from its +ashes to be the capital of the first state in Fiji. Rewa was rebuilt, +and Nkara set about corrupting the border villages of Mbau. He was +successful beyond his hopes. In a few weeks Mbau was enclosed in a ring +of revolted towns, for not only was the mainland aflame from Kamba to +Namena, but Ovalau, under Tui Levuka, had declared its independence. +There can be no doubt that for this the Europeans at Levuka were partly +responsible. They had never forgiven their summary expulsion from +Levuka in 1844, nor Thakombau's request to Captain Macgruder to deport +them all from the group. They were at this time the most orderly and +law-abiding community of Europeans in the Pacific, having by hard work +and trading accumulated a good deal of property. They were not in a +position to take up arms openly against Thakombau, and their only overt +act was to punish the natives of Malaki, an island subject to Mbau, for +the destruction of an English cutter called the _Wave_. In December, +1853, Levuka was destroyed by an incendiary who was believed to be +acting under the orders of Verani, Thakombau's lieutenant. The whites +lost all they possessed, and on the following day Thakombau visited the +town in order to express his sympathy, and avert any suspicion of +connivance. During his progress through the ruined town the Europeans, +many of whom knew him well, let him pass without a sign of recognition, +and he left the place anxious and dispirited. + +At this juncture he had sore need of friends. The unexpected revolt of +his personal serfs at Kamba was a veritable disaster, for they had +charge of his largest canoe, the sails and stores of his gunboat, and +his principal magazine. A few days after his formal installation as +Vunivalu on July 26, 1853, his army was beaten off by the Kambans, his +faithful lieutenant Verani was assassinated in Ovalau, and the rebellion +spread. He knew that he had now to reckon with traitors among his own +kin. Ratu Mara,[28] who had for many months been a voluntary exile from +Mbau, had returned to the delta to be the figure-head of the rebellion, +and Tui Levuka, whose authority was not sufficient to control the rebels +of Ovalau, persuaded the Europeans to send for him. At this moment a +schooner arrived from Sydney with a consignment of arms for Thakombau, +and the European consignee, Pickering, declined to deliver them. + +On October 30, 1853, Thakombau yielded to the importunities of the +missionaries so far as to allow the Rev. Joseph Waterhouse[29] to take +up his residence at Mbau, probably in the hope that he would be a +useful advocate in the event of misunderstanding with European +governments. In November he received an unexpected visit from King +George Tubou of Tonga, then on his way to Sydney. He turned this visit +to good account by promising the king a large canoe (the celebrated Ra +Marama) if he would revisit him on his return home. There now seemed to +be a prospect of a favourable turn to his fortunes. Tui Levuka, doubtful +of the success of his rebellion, made a secret compact with him to play +the traitor to his own side, and Thakombau now prepared to crush Kamba. +His plans were impeded by the secession of his kinsman Koroi-ravulo, who +secretly bribed five hundred of his army to absent themselves from the +rendezvous, and in March, 1854, he set forth with barely 1500 men. He +had foolishly neglected to seize the opportunity of a hurricane, which +had levelled the defences of Kamba, and when the assault was made the +Kamba garrison had been stiffened with a number of whites and +half-castes from Levuka, who foresaw that the fall of Kamba would place +Levuka in the power of the victorious army. Thakombau commanded the +assault in person. Having cleared broad roads for retreat in case of a +sortie 500 men advanced to the attack, but they were seized with a +sudden panic, and the whole army fled in confusion to their canoes. A +further defeat at Sawakasa, the stronghold of Koroi-ravulo, completed +Thakombau's discomfiture. + +Ratu Nkara and his friend Mr. Williams, the United States Consul, Ratu +Mara, Tui Levuka, and the Europeans of Ovalau, who had combined to bring +him to this pass, styled themselves the "League." Their agreement, as +set forth in a letter from Pickering to Williams, afterwards made +public, was "to stop all ships of going to Mbau," and to invoke the aid +of the first ship-of-war that might arrive. Consul Williams's +ill-directed activity in the cause proved the undoing of all the +schemes, for he wrote a violent letter to the newspapers in Sydney, +urging the destruction of Mbau as the first duty of civilized nations, +which, when translated to Thakombau, convinced him that his only chance +of salvation lay in conciliating the missionaries. A letter which he +received at the same time from King George of Tonga persuaded him that +it was high time to embrace Christianity. His defeat at Kamba after so +many favourable omens had rudely shaken whatever belief he may have had +in the gods of his fathers, and if he now rejected the support of King +George and the missionaries he would have had no friends left. He had +been profoundly moved by the news of the assassination of Tui Kilakila, +the chief of Somosomo, which, the missionaries assured him, was a +judgment on him for his opposition to Christianity, and he was moreover +suffering from a painful disease of the leg. Cut off as he was from +communication with the Europeans who opposed the conversion of Mbau, +there was no hostile counsel to neutralize the persuasions of the +missionaries. + +[Pageheader: THAKOMBAU CONVERTED] + +On April 28, 1854, the momentous decision was made. Assembling his +chiefs he read the two letters to them, and announced his decision, +reminding them of the prosperity of Tonga since the adoption of +Christianity. On the following Sunday he attended service with about +three hundred of his chiefs and retainers, all clad in waistcloths, for +the missionaries had ordained that the outward sign of conversion should +be clothes. As soon as the people had recovered from their astonishment +there was a convulsion that nearly cost Thakombau his life. Rewa was +still stoutly heathen, and all the malcontents in Mbau flocked to the +enemy. The island of Koro also rose. Mbau was now hemmed in, and for the +first time since 1835 it was put into a state of defence. But there were +traitors within. Yangondamu, Thakombau's cousin, won over by two of the +king's brothers who had joined the enemy, had engaged to assassinate +him. His house was crowded with young chiefs anxious to pay court to the +rising power, while Thakombau sat alone, deserted by all but the +missionary and a faithful Tongan. This immediate peril was averted by +the dispatch of Yangondamu in command of a force to reduce the Koro +rebels, and while he was away a Captain Dunn arrived from America with a +cargo of arms, which he insisted upon selling to the Mbauans despite the +entreaties of the Europeans. + +The missionaries had already made a clean sweep of cannibalism, the +slaughter of prisoners, and the strangling of widows, but when they +tried to force a constitution on European lines upon the king they found +him obstinate. "I was born a chief, and a chief I will die," he said, +and his firmness, distasteful as it was to the missionaries, saved, not +only himself, but also the cause of the mission; for, as Waterhouse +himself records, "the populace, long favourably inclined towards the new +religion, now hated Christianity because it was the religion of +Thakombau," and if Thakombau had added to the other sins the abdication +of his authority, nothing could have saved him or the cause of his +foreign advisers. + +On November 8, 1854, Thakombau was induced by Captain Dunn to hold a +conference with his brother, Ratu Mara, on his ship, the _Dragon_. This +meeting, effected with so much difficulty, resulted in nothing but a +profession of reconciliation. Thakombau had so far humbled himself as to +sue his enemy, the king of Rewa, for peace, but his overtures were +haughtily rejected. In the same month he attended an inquiry held by +Captain Denham on H.M.S. _Herald_, at which he formally withdrew all the +charges he had made against the Europeans, much to the chagrin of the +missionaries, who had forwarded them to the commander. The Europeans had +sent three representatives, who roundly charged the king with the +burning of Levuka, but of this charge he seems to have cleared himself. +This was the first occasion on which he officially stated the limits of +his dominions. He had explained the suzerainty which he claimed over +Somosomo, Lakemba and other states, but when asked point-blank to +declare the limits of the territory in which he would undertake to +protect the Europeans, he indicated a territory no larger than an +English country parish, and his reply was disconcerting to those who had +been styling him Tui Viti, King of Fiji. + +[Pageheader: A DEATH PORTENT] + +His conciliatory spirit, being set down to fear, had availed him +nothing, and in the last months of 1854, the fate of Mbau still hung in +the balance. Ratu Nkara had offered to end the contest by a duel between +the two kings. "It is shameful," he said, "that so many warriors should +perish; let you or me die": but Thakombau replied, "Are we dogs that we +should bite one another? Are we not chiefs? Let us fight with our +warriors like chiefs." + +But in January, 1855, the low tide of Thakombau's fortunes began to +turn. Rewa was stricken with alarm at the news of a portent. Andi Thivo, +one of the Rewa queens, noticed that tears were exuding from one of the +roots of taro set before her. She addressed it, asking why it wept. Was +Rewa to be destroyed? Was her father about to die? Was Thakombau? Were +any of the chiefs whom she named? But the taro made no sign. Was her +lord, the king of Rewa, near his death? A voice from the taro said +"Yes," and the weeping ceased. The report spread through the length and +breadth of the land, and the people waited in hushed expectancy. To them +their king was already dead. Suddenly the war-drums themselves were +hushed. The omen was fulfilled; Ratu Nkara, "the Hungry Woman," "the +Long Fellow," was no more. A mighty man, Thakombau's only dangerous +enemy, had fallen. He died of dysentery on January 26, 1855, having in +his last moments promised to turn Christian if he recovered, swearing +nevertheless to have the blood of Thakombau. But he was speechless +during his last moments, and could not bequeath a continuance of the war +to his chiefs. + +Though he had shown the missionaries many kindnesses and allowed them to +live with him, though he had had more intercourse with white men than +any other chief, he died in the faith of his fathers. In the last months +of his life he was with difficulty restrained from wading into the +river, where sharks were seen, in order to prove to the missionary, +Moore, that his person was sacred to them. A fortnight before his death +he completed the building of two heathen temples to ensure his victory +over Mbau, and sent a polite message to the missionary asking him to +hold his services in another part of the town, "lest the gods should be +angry at the noise." He said that he did not intend any disrespect to +Jehovah, but was putting his own gods on their last trial, and desired +to give them every chance of success. Though his chiefs were still +heathen, out of respect for the missionary only one of his wives was +strangled, and she, as they explained, was old and already half dead. + +On the death of Thakombau's personal enemy Rewa was glad enough to make +peace with Mbau, but the Mbau rebels, who had to fear reprisals, +continued the struggle. But in March King George of Tonga arrived at +Mbau with forty large canoes to take away the war-canoe presented to him +by Thakombau. After trying in vain to bring about a reconciliation, and +suffering the loss of one of his own chiefs through the treachery of the +rebels, King George agreed to lend his troops to Thakombau. The prospect +of this foreign interference so incensed the people that tribes which +had hitherto taken no part in the struggle threw in their lot with the +rebels, and every one who opposed Christianity, or had anything to fear +from Mbau, joined the enemy. The priests were inspired; the oracles +spoke. The Tongan fleet would be derelict at Kamba for want of hands to +work the sails after the battle. It was to be a death-struggle between +the old gods and the new. + +The promontory of Kamba was to be the battlefield, and the fortress at +its extremity swarmed with warriors. For three days the allied fleets +waited near the fort in the hope that it would capitulate without a +siege, but on April 7 they bore down upon the promontory--a formidable +spectacle. They were received with a volley of musketry. By all the +rules of Fijian warfare this should have checked the landing for that +day, but to the astonishment of the Kambans it did nothing of the sort. +The sails were lowered, and, leaving their dead and wounded to the care +of their women, the Tongans rushed to the attack. There were more +surprises in store for the garrison; instead of hiding behind trees, and +trying to scare the defenders into flight, the Tongans advanced to the +assault in the open, and recked nothing of the men who fell. King +George, who commanded in person, had decided to invest the town by +throwing up fortifications fronting the defences, and to starve it into +submission, but the Vavau warriors pressed on, and took the place by +assault. They afterwards defended themselves for this act of +insubordination by saying that they were looking for the defences, and, +taking the rampart for mere outworks, had found themselves in possession +of the town before they were aware of their mistake--a familiar form of +Tongan boasting. The Tongans lost fourteen killed and thirty wounded; +the Mbauans, who had been mere spectators, escaped almost scatheless. +More than two hundred of the enemy were killed, the greater part by the +heathen Fijians on the Mbau side, and two hundred prisoners were taken. +Thakombau was willing to spare all but Koroi-ravula, but King George +interfered to save his life, which was justly forfeited by European as +well as Fijian law. The submission of the rebels was complete. No less +than twenty thousand natives proved their allegiance to Thakombau by +accepting Christianity and adapting their customs to the wishes of the +missionaries. + +[Pageheader: THE TONGANS TAKE KAMBA BY ASSAULT] + +It is not to be understood that the conversion of Thakombau was the +first success of the missionaries. A printing press had been at work for +many years, and, even in the Mbau territory, many hundreds of the +natives had been taught to read and write. There were mission stations +in Lakemba, Somosomo, Rewa, Levuka and Mbua, and in many of the coast +villages there were native teachers, the Christian and heathen natives +living amicably side by side. The Christians claimed immunity from war +service, and it was therefore not to be wondered at that Thakombau +showed indecent glee when appealed to by the missionaries for help +against persecution at Mbau. "You have often refused to fight for me, +and now you have a war of your own on your hands, and I am glad of it." +But the Lau group professed Christianity to a man; in the Lomaiviti +islands the heathen were in a minority, and now, by Thakombau's +conversion, the north-east coast of Vitilevu adopted the new faith. Only +the inland and western tribes of the two large islands continued in the +faith of their fathers, and these were soon obliged to fight for their +religion. + +In 1858 Thakombau's peace of mind was again rudely disturbed. Williams, +the United States Consul, whose enmity against Thakombau was personal, +had never relaxed his efforts to bring about foreign intervention. +During the Fourth of July festivities in 1849 Williams's house on the +island of Nukulau had been burned to the ground, and though report +attributed the fire to pure accident during a display of fireworks by +its convivial master, Williams laid his loss at the door of Thakombau. +There were other claims by American citizens, and Williams's persistency +at length induced the American Government to send a frigate to make +inquiries. Commodore Boutwell had visited Mbau in 1855. His high-handed +treatment of Thakombau, and his ready acceptance of the _ex parte_ +statement of the claimants, passed almost unnoticed in that eventful +year, but in 1858 the king was made to realize that the American award +of L9000 as compensation to American residents was no empty threat, but +was a claim that must be met. He had had a sinister experience of the +danger of levying from his subjects contributions not sanctioned by +custom, and he knew that the task was hopeless. + +But this was not all. A new star had risen on the eastern horizon, and +Mbau was now threatened by the Tongans. Occasional intercourse between +Tonga and Fiji had taken place for perhaps three or four centuries, +through canoes plying between the different Tongan islands having been +driven westward by the trade wind, but it was not until later in the +eighteenth century that it became regular. At the time of Cook's visit +in 1772 it had become as much a part of every young chief's education to +take part in a warlike expedition to Fiji as it was in England a little +later to make the grand tour. The Tongans steered for Lakemba, where +they took part with one or other of the factions that happened to be at +war, and, having taken the lion's share of the loot, and built +themselves new war-canoes in Kambara of _vesi_, a timber very scarce in +Tonga, they set sail for their own country. But not a few stayed behind, +and gradually a little colony of Tongan-speaking half-castes established +itself in all the principal windward islands. + +[Pageheader: THE TONGAN CONQUESTS] + +In 1837 the influence of the Tongans in Fiji received an unexpected +impetus from the arrival of the first Wesleyan missionaries, who sailed +from Tonga to Lakemba with a retinue of Tongan teachers. They were at +once joined by all the resident Tongans, who were now as zealous in +converting the Fijians to Christianity as they had formerly been in +converting their property to their own use. The countenance and +encouragement of the white missionaries fostered their natural +arrogance, and, when persuasion failed to effect conversion, stronger +methods were sometimes resorted to. By the year 1848 the Tongans had got +thoroughly out of hand, and King George, who was not yet secure against +conspiracy, foresaw that any rival who might choose to recruit partisans +in Fiji could return to Tonga with a formidable army. In order to +provide a legitimate outlet for the ambition of his cousin Maafu, he +dispatched that redoubtable warrior to Fiji ostensibly as governor of +the Tongan colony, in reality as conqueror of as much of the group as he +could take. Maafu's strong personality, aided by the lash, soon reduced +the turbulent Tongans to order, and island after island of the eastern +group went down before him. The Tongan teachers, now established in most +of the western islands, acted as his political agents, and the +missionaries were powerless to discountenance aggressions that were +avowedly made with the object of spreading the Christian faith. So +horrible were the excesses of his warriors in these raids that the +Wesleyan authorities were occasionally obliged to wash their hands of +him, but their somewhat half-hearted protests did not prevent Taveuni +and the greater part of Vanualevu from falling under his control. + +The Tongans had carried all before them by their superior courage and +dash in frontal attack, and by their intelligent use of European +weapons.[30] In 1858 Maafu's cruisers were ravaging territory claimed by +Mbau, and the two powers stood face to face. Thakombau was wise enough +to see that, in the event of an open rupture, even if he should gain an +initial advantage over Maafu's warriors, he could not hope to stand +against a power that had all Tonga to draw upon for recruits, and that +with America pressing for its debt, and Maafu bent upon conquest, he had +every prospect of finding himself in vassalage to one or the other. In +his extremity he turned to Mr. Pritchard, the English Consul, who, +having a firm belief in the future of the islands as a cotton-growing +country, was anxious to attract immigrants with capital. On Mr. +Pritchard's advice, Thakombau executed a deed of cession, offering the +sovereignty of the group to England on condition that he should retain +the rank and title of Tui Viti (King of Fiji) accorded to him by the +American Government,[31] and that, in return for 200,000 acres of land, +the British Government should satisfy the American claims. + +Some pressure was put upon the Home Government from the Australian +colonies to induce it to accept the offer upon the ground of the high +price to which cotton had risen in consequence of the disturbances in +the Southern States of the Union. Colonel Smythe, R.A., was sent out to +report upon the proposal, but, in the face of his assurance that +Thakombau's authority controlled less than half the group, the +Government, already embarrassed by the expenses of a Maori war, could +not entertain the offer. + +The prospect of annexation had attracted from New Zealand a large number +of Englishmen, some of whom settled in the island. In 1861 the European +colony numbered 166 adults, of whom the majority were respectable +people. They bought large tracts of land from the native chiefs, who +sold recklessly whether the land belonged to them or not. + +[Pageheader: ANNEXATION] + +From 1861 to 1869 the Europeans increased to 1800, and the control of +political affairs passed from the native chiefs to Europeans, who served +as a check upon Maafu's ambition. The mission spread rapidly, until by +1870 all but a few of the inland tribes were nominally Christian. +Various unsuccessful attempts were made to establish a settled +government, but in 1871 Thakombau was declared constitutional sovereign +of the entire group, with a ministry and two houses of parliament, a +form of government ridiculously unsuited to the needs of the country, +seeing that the natives, who numbered nearly one hundred to one, were to +have no votes. Thakombau had an army officered by white men, and made +abortive attempts to conquer the interior, but the new government did +little beyond plunging into debt, and splitting the country into +factions. In 1873 the political state of the group had become +intolerable, and on British Commissioners being sent to inquire into the +matter on the spot, the chiefs were induced, after some hesitation, to +cede the sovereignty to England unconditionally. The Deed of Cession was +signed in September, 1874. No doubt the chiefs acted to some extent +under pressure from the Europeans, who had purchased land which they +could not enjoy while it was in occupation by natives, and for which +they desired to have titles. The Lands Commission had a task of +extraordinary difficulty. Tracts had been sold by chiefs who had no +title to them, and sometimes the same land had been sold to two or more +purchasers. Many of the deeds produced could never have been understood +by the natives who signed them, and often the boundaries were +imperfectly described. Sir Arthur Gordon,[32] the first Governor, wisely +decided to govern the natives as far as possible through the machinery +that he found in operation, and it encountered no open opposition with +the exception of an insignificant rising in the western interior of +Vitilevu, where the tribes, provoked by the encroachments of their +neighbours on the coast, and alarmed at the ravages of the measles, +reverted to their heathen gods for a few months. This outbreak was put +down by native levies. + +Thakombau, who received a pension of L1500 a year, was loyal to the +British Government, and, both in the administration of his own province +and in his intercourse with other chiefs, used his immense influence to +promote the contentment of his people under their new rulers. At his +death in 1882 the last of the great chiefs passed away, for Maafu had +died in the preceding year. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 16: One of them, having thus smeared his head, stooped to the +fire to dry it; the powder flared up, and he leapt forth into the _rara_ +singed bare to the scalp.] + +[Footnote 17: The native poems of the time refer also to a hailstorm, +which destroyed the plantations, a hurricane which caused a tidal wave +and a great flood, and raised the alluvial flats of the Rewa delta +several feet, a tradition which has support in the fact that a network +of mangrove roots underlies the soil at a depth of four or five feet. +The hurricane is said to have carried the pestilence away with it.] + +[Footnote 18: They boarded her and directed her to the sandal-wood +district in Mbau, returning to the shore with a pig, a monkey, two geese +and a cat, besides knives and axes and mirrors. The native historians +name her captain "Red-face."] + +[Footnote 19: It is well here to correct an error for which Thomas +Williams was originally responsible, and which has been copied by almost +every writer on Fiji since his day, namely, that "about the year 1804 a +number of convicts escaped from New South Wales, and settled among the +islands." The only foundation for this story is that "Paddy" Connor, who +was actually a deserter from a passing ship, was popularly supposed to +have "done time," and that the morals of the early settlers were such +that if they were not convicts they ought to have been. Putting aside +the extreme improbability that escaped convicts should beat 1200 miles +in the teeth of the prevailing wind, while so many eligible +hiding-places lay near at hand, it is certain that the first white +settlers were all shipwrecked sailors, deserters, or men paid off at +their own request. + +According to M. Dumont d'Urville, two escaped convicts named "Sina" and +"Gemy" (? Jimmy) were concerned in the seizure of the _Aimable +Josephine_ in 1833.] + +[Footnote 20: Among the settlers in 1812 was one who was believed to be +secretly addicted to cannibalism, and was ostracized by his own +countrymen.] + +[Footnote 21: The story of this adventure, as narrated by Dillon, in his +_Voyage in the South Seas_, is the most dramatic passage in Polynesian +literature.] + +[Footnote 22: The same Maraia who was afterwards forcibly married to the +captain of a Manila ship.] + +[Footnote 23: Cakobau, according to Fijian spelling.] + +[Footnote 24: Now included in the grounds of Government House.] + +[Footnote 25: The massacre took place on the site of the present +residence of the manager of the Bank of New Zealand, and four hundred +persons were massacred without distinction of sex or age.] + +[Footnote 26: See _The King and People of Fiji_, by Joseph Waterhouse.] + +[Footnote 27: Waterhouse, p. 188.] + +[Footnote 28: The second rebel chief of that name.] + +[Footnote 29: Author of _The King and People of Fiji_.] + +[Footnote 30: Maafu was the first to employ cannon in native craft in +Fiji. He had two small pieces mounted on the decks of canoes, which, if +they did but little execution in a bombardment, often ended a siege by +striking terror into the hearts of the garrison.] + +[Footnote 31: Mr. Miller, the British Consul in Hawaii, first addressed +Thakombau as "Tui Viti" (King of Fiji) in a letter written in 1849 on +the subject of the American claims, it being the policy of the claimants +to make one chief responsible for damages sustained in every part of the +group, however remote from the frontiers of Thakombau's territory.] + +[Footnote 32: Now Lord Stanmore.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CONSTITUTION OF SOCIETY + +Chiefs--The Growth of the Confederation--The Confederation in + Decay--Lala, Communal and Personal--Community of Property through + Kerekere. + + +The principal authority upon the state of society among the Fijians when +Europeans first came into contact with them, is the Rev. Thomas +Williams, a man possessing intelligence and observation and the instinct +of anthropological research without the training necessary for +systematic inquiries. Belonging to the pre-speculation period, he +described what he found and not what he wished to find, and in this +respect he is a valuable witness, but, like other missionaries, he used +a loose terminology in describing Fijian society, making the word +"tribe" serve any group of men from a family to a state. His manuscript +fell upon evil days. His scientific instinct of accuracy and detail was +ludicrously out of keeping with the spirit of the missionary +publications of those days, in which any customs that did not suit the +English middle-class notions of propriety were either passed over as +heathen wickedness too deplorable for description, or set forth (with a +rich commentary of invective) in an obvious spirit of exaggeration to +show the subscribers at home how perilous were the lives of +missionaries, and how worthy the labourer of his hire. In his simple +love of truth, Mr. Williams had forgotten to point the usual moral, and +when Mr. Calvert brought home his manuscript in 1856, the Missionary +Society decided that it must be edited with vigilance. A Bowdler was +found in the person of a Mr. George Stringer Rowe, otherwise unknown to +fame, who re-wrote most of what was supplied to him, he apparently +having no special knowledge of the subject. "But here," says this +maiden-modest editor, whenever the outspoken Williams dares to touch +upon the marriage laws, "even at the risk of making the picture +incomplete, there may not be given a faithful representation." + +[Pageheader: SINISTER FATE OF WILLIAMS' MS.] + +The manuscript has long disappeared, and now we can never know exactly +what was Williams and what was Rowe. In respect of its scientific +accuracy, it may be questioned whether it did not find in Rowe a worse +fate than the "Scented Garden" met at the hands of Lady Burton. +Fortunately for science the loss of Williams's manuscript is not as +irreparable as a distinguished anthropologist would have us believe. Mr. +McLennan, in rating Mr. George Stringer Rowe for his meddlesome editing, +remarks, "The natives were speedily converted first, and slowly +extinguished afterwards. Comparatively few of the natives remain, and +our chance of knowing well what were their laws and customs is perhaps +gone for ever."[33] Upon this curious assumption, he treats "Fiji and +the Fijians" as modern Biblical critics treat the Pentateuch--namely, as +an obscure treatise whose loose terminology can only be read by the +light of internal evidence. Had he taken the trouble to ascertain that +the Fijians, so far from being extinguished, still number more than +two-thirds of their strength when Williams wrote, and maintain their old +tribal divisions and some of their social organization intact; had he +cared to look through the mass of evidence collected since the cession +of the islands in 1874, he would have spared his readers a lengthy +commentary, and himself a number of errors which go far to explain his +unscientific attitude in his great controversy with Morgan on the +classificatory system of relationship. + +The key to the Melanesian system of government is Ancestor-worship. Just +as every act in a Fijian's life was controlled by his fear of Unseen +Powers, so was his conception of human authority based upon religion. +Patriarchy, if not the oldest, is certainly the most natural shape into +which the religious instinct of primitive man would crystallize. First +there was the family--and the islands of the Pacific were probably +peopled by single families--ruled absolutely by the father with his +store of traditions brought from the land whence he came. His sons, +knowing no laws but those which he had taught them; planting their +crops, building their huts and their canoes under his direction, +bringing their disputes to him for decision, have come to trust to him +for guidance in every detail of their lives. Suddenly he leaves them. +How are they to believe that he whose approval they courted, and whose +anger they feared but yesterday, has vanished like the flame of +yesterday's fire? His spirit has left his body; yet, somewhere it must +be watching over them still. In life he was wont to threaten them with +punishment for disobedience, and even now, when they do the things of +which he disapproved, or withhold their daily offerings of food at his +tomb, punishment is sure to follow--the crops fail; a hurricane unroofs +the hut; floods sweep away the canoe. Thus they come to propitiate the +spirit armed with such powers to harm, and, in response to their +prayers, victory is given them over their enemies. When they are beaten +back, he is frowning upon them: when the yams ripen to abundant harvest +he is rewarding their piety. + +In this most natural creed was the germ of government. Each son of the +dead father founded his own family, but still owed allegiance to the +earthly representative of their deified father--the eldest son--on whom +a portion of the father's godhead had descended. Generations came and +went; the tribe had increased from tens to hundreds, but still the +eldest son of the eldest, who carried in his veins the blood of the +common ancestor in its purest form, was venerated as the head of the +tribe. The ancestor was not forgotten, but he was now translated into +Kalou-vu (lit. Root-God) and had his temple and his priests, who had +themselves become a hereditary caste, with the strong motive of +self-interest for keeping his memory green. His descendant, the tribal +chief, is set within the pale of the tabu: his will may not be +disobeyed, nor his body touched without incurring the wrath of the +Unseen. The priests and the chief give one another mutual support, the +one by threatening divine punishment for disobedience; the other by +insisting upon regularity in bringing offerings to the temple. + +[Pageheader: RISE OF THE CHIEF'S POWER] + +Had there been no war in Fiji the power of the aristocracy would have +been limited. Among the mountain tribes of Vitilevu, who seldom extended +their borders by conquest, the chief, while enjoying some measure of +religious veneration, can issue no important order without the consent +of the council of elders. He can exact no truckling homage where every +member of the tribe is a blood relation. But for conquest, Fiji would +have been a country of tiny independent states, no larger than a single +village could contain. From conquests sprang the great confederations. +The chief of a conquering tribe rose to be head of a complicated social +body; the members of his tribe an aristocracy supported by the industry +of an alien plebs composed of tribes they had conquered and fugitives +from other conquerors. These too had had their tribal gods and tribal +chiefs, but what have men, reduced to open slavery, to do with such +dignities? A generation of ill-usage sufficed to wipe out the very +memory of independence. For god and chief alike they had their suzerain, +upon whose indulgence their lives depended. + +Besides the fortune of war, the chiefs owed much of the enormous +increase in their power to their system of land tenure. The land +boundaries of the tribe were telescopic. Every tribe owned as much land +as it could defend against the encroachments of its neighbours. There +was, as will presently be explained, individual ownership of land +actually under cultivation, but all waste land was held, theoretically, +in common. And, since the mouthpiece of the tribal will was the chief, +the waste lands were at his disposal. So long as he gave it to his own +people to use he gained no power, but as soon as fugitives, driven out +by other conquerors, began to run to him for protection, and were +granted land on which to settle, he found a body of tenants springing up +who regarded him as their personal overlord. It was to him that they +paid their rent in kind and in labour; it was to him, and not to the +tribe, that they gave feudal service in war. The chief of a great +federation had thus two distinct classes of vassals--serfs conquered in +war, and feudal tenants. + +Before the advent of Europeans and the introduction of firearms, the +confederations were never very large. Tribe fought with tribe on equal +terms; the besieged had an advantage over the besiegers. Every tribe had +a natural stronghold, stored with food and water for many weeks, into +which it would retire in times of danger. If they did not carry it at +the first assault, by surprise, or by treachery from within, the +besiegers went home to await a better opportunity, for the slow +starvation of a garrison by organized siege had never occurred to any +native leader. The largest confederations known to us by +tradition--Verata and Thakaundrove--controlled less than ten miles of +coast line. With the introduction of gunpowder in 1808 native wars +became far more destructive. The powerful chiefs immediately doubled +their power, and yet Thakombau, the head of the most powerful +confederation of all, even in the zenith of his power, never ruled +directly over more than fifteen thousand people, though, undoubtedly, he +could bring influence to bear upon half the group. + +[Illustration: Bringing first fruits to Mbau.] + +The development of autocracy followed certain well-defined lines. At +first the chief was priest and king after the order of Melchisedec of +the Ammonite city, Jebus--that is to say, he received divine honours +while wielding the temporal authority. But as the tribe grew the +temporal power became irksome to him. The tradition of the founding of +the temporal line in Tonga about the beginning of the seventeenth +century throws the clearest light upon the origin of the spiritual and +temporal lines. A king of Tonga had goaded his people into assassinating +him; and his son, after avenging his murder, sought to put a buffer +between himself and his rebellious subjects by delegating his executive +power to his younger brother, reserving to himself all the solid +advantages of his high station without any responsibilities. Safe from +popular outbreak, he began to enjoy increased veneration owing to the +more rigid tabu that hedged him in. In another case preserved by +tradition the temporal power was founded by the indolence of the +supreme chief. In order to rid himself of the cares of government, he +constituted his brother his hereditary minister, and bequeathed to his +descendants an ornamental and dignified retirement. The Mikado and the +Shogun are analogues of the Roko Tui and the Vunivalu.[34] + +[Pageheader: ORIGIN OF SPIRITUAL CHIEFS] + +In Fiji, the process of scission was found in every stage of evolution. +Among the Melanesian tribes of the interior it had not begun; in Rewa +the spiritual Roko Tui still wielded the temporal power; in Mbau and +Thakaundrove he was beginning to lose even the veneration due to his +rank. Just as the coast tribes had begun to adopt the Polynesian gods in +addition to their own ancestral mythology, so they were more ready to +follow the Polynesian example of separating the temporal from the +spiritual chiefs. + +The constitution of Mbau may be taken as a type of the Fijian +constitution. First in rank was the Roko Tui Mbau (Sacred Lord of Mbau). +His person was sacred. He never engaged personally in war. He was the +special patron of the priests, who, in return, were unstinting in their +insistence upon his divinity. He alone might wear his turban during the +kava-drinking. It was tabu to strangle his widow, though the widows of +no other chief were exempt from paying that last honour to the dead. At +his death no cry of lamentation might be uttered, but a solemn blast was +sounded on the conch-shell, as at the passing of a god. + +Next in rank came the temporal chief, the Vu-ni-valu (Root of War, or +Skilled in War), who was at once Commander-in-Chief and executive +Sovereign. He never consulted the Roko Tui Mbau in temporal affairs, and +he enjoyed tabu privileges little inferior to those paid to his +spiritual suzerain. The Vunivalu always belonged to the Tui Kamba (Lords +of Kamba) sept, and the Roko Tui Mbau to the Vusaratu ("Chief sept"). + +The Tunitonga, the hereditary adviser and spokesman of the chiefs, +ranked next. He was the state matchmaker, and disposed absolutely of the +young chief girls, whose natural guardian he was. + +The Mbete (priests) and Mata-ni-vanua (Royal messengers, _lit._ +Messengers of the land) were next in consequence, though the chiefs of +the Fisher septs wielded influence in proportion to their force of +character. + +Each sept had its own quarter of the town, the heralds at its eastern +extremity, next the Vusarandave (hereditary soldiers), and the fishermen +nearest to the mainland. Across the narrow straits were the planting +lands of the subject tribes, who might be seen at every low tide, wading +across the ford with contributions of food. + + +The Confederation in Decay. + +The first effects of foreign interference was to strengthen the power of +the chiefs; the second, to destroy it. For more than two years Mbau +enjoyed a monopoly of muskets, which enabled her almost to double the +extent of her territory. To the eastward the kingdom of Somosomo +swallowed up the whole of Taveuni and the eastern portion of Vanua Levu, +while the Tongan immigrants under Maafu first conquered the Lau group, +and then threatened the independence of Mbau itself. The immediate +effect of subjugation was to blight the traditions and religion of the +conquered tribe, for independence is as necessary to their life as light +and air to the life of a plant. It is astonishing how quickly the status +of a Fijian is reflected in his bearing. In an assemblage of Fijians an +unskilled eye can pick out the members even of tribes who were subdued +within the memory of men still living, by their slinking gait, their +shifty eye, and the humble curve of their spine. A few years have +changed them from warriors into beaten curs. Their chief, a hewer of +wood like themselves, ceases at once to inspire respect; they approach +him now without crying the _tama_, the prerogative he used to share with +the gods themselves; they keep the _tama_ for their alien conqueror and +his gods; of their own they pretend to have forgotten the very name, nor +dare they any more to claim _tauvu_ relationship with any cousin-tribe +that has preserved its freedom. They have dropped out of the social +fabric, and chief and subject alike spend their lives in weaving ignoble +plots to alleviate the squalor of their servitude. + +[Pageheader: INFLUENCE OF CONQUEST] + +Far otherwise the conqueror. He who, but a generation back, would have +sweated in the yam-field with his men, now grew fat upon the +contributions of his tenants and the toil of his kitchen-men. His harem +was crowded with the daughters of allied chiefs, and the fairest girls +from every conquered village. Panders and sycophants flocked to him; +dwarfs and negroes and renegade Europeans were in his train; buffoons +told dirty stories over his evening kava bowl; poets forged heroic +genealogies for him, and when he went abroad men squatted on the ground +with averted faces and _tama_'ed. Every vessel that he used was sacred, +and brought death to any lowborn man that touched it. Every member of +his tribe swam upon the tide of his prosperity. His village became a +village of chiefs, with serfs of their own to plant food for them, where +the youths were trained to the chief-like exercises of war and +seamanship and dancing, and the old men spent their nights in feasting +and concocting plots for extending their dominion. As for the Roko Tui, +the Sacred Chief among the conquered tribes--there being no place for +such rank among serfs--he was fain to surrender his sanctity; among the +conquerors he degenerated into an ornamental symbol of the powers +divine. + +The chief was seen at his best among those tribes that had preserved +their independence without seeking to extend their borders. Among the +Melanesian tribes in the western half of Vitilevu, in a number of +isolated islands, such as Vatulele and the Yasawa islands, the chief was +veritably the father of his people. Neither his dignity, nor the +sanctity of his person depended, as with us, upon any adventitious +barriers between himself and his subjects. Familiarity bred no contempt. +Like them, he wore nothing but the _malo_; with them he plied the +digging-stick at planting time. And yet, though any might approach him, +none forgot the honours due to him. When Roko Tui Nandronga worked +himself into a drunken fury over the accidental burning of his kitchen, +his whole people, chiefs and all, besmeared themselves with ashes, and +crawled to his feet to sue forgiveness; and when the Colonial Government +threatened to deport him for unjust exactions levied on his people, the +very people who had suffered from his extortions implored the Governor +to reinstate him, saying that they loved him as a father. "Can we +picture," asks Teufelsdroeckh, "a naked Duke of Wellington addressing a +naked House of Lords?" Had the sage seen a Fijian chief among his people +he would have marked how the naked brown skin may be clothed in a +divinity that needs no visible garment to lend it dignity. + +The first blow at the power of the chiefs was struck unconsciously by +the missionaries. Neither they nor the chiefs themselves realized how +closely the government of the Fijians was bound up with their religion. +No sooner had a missionary gained a foothold in a chief village than the +tabu was doomed, and on the tabu depended half the people's reverence +for rank. The tabu died hard, as such institutions should die. The +first-fruits were still presented to the chief, but they were no longer +carried from him to the temple, since their excuse--as an offering to +persuade the ancestors to grant abundant increase--had passed away. No +longer supported by the priests, the Sacred Chief fell upon evil days. +Disestablished and disendowed, he was left to subsist upon the bounty of +the temporal chief, whose power and dignity had, as yet, suffered no +eclipse, for it was not the interest of the Europeans who were now +crowding into the group to attack it. The chiefs guaranteed their lives +and property, the chiefs sold them land, and protected them in their +occupation of it; the chiefs levied contributions to pay for the +contracts they had made with them; and, in return, the white men were +always ready with muskets and ammunition to help them to keep rebellious +vassals in check. + +[Pageheader: SIR A. GORDON'S NATIVE POLICY] + +The temporal chiefs sounded the death-knell of their privileges when +they were persuaded to cede their country to the British Government. +Had they realized the consequences they would have preferred the danger +of conquest by Maafu and his Tongans, or bullying by American +commanders, as more than one has since confessed to me. But Thakombau +was weary of bearing the brunt of European aggression, and when +Thakombau persuaded, who was strong enough to hold aloof? The British +Government began wisely enough considering the information at its +disposal. Sir Arthur Gordon (now Lord Stanmore), the first governor, was +gifted with a rare sympathy with native modes of thought. With the +experience of the disastrous native wars in New Zealand before his eyes, +he realized the importance of governing the country through its own +strong native government. To deprive the chiefs of any of their +privileges, to deny them all share in the government of their people, +would have been to convert, not only them, but their people into +enemies. To accept and improve the native system was at once the most +just, the most safe and the most economical policy. His expert advisers +were Sir John Thurston and Mr. David Wilkinson, the former deeply versed +in native politics, and the latter in native customs, if not in +customary law. With their help he set about enclosing the natives as it +were within a ring fence. The islands were divided into provinces +coinciding roughly with the boundaries of the existing confederations as +he found them. The ruling chiefs were made lieutenant-governors under +the title of _Roko Tui_, borrowed from the Sacred Chiefs who had no +longer any use for it; the province was sub-divided into districts under +chiefs with the title of _Mbuli_ ("Crowned"); the system of village +councils was extended to the province, and to the high chiefs +themselves, who met once a year to make recommendations to the Governor. +War and cannibalism were of course put down, and polygamy, which had +long been forbidden by the missionaries, was discountenanced, but +otherwise the existing native customary law was embodied in a code of +regulations passed expressly for the natives to be administered by +native magistrates under European supervision. + + +Lala + +It was here that the first mistake was made. The chiefs' privileges were +well understood; their limitations had never been studied. It was known +that the chief could command the gratuitous service of his subjects, +provided that he fed them while they were working for him. It was not +understood that each confederation had its own system of privileges. Mr. +David Wilkinson, the Native Commissioner, had a most complete knowledge +of the Confederation of Mbua, and he seems somewhat hastily to have +assumed that the Mbua system prevailed _mutatis mutandis_ throughout the +group. Nor does he appear to have clearly understood the difference +between the chiefs' personal privileges and his right to impose taxation +for the good of the commune. + +In the native mind the distinction is very clearly marked. There are, in +fact, two distinct kinds of _lala_. The first, which I will call +"personal _lala_" was the payment of rent in the form of tribute or +service to certain powerful chiefs by the tenants settled upon their +land. The second, which is best described as "communal _lala_" was +taxation in the form of tribute or service on behalf of the commune. + +[Pageheader: LEVY BY _LALA_] + +It is necessary to draw a clear line of distinction between communal and +personal _lala_, because while the former was universal throughout Fiji, +the latter was limited to those confederations in which the chief had +private rights in the land, and also because the two forms of _lala_ +originated in totally different institutions, which are by no means +confounded in the native mind. By Europeans, both official and +"anti-official," they seem always to have been confounded. To the +critics of the Colonial Government the word _lala_ is synonymous with +"authorized oppression," or, as a recent writer chooses to call it, +"legalized robbery"; to the framers of the Native Regulation No. 4. of +1877, the two were so confused that they are enumerated haphazard +without any attempt at classification. In that regulation _lala_ is +limited to house-building, planting gardens, road-making, feeding +strangers, cutting and building canoes, and turtle fishing. By +Regulation No. 7 of 1892, the communal aspect of _lala_ was extended by +giving any resolution of the Provincial or District Council that had +received the written assent of the Governor the force of law. The +exercise of _lala_ was limited to the Roko Tui of the province, or the +_Mbuli_ of a district, and the penalty for disobedience to their lawful +commands was a fine not exceeding 2s., or fourteen days' imprisonment in +default, with a slightly increased penalty for a subsequent offence. + +Now, of the limitation set forth in the Native Regulations, +house-building, canoe-building, planting gardens and fishing turtle +belong to personal _lala_, though they may occasionally be applied for +communal purposes; while road-making, feeding strangers and complying +with resolutions of the Native Council are certainly exercised for the +good of the commune. And yet the Regulation, put into the hands of a +number of official chiefs, by no means entitled them to personal +privileges that were only due from tenants to their landlord. + + +Communal Lala + +In its communal aspect _lala_ is the axis of the primitive commonwealth. +A native cannot by himself build his house, or dig his plantation, and +he has no money with which to pay others for doing so. Accordingly, he +applies to the chief, who, acting as the mouthpiece of the commune, +summons all the able-bodied men to come to his assistance. In return he +must provide food for them, and he must take his turn in helping each of +them whenever his services are required. Both in the larger +confederations and the miniature republics of the inland tribes, this +kind of _lala_ is applied by the chief of sept or chief of village with +the consent of the council of elders. + +Communal _lala_ is also indispensable for the performance of all public +works, such as road-making, bridge-building; the erection of public +meeting-houses, such as the church or _Mbure-ni-sa_, and it was also +legitimately applied to such quasi-communal services as the repair of +the chief's canoe or house, the planting of food and catching fish, for +the entertainment of strangers coming to trade with the tribe. In this +respect the _lala_ corresponds closely with our system of local rates. +When exercised by the supreme chief to levy contributions for the +equipment of an army or an embassy, it may fitly be compared with public +taxation. Without it, the condition of the natives' houses, already bad, +would become worse; their crops, already diminished, would become +insufficient for their support; their villages, often now neglected, +would become unfit for habitation, and the purchase and maintenance of +boats and vessels become impossible. Where it has been abolished, as in +Tonga and the Tongan community settled in Fiji, the necessity for +combination is so keenly felt that the people have evolved a substitute +of their own. Men and women voluntarily form themselves into clubs +called _Kabani_ (company) under various fanciful names, which are called +together under the direction of an elected president to build houses, +plant gardens, and do other combined work for one another. Disobedience +to the order of the president is visited by a money fine, or by +expulsion. A person who belongs to no club can obtain no assistance from +his fellows. + +I am not sufficiently acquainted with the history of the _corvee_ in +Egypt or the _rajakarya_ of Ceylon to say whether they, like the _lala_, +were instituted to meet the necessity of combination among a primitive +people. The _rajakarya_, we know, was abolished because the high chiefs +much abused it, but they did not begin to do so until the law of custom +had begun to decay, owing to intercourse with Europeans. We had the +_lala_ ourselves up to the thirteenth century, or the magnificent +churches of the Norman and Gothic periods would never have been built by +people who were content to live in thatched hovels: in Scotland it +survived until much later. + +[Pageheader: LIMITATIONS OF THE _LALA_] + +The communal _lala_ has suffered far less decay than the personal. The +chief had no selfish interest to tempt him to push it to excess; the +people felt it no injustice, though they were compelled to supply +extravagant contributions of food and property for the frequent +_solevu_. Nor do they grumble at being compelled to contribute a sum of +some L5000 annually for the purchase and repair of vessels owned in +common, for these exactions, burdensome as they are, minister to their +natural vanity. It was when the government applied the principle of +communal _lala_ to sanitation that they began to cry out, for this was a +clear infraction of the law of custom. Their fathers did well enough +with a road twelve inches wide, with bridges formed of a single slippery +log, with village squares unweeded save on the occasion of some great +public function. When the chief orders the widening of roads and +bridges, he is not voicing the want of the commune but the will of the +foreigners. + +It is worth noting as an illustration of communal _lala_ that for the +first few years after annexation the communal vessels usually belonged +to the province. The people who contributed the purchase money did not +grumble, because they regarded the collection as a personal levy by +their chief. The vessel was at the disposal of the _Roko Tui_, who +regarded it as his private yacht. But as soon as the people grasped the +idea of owning a vessel in common, they began to subscribe for district +and village boats, in which they enjoyed an ample return for their +money. The government exercises a wise control over such collections. No +money may be levied until the resolution of the Native Council has +received the sanction of the government, and sanction is never accorded +when the levy is likely to put an undue burden upon the people. And here +again is an instance of how one cannot tamper with native customs +without letting loose a pack of unforeseen evils. The collection of +money for the purchase of vessels is a useful spur to activity; it +maintains a profitable colonial industry without putting any strain upon +the natives. But with increased facilities for travelling there is +growing up a practice on the part of both men and women of wandering +from island to island on the village boat, billeting themselves upon the +people they visit, and leaving their families to take care of +themselves. + + +Personal Lala + +If there had been but one system of land tenure throughout the group, +the loose limitation of the personal _lala_ enacted by the government +would have worked well enough, so long as the hereditary chief had been +the holder of the government office. But among no primitive people in +the world, perhaps, is found so great a diversity of institutions +relating to land as among the Fijians. The group being the meeting +ground of the Polynesians, whose ruling aristocracy claimed special +rights in the soil, and the Melanesians, whose institutions are +republican and who hold their waste lands in common, there is every +grade of land tenure ranging from absolute feudalism or serfdom to +peasant proprietorship. And the systems are further complicated by the +natural peculiarities of the soil; in river deltas where cultivable land +is continually shifting and but little labour is required to reclaim +fields from the mud flats, ownership becomes necessarily individual, and +a regular system of transfer springs up. + +For several years it did not occur to any one that the right to personal +_lala_ was merely a property in land. For the first few years after +annexation the government had enough to do in settling the land claims +of Europeans without touching the thorny question of native titles. The +Lands Commission established the fact that the chiefs had no right to +sell land without consulting the wishes of their people, but it was +outside the scope of the inquiry to define what their interest in the +land really was. That the government had a suspicion of the truth is +shown by Section 4 of Regulation No. 5 of 1881, in which it is provided +that 40 per cent, of the rent of lands leased to Europeans is to be +given to the Turanga i taukei--a status that exists in all the large +confederations, but which is unknown among the tribes of Melanesian +origin in western Vitilevu. + +[Illustration: Building a Chief's House.] + +[Pageheader: PERSONAL _LALA_ IS RENT] + +It was not until 1890 that the government found leisure to attack the +native boundaries, and then the truth came out. By that time the natives +had come to regard land from a new point of view. The principal +commodity of old Fiji was food. Land had no value except in so far as +it produced food, and, therefore, the mere possession of it was not +coveted unless there were inferiors living on it as cultivators. But as +soon as it was realized that land, when leased to Europeans, produced +money, the earth-hunger of the chiefs increased a thousandfold. They now +laid claims to lands which, twenty years before, they would not have +accepted as a gift, and tried to prove their case by quoting instances +in which the resident cultivators had done them _lala_ service. The +rival claimants would as eagerly assert that the services in question +were given in token of gratitude for protection, or out of mere +neighbourly feeling in times of scarcity--for anything, in short, but +rent, and would allege delicate shades of distinction in the ritual +employed. But all alike admitted that a chief's interest in land would +be established if he could prove an ancient right to order gardens to be +planted by subject tribes, or to demand services from them in +house-building, fishing or contributions for the entertainment of +visitors. In few cases did the chiefs claim an absolute proprietorship +in the soil; they admitted that the land was vested in the people living +upon it, subject to the usual tribute. + +Personal _lala_, then, was a landed interest. The chiefs of the large +confederations had acquired it partly by appropriating the common lands +of the tribe, and partly by the conquest or protection of the weaker +tribes that made up their confederations. And if this seems to be but a +slender title to so enormous a privilege, let it be remembered that the +large landed proprietors in Europe have come by their property in no +more regular or legitimate a fashion. Until the establishment of the +Copyhold Commission some of the landed interests in England were quite +as divergent from modern ideas as _lala_. Yet, among those who advocate +that property in land should be transferred from the landlord to the +State, there are few who propose to make the change except upon the +basis of fair compensation to the landlords. It is a recognized +principle of modern legislation that whenever a class has acquired +certain rights by prescription, no measure injuriously affecting such +rights shall be enacted without fair compensation. Policy as well as +justice made it incumbent upon the British Government to confirm in +their ancient rights the chiefs who had voluntarily ceded their country. + +But the attempt to reduce these rights to written law was most +unfortunate. Chiefs who were landlords were, at a stroke of the pen, +given the right to exact personal _lala_ from tribes who were not their +tenants; and throughout quite half the group, the right to personal +_lala_ was conferred upon chiefs who were not landlords at all, and had +no claim to it whatever. Confusion became worse confounded when the +hereditary chiefs were expelled from office for misconduct, and persons +of inferior rank were appointed to succeed not only to their official +duties, but to their private rights to personal _lala_. Had the question +been understood it would have been easy to frame a regulation of +limiting the exercise of personal _lala_ to those chiefs entitled to it +by ancient usage, allowing each disputed case to be decided on its +merits, and to limit the holders of government offices of _Roko Tui_ and +_Mbuli_ to _lala_ for communal purposes. It says much for the tenacity +of customary law that the chiefs took so little advantage of the +ignorance of the government--an ignorance that may be compared with the +mistakes made by the Indian government in the matter of the Ryots. The +chiefs of the miniature republics of western Fiji have never attempted +to claim personal _lala_, and even chiefs, such as _Roko Tui Ra_, who +were brought from other provinces by the government to be _Roko Tui_ +over people who had never been federated under a paramount chief, have +used their powers very sparingly, although they were placed in the false +position of having to maintain large establishments on very insufficient +salaries. + +[Pageheader: _LALA_ RECEIVES LEGAL SANCTION] + +The Colonial government has been bitterly attacked by certain European +critics for permitting _lala_ to exist at all. Insufficient knowledge of +the subject has betrayed them into expressions as inaccurate as they are +intemperate. "Slavery," and "Legalized Robbery," are not the strongest +terms that have been applied to _lala_, and the people have been +described as sunk in apathy and despair under the exactions of their +chiefs. Let us see how far these charges are borne out by facts. The +native regulations that defined the _lala_ also provided that--"If any +town shall desire to commute its _lala_ work due to any chief for a +fixed annual payment in money or in kind, and such chief shall have +accepted such commutation with the Governor's sanction, the right of +_lala_ cannot again be resumed by him. A record of all such commutations +shall be kept in the Native Affairs Office." Although many native +communities now receive large incomes from rents and surplus taxes, from +which commutation could be paid, there has been no single instance of an +application to commute the _lala_ during the thirty-one years in which +the Regulation has been in force. If the people felt the _lala_ to be +oppressive they would not have hesitated to tender the trifling annual +payment that would free them from it. There is no doubt that the _lala_ +has been pushed beyond its legitimate uses, but always by the chiefs of +the confederations. Personal _lala_ cannot be legitimately applied +without the reciprocal obligation of providing the workers with food +(_vakaotho_), and when the chief neglects this obligation, or uses the +_lala_ in the execution of work for Europeans, the _lala_ at once +becomes, not legalized robbery, for it is illegal, but oppression. An +instance of this occurred before annexation, when, as already related, +the American Government had fined king Thakombau L9000 for the +destruction of Vice-Consul Williams's house in a fire that was probably +accidental. The people of the Tailevu coast were ordered to fish +_beche-de-mer_ for sale to Europeans in order to meet the American +claim, but they refused, though they knew that refusal might cost them +their lives. For Thakombau they would cheerfully have stripped +themselves of all they had, but to collect produce destined for a +foreigner was an infringement of the law of custom. + +The instances of oppressive _lala_ nearly all came from one +province--that of Thakaundrove--governed by a young chief who, having +been educated in Sydney, wished to live in European style beyond his +means. For abuse of the _lala_, especially in levying goods for sale to +Europeans, he was punished more than once by the government. The people +who complained against him were those over whom the hereditary right to +_lala_ did not exist, and not those who were the natural tenants of his +estates. It is a significant fact that although the people have largely +lost their fear of lodging complaints against their chiefs, most of the +complaints that are made allege wrongful division of money or land, +while very few indeed are based upon abuse of the _lala_. The commission +appointed in 1893 to inquire into the causes of the decrease of the +natives went very fully into these charges, and reported that throughout +the largest portion of the group, no real discontent existed, and that +in those provinces where the chief had influence enough to abuse the +_lala_, the reported discontent was rather in the nature of grumbling at +the inexorable regularity of the call for tax and communal work than at +the chief's _lala_, for punctual recurrence is peculiarly abhorrent to +the desultory mind of the Fijian. These murmurs, which are not thought +worthy of being formulated in complaints, naturally reach the ears of +the resident Europeans, to whom they are given as excuses for broken +promises, and for disinclination to work. The fact is that _lala_ by a +hereditary chief, unless pushed to great excess, is not considered a +hardship by a Fijian. And seeing how lately the chiefs enjoyed absolute +power, and how the temptations laid in their way by the introduction of +money have increased, it is surprising how little they have abused their +power. It is unreasonable to expect from them an entire freedom from +errors which are not unknown in our own civilized society, where the +rich take advantage of the poor, the strong of the weak, the shrewd of +the simple. + +[Pageheader: SPOLIATION SANCTIONED BY CUSTOM] + +Defects are common to all social systems, and at the most the legal +recognition of the so-called communal system and the government of the +chiefs was a temporary compromise intended to last only until the people +could walk alone. The hostile critics of the system have viewed the +question solely by the light of modern civilization, holding the belief +that whatever fails to coincide with that system must be forcibly +dragged into line with it. They have forgotten that no social system is +perfect, that in civilized society there are many who own more property +than they can profitably use, while others have scarcely enough to +maintain existence. Our own system is in a process of transition. Our +upper classes, formerly basing their claim of rank upon the purity of +their descent, now rely upon the possession of wealth. The relations of +master and servant having passed from slavery to wage-earning, are now +in the first stage of evolution from wage-earning to profit-sharing. The +system may some day reach perfection, perhaps in the direction of state +socialism, but it is not in its present state a model upon which the +Fijian should be made to mould itself. + +Two examples of spoliation recognized by customary law should here be +cited, because though they are "robbery" legalized by the law of custom +(albeit unlawful in the eye of the government), it has never occurred to +any one of the victims to seek redress. The first was exercised by what +is known as the right of the _vasu_ which has its origin in the peculiar +marriage laws of the Fijians. Every Fijian was said to be _vasu_ to the +clan of his mother, and in theory had a lien over all the property of +her family, but of course only the sons of women of high rank would dare +to claim such a right, though low-born _vasus_ could always count upon a +welcome at the hands of their cousins. To the rights of the _vasu levu_ +(great _vasu_), _e.g._ the son of the reigning chief's daughter or +sister who was royal on both sides, there was practically no limit. He +might ransack the houses, sweep the plantations bare, kill the pigs and +violate the women without a murmur from the unfortunate dependants of +his kinsmen. In this way villages are occasionally swept of everything +of value. I do not think that in former days the people felt anything +but honour in being so singled out for plunder, and even now, when they +are fully aware of their legal right to refuse, the ties of custom are +stronger than their new-born love of independence. They give their +property with an outward show of good-humour, and vent their +mortification in grumbling among themselves, and to the neighbouring +Europeans. I remember Mbuli Malolo, who, as chiefs went, had a high +reputation for care of the welfare of his people, taking his +ten-year-old daughter, just recovered from sickness, for a tour round +the poverty-stricken islands of the Mamanutha group. The little girl was +led from house to house to point out every article of clothing and +furniture that happened to take her childish fancy; and, everything she +chose being swept up and carried instantly to her canoe, she left a +trail of destitution behind her. Though the poor people knew that I had +power to redress their grievance, they made no complaint; they only +mentioned the matter to account for their abject poverty. In 1887 I +offered to interfere on behalf of certain natives of Koro, thus +despoiled by one of the Mbau chiefs, but the natives themselves begged +me to take no action, saying that it was their custom to give whatever +their chiefs asked, and that their grumbling to Europeans who had given +me the information was not to be taken seriously. In this they could not +have been actuated by fear of the chief's resentment, for he belonged to +another province, and had no official relations with them. + +[Pageheader: NATIVES MAY COMMUTE _LALA_] + +The other example is the curious custom arising out of the tie of +_vei-tauvu_, which, though not due to the influence or authority of +chiefs, has also sometimes the effect of stripping a village of all +movable property. As already explained, the people of two villages, who, +though now widely separated, worship the same god--that is, trace their +origin to a common source--are said to be _vei-tauvu_, and have the +privilege, when visiting one another, of killing the domestic animals, +stripping the food plantations and appropriating all chattel property +belonging to their hosts. A remarkable instance of this occurred in +1892. The formerly influential, but now quite insignificant, island of +Nayau, on the eastern confines of the group, contrived, with the utmost +difficulty, to raise a hundred pounds for the purchase of a cutter. In +due course the people came to Suva to take over their little vessel. On +the first night out, whether by accident or design, they dropped anchor +at the chief village of the tribe of Notho. Under ordinary circumstances +they would have behaved themselves as befitted persons of their +insignificance, but, no sooner had they anchored than a deputation of +the Notho chiefs put off in a canoe to bid them welcome as brothers of +the _tauvu_. In the speeches of welcome allusion was made to the old +tradition of the origin of the Notho tribe, how, in times long past, a +princess of Nayau had been swallowed by a monstrous shark, and how a +Notho chief having slain and ripped the monster, rescued her and took +her to wife. Her rank being superior to his, her children worshipped the +Tutelary God of Nayau, which was a shark, and the two tribes became +_vei-tauvu_--that is to say, of common origin. In these poverty-stricken +islanders the men of Notho were now to recognize the elder branch of +their family. It took a little persuasion to convince the visitors of +the full extent of their good fortune, but when they were convinced they +made ample amends for their neglect. While the men of Notho sat passive +in their huts, they ran riot through the village, tearing down the +cocoanuts and plantains, rifling the yam stores, and slaughtering every +pig and fowl that did not escape by flight. They destroyed, indeed, far +more than the hold of their little vessel could contain, and they left +their dear brothers of the tauvu with nothing but complimentary speeches +to console them for the famine they would have to face. + +Unlike the _vasu_, the _vei-tauvu_ was used reciprocally. The Notho clan +cherishes the intention of visiting Nayau, and exacting from their +brothers an eye for an eye. But the custom, like the tie of relationship +in which it is founded, is already in decay, being incompatible with the +growth of modern ideas of property. Had it been frequently exercised the +government would long ago have put a stop to it. + +The Commission of 1893 recommended the government to encourage the +chiefs' tenants to commute the obligation of personal service. In Tonga, +on the abolition of the personal right of _lala_, the chiefs were +compensated by being made Lords of the Manor over large tracts of land +which yielded a fixed rental from every native occupying them, and from +every European settler to whom the landlord chose to lease land. The +Crown collected all rents and paid them over to the landlord, who, +however, had no right of eviction. The tenants held their land on +hereditary tenure, and default in payment of rent was visited with +distraint instead of eviction. This system was possible in Tonga, +because in ancient times the land there was regarded as the property of +the spiritual chief, the Tui Tonga, who could thus be made to grant +manors to his inferior chiefs without doing violence to native ideas: +but in Fiji, where the rights of the Crown have never been insisted on, +and the land is for the most part vested in the commune, such a scheme +would be impracticable. + +In Fiji the time has come for adopting one of three schemes, for the +tendency towards the sub-division of the communal land among individuals +is growing so rapidly that unless something is done immediately, the +government will find itself face to face with a very serious difficulty. +Either the tenants should be induced to buy out their chiefs' interests +for a sum down to be invested for the chief by the government, or an +annual money compensation in lieu of all personal _lala_ should be fixed +by the native land court; or in those districts in which land is likely +to be leased to Europeans, portions of the communal land should be +vested absolutely in the chief in lieu of all personal _lala_, with the +power to lease, but not to sell, his holding. The economical aspect of +this latter arrangement would be to throw open to settlement on easy +terms considerable areas of native land in various parts of the colony, +for the chief would eagerly welcome tenants who would yield him an +income in money in lieu of the services of his people. While many of the +chiefs would gladly accept such commutation, it is doubtful whether the +people, superabundant though their land is, would voluntarily part with +any portion of it for an equivalent, so slender in their estimation is +immunity from personal service. Yet, so tenacious is the law of custom, +that for some time after they had commuted their obligation it is +probable that the people would continue to give their services +voluntarily to their chief, whose prestige would be in nowise affected +by the legislative restrictions imposed by foreigners. + +[Illustration: Spoil from the plantations--(Taro, Cocoanuts and +Yangkona).] + +At the end of 1898, however, a step was taken towards compelling +obedience to the Native Regulations in the appointment of four +European travelling inspectors who divide the group between them, and go +from village to village, persuading, exhorting, and, in the last resort, +threatening with prosecution persons who neglect to comply with the +Native Regulations concerning sanitation and the planting of food. It is +too early to look for any tangible results from this measure, of which +the success must chiefly depend upon the tact of the persons selected +for the appointments. But, in so far as it is a recognition of the fact +that the people cannot govern themselves, and that it is safe to +substitute Europeans for native agents now that the powerful chiefs of +confederations are passing away, leaving a mere tithe of their power to +degenerate descendants, it may be a step in the right direction. + +[Pageheader: COMMUNISM THROUGH _KEREKERE_] + + +Community of Property through Kere-Kere + +The Fiji commoner reckons his wealth, not by the amount of his property, +but by the number of friends from whom he can beg. There is no time in +the history of the Fijians when literal communism obtained. The tribal +waste land, it is true, was held in common, but the land actually in +cultivation for the time being, and the cocoanut and other fruit trees +were the recognized property of the man who planted them and of his +heirs. Poultry and pigs were held individually, and the ownership was +jealously guarded, the poultry being marked in various ways to secure +identification, and native manufactures of all kinds were the individual +property of the makers. + +But, while individual rights were thus far recognized, the claims of the +tribe and of relationship were so strong as to constitute a lien upon +all individual property. A man who would regard the theft of his pig as +a deadly injury, and who would resent a stone thrown at his pig as an +insult offered to himself, would not feel aggrieved if called upon by +communal _lala_ to provide food for visitors to the village, even though +they were unwelcome, nor would he think of refusing any of his +possessions to a fellow-townsman who begged them of him, consoling +himself with the reflection that the gift affords him a claim upon the +borrower at some future time. + +What the _solevu_ was between tribes, the _kere-kere_ was between +individuals--a mere substitute for trade by barter. A man had more salt +in his house than he wanted; his more needy neighbours begged it of him. +He in his turn, wanting yams for his daughter's marriage feast, has a +claim upon each one of them. And so the system works out to a balance. +It may be the first stage in evolution from the state in which the +proprietary unit was the tribe, or more probably it is the most ancient +of all laws of property, and dates from the day when Palaeolithic man +first found a bludgeon that balanced to his liking. Indeed, it is +difficult to imagine how primitive society could exist without some such +custom as communal _lala_ and _kere-kere_ within the limits of the +tribe. So long as there was but one standard of industry and all men +worked alike, the system answered well enough; but, as soon as each +individual became free to indulge his natural indolence, having no +longer the stimulus of fear, the custom was mutilated. The industrious +had no longer any incentive to industry, knowing that whatever they +accumulated would be preyed upon by their more idle relations. Fear of +public opinion still prevents the richer native from refusing what is +asked of him, though he knows very well that the recipient of his bounty +is too idle and thriftless ever to be in a position to yield him an +equivalent. + +[Pageheader: THE FATE OF A REFORMER] + +_Kere-kere_, which was formerly the pivot of native society, now wars +unceasingly against the mercantile progress of the people. One might +multiply instances of the resentment shown by Fijians against any of +their number who tries to improve his position, or accumulate property, +by braving the ridicule of those who would beg of him. In the few cases +in which Fijians have shown sufficient independence to defy the +importunities of their friends, they have been made the victims of a +kind of organized boycott well calculated to deter others from +attempting to follow their example. There is the case of Tauyasa of +Naselai on the Rewa river, who had a banana plantation and paid coolies +and Fijians to work for him. His industry prospered so that he was able +to buy a cutter and a horse, and furniture for his house. To the chiefs +who flattered him, and the host of idle relations who wanted to live +upon him, he turned a deaf ear, obstinately refusing to part with his +property. They retaliated by circulating infamous stories about him, and +by ridiculing him with the taunt that he was aspiring beyond his +station, and was trying to ape his superiors, the reproach that is of +all the hardest for a Fijian to bear. The worry of this petty +persecution preyed upon his mind so grievously that he took to his mat, +and foretold the day of his death. But not even his memory was allowed +to rest in peace, for the native teacher who preached on the Sunday +following his death, cried, "Who shipped China bananas on the Sabbath?" +and then in the pause that followed, he whispered hoarsely, "Tauyasa!" +Again he shouted, "Where is Tauyasa now?" and slowly twisting his +clenched fist before him he hissed between his teeth, "He is squirming +in the everlasting flames." + +A native of Ndeumba, who used to make a net income of L250 a year from +his banana plantation, and had money deposited in the bank, asked not +long ago whether the government would not make the custom of _kere-kere_ +illegal, so as to furnish him with an excuse for refusing to give money +away. He could only keep his profits to himself by depositing them in +the bank and saying that he had none, and who knew whether the bank +might not some day stop payment as he had heard banks had done in +Australia? If the government would only make begging between relations +illegal, he said he would have a valid excuse for refusing to give; +otherwise he would always be ashamed to refuse money to importunate +relatives. When this was mentioned to some Mbau women of high rank +without the disclosure of the man's name, they at once identified him +with Sakease, whose niggardly spirit appeared to be notorious. + +Occasionally Fijians of the lower classes show real strength of +character in their thirst for progress. The province of Mba in Western +Vitilevu, having no paramount hereditary chief of its own, had been, for +administrative purposes, placed under the control of a _Roko Tui_, +artificially created by the government, and one Sailosi, a well-educated +man of inferior birth and quite unconnected with the province, was +appointed provincial scribe--an office of small pay but great +responsibility, for the scribe is not only the official adviser of the +_Roko Tui_, but also treasurer for the large sums of tax-money and rents +that have from time to time to be distributed. This man did his work +very well, and was proportionately unpopular in the province. Surrounded +by enemies who desired his downfall, he contrived to acquire property +and to live as far as he could in European comfort. He filled his house +with furniture and cultivated a flower garden. After several abortive +conspiracies to deprive him of his post by false accusation and of his +life by witchcraft, incendiaries burned down his house and all it +contained while he was absent on official business in Suva, and on his +return the people pressed forward with pretended expressions of sympathy +to enjoy his discomfiture. He surveyed the ruins of all he possessed +without a sign of emotion, and then he said, "It is well; I have always +wanted a larger house, and now you will have to build me one." And they +did. It is sad to have to record that this man, too, fell a victim to +the temptation of borrowing from the public funds, which so few Fijian +functionaries can resist. + +Though few Fijians can be brought to trust a bank with their savings, +they are quite alive to the advantages of receiving interest. When the +Native Commissioner had been trying to foster a habit of investment +through the pages of the vernacular newspaper he received a letter +enclosing four shillings. "I send you this, sir," ran the letter, "in +order that you may make it give birth. I should like its yield to be one +dollar once a month." + +[Pageheader: FEAR OF RIDICULE OBSTRUCTS PROGRESS] + +It seems to be a common belief among Europeans that one has only to +abolish the power of the chief to secure to every native the fruit of +his own industry. That this is not so is proved by the example of the +Tongans, who, being a less conservative people than the Fijians, are +more inclined towards social progress. The powers of the chiefs were +there abolished by law in 1862, but, during the forty-four years that +have elapsed, the principal result of the change has been to impoverish +the chiefs without enriching the people, while the loss of the power of +combination has deprived them of the power of building any but houses of +the poorest description. And in Fiji the majority, being naturally +indolent, are interested in preserving the ancient right of begging +property from a relation and the fixed determination of the idle +majority to live at the expense of the industrious minority; and the +moral cowardice of the minority in not resisting their organized +spoliation quite neutralizes the encouragement to accumulate savings +which should have resulted from the recognition of private property by +English law. No less in Tonga than in Fiji is ridicule the most +effective weapon of intimidation. The people are enslaved, but to a more +merciless despotism than the tyranny of chiefs--the ridicule of their +fellows. + +If native laws are to exist at all under the new order, this native +habit of _kere-kere_ must be swept away. New wants must be developed, +wealth must take the place of rank as the factor of social importance, +the idle must be made to feel the sting of poverty. The easy-going +native must be made to feel the pangs of the _auri fames_, the earth +must be cursed for him, competition with its unlovely spawn of class +hatred, pauperism, and vagrancy must be cultivated in a people to whom +they are unknown, for at present the Fijians have no spur to the +acquisition of money except the desire for some particular luxury. The +earth need only be tickled to laugh back in harvest. Most of the +necessaries of life are produced equally in every village. When a native +takes produce to the market it is for no abstract desire for the +possession of money; he has in his mind a definite object upon which the +proceeds should be spent; a new _sulu_, a lamp, or a contribution to the +missionary meeting. If he has no such object he will let the surplus +produce of his garden or his net decay rather than undergo the trouble +of taking it to the market. Facts never pointed to a clearer +conclusion. Under his own social Arcadian system the Fijian thrived and +multiplied; under ours it is possible that he may thrive again; but +under a fantastic medley of the two he must inevitably go under. No man +can serve two masters. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 33: _Studies in Ancient History_, 1876.] + +[Footnote 34: That the native tradition was not invented to account for +the tribal constitution is shown in the form of the story, which records +the assassination and the subsequent delegation of power without +assigning any reason for the latter, or noticing the connection between +the two. (See my _Diversions of a Prime Minister_, p. 304.)] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WARFARE + + +The state of incessant intertribal warfare in which the first +missionaries found the Fijians has led certain writers to represent them +as a bloodthirsty and ferocious race whose sudden conversion to the ways +of peace could only be accounted for by supernatural agency. There was +one missionary, however, whose zeal in the cause of his church never +obscured his natural truthfulness. "When on his feet," says Thomas +Williams, "the Fijian is always armed.... This, however, is not to be +attributed to his bold or choleric temper, but to suspicion and dread. +Fear arms the Fijian.... The club or spear is the companion of all +walks; but it is only for defence. This is proved by every man you meet: +in the distance you see him with his weapon shouldered; getting nearer, +he lowers it to his knee, gives you the path, and passes on."[35] + +The same writer puts the annual losses in battle, without counting the +widows strangled to their husbands' manes, at from 1500 to 2000. But +this estimate was made when every tribe had muskets, and the possession +of fire-arms emboldened tribes to take the field who would otherwise +have agreed with their enemy quickly. None of the great confederations +existed before 1800: the influence of Mbau scarcely extended beyond the +mangrove swamps that face the island stronghold; Somosomo did not claim +sovereignty even over the whole of Taveuni; even Rewa and Verata might +have reckoned their territory in acres. In the eighteenth century, +therefore, a belligerent tribe could put but a handful of men into the +field, armed with weapons no deadlier than the spear and the club. As +late as Williams's day the great confederations of Mbau and Rewa could +not, even with the help of mercenaries from Tonga and elsewhere, raise +an army of 1500 without immense difficulty; and, if the annual slaughter +amounted to less than 2000 out of a population of 150,000 almost +constantly at war when three out of every five men carried a musket in +addition to his other arms, the mortality from war must formerly have +been quite insignificant. + +It used, I know, to be said that the mortality was less with fire-arms +than with native weapons, and this was true if the victims of native +marksmanship only were taken into account, but the moral effect of +gunpowder made the club and spear more deadly. The trade muskets which +were imported in the early days by the traders in enormous quantities +were flintlocks and "Tower" muskets, and when fretted by rust were often +more dangerous to the man at the stock than to the man at the muzzle. +The native marksmanship, always erratic, was not improved by a custom, +common in Vatulele and other parts of the group, of sawing off the +greater part of the stock, and firing with the barrel poised in the left +hand at arm's length. + +[Pageheader: WAR FOSTERED MORALITY] + +Few native traditions have come down to us from the eighteenth century, +but there are so many references in tribal histories to an upheaval +among the inland clans obliterating all earlier historical landmarks, +that there is ground for believing that the wars before 1780 were little +more than skirmishes, and that war on a larger scale began with the +convulsion that drove so many of the inland tribes to seek asylum on the +coast, and left so profound an impression on the traditional poetry. War +on a destructive scale is impossible among a people split up into petty +joint families, each bent upon defence rather than conquest. In order to +understand the political state of Fiji two centuries ago one must +examine the institutions of other races that are still in the same +condition. The natives of the d'Entrecasteaux Islands as I saw them in +1888 afford an excellent illustration. As we travelled along the coast +we found that every village had its frontier, a stream-mouth, or a +sapling stuck upright in the sand, beyond which none would venture. The +natives did their best to dissuade us from crossing these boundaries by +representing their neighbours as thirsting for the blood of strangers. +But on the other side of the frontier we found a meek folk, lost in +wonder that we had come through the last stage of our journey unscathed, +so cruel and ferocious were its inhabitants. Every man lived in active +terror of his neighbour, and went armed to his plantation, but this did +not prevent him from being a most skilful and industrious husbandman, or +from living to a good old age. The fear being mutual, there was, in +reality, scarcely any war; an occasional attack upon a woman or an +unarmed man served to keep the hereditary feud alive. + +The social evils of such a state of _morcellement_ may easily be +exaggerated. The trivial loss of life is more than counterbalanced by +the activity, alertness and tribal patriotism which are fostered in an +atmosphere of personal danger. Every man having a selfish interest in +the increase of his own tribe, public opinion compelled the observance +of those customary laws that guarded the lives of women and young +children. The lazy could not then idle away their day in philandering +with the women; the adventurous could not evade their share of the +communal labour by paying long visits to distant islands, even if they +did not find enough to sate their taste for adventure at home. The +_insouciance_ that has followed the decay of custom was impossible, +because the tribe that gave way to it was lost. The teaching of all +history is that man deteriorates as soon as he ceases to struggle either +against hostile man or unkind nature. A barren soil, an overcrowded +community, or a fauna dangerous to man will serve the need, but in a +country where there is food without tillage, land enough for twenty +times the population, and no man-eating tiger or poisonous snake, there +must be war to keep the people from sinking into paralyzing lethargy. It +must be remembered that the most devastating wars are less destructive +than mild epidemics. The slaughter in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, +estimated at 80,000 in France alone, worked out to little more than two +in 1000 of the population--less, in fact, than in recent epidemics of +influenza. + +The causes of war among the Fijians rank in the following order of +importance: Land; women; insults to chiefs (such as a refusal to give up +some coveted object--a club, a shell-ornament, or a tame bird--or the +unlawful eating of turtle, which are the chief's prerogative); wanton +violation of the tabu; despotism or ambition of chiefs whom the +malcontents hope to settle by a blow from behind in the turmoil of +battle. But the most galling insult never provoked war unless success +were assured by the oracles. An apparently restless thirst for war, +which was carefully reported to the enemy, was a mere sham to feel the +temper of the border tribes, and to frighten the other side into +overtures for pardon. The real preparation consisted in rebuilding +ruined temples, clearing away the undergrowth of shrines half-buried in +weeds, and erecting new temples to the manes of chiefs who had lately +attained the Pantheon. The issue then lay with the priests who +interpreted the will of the gods, and grew fat on the offerings +presented to their patrons. + +A favourable oracle depended upon the attitude of the Mbati,[36] or +border tribes, for no priest, in the paroxysm of inspiration, ever +forgot the earthly conditions of success. The borderers in large +confederations, such as Mbau and Rewa, enjoyed extraordinary +independence. They knew their value too well to pay tribute to their +nominal overlord, who, so far from expecting it, fawned upon them, and +took care that they received the lion's share in any division of +property, for any neglect was certain to drive them into coquetting with +the enemy. Though their arrogance was sometimes difficult to bear, he +must stomach the insult, for the chief was twice lost whose Mbati went +over to the other side. On the other hand, the lot of the Mbati was not +altogether to be envied, for they had to bear the first brunt of +attack, and in the struggle between Mbau and Rewa in the second quarter +of the nineteenth century, Mbati of both sides were fighting +incessantly. The constant alarms made the Mbati the finest warriors in +Fiji. Politically they formed an _imperium in imperio_, and their +influence was paramount in the tribal councils. + +[Pageheader: DECLARATION OF WAR] + +Assured of the loyalty of the Mbati, the chief looked about him for +allies. To tribes with which he was connected by marriage, or by the tie +of _tauvu_ (_i.e._ common ancestry), or which owed him a debt for past +help, he sent costly presents, and the enemy, who was certain to be kept +informed of every movement, followed this by sending a costlier gift to +_mbika_ (press down) the first present, and purchase neutrality. +Councils were held, in which the entire plan of campaign was laid down, +and orders were sent to all the tributary villages to hold themselves in +readiness; a refusal always meant, sooner or later, the destruction of +the village. The Mbati and the outlying villages were meanwhile +strengthening their defences, either by entrenching a neighbouring +hill-top or by deepening the moat, and building reed fences with +intricate passages through the earthwork ramparts. + +It sometimes happens that inferior combatants each pin their faith on +the aid of a superior chief, while he, for his own interest, trims +between the two, inclining to the weaker party in order to reduce the +stronger, whom he reassures with flattering messages. In promising his +aid he would, in ancient times, send a spear with a floating streamer; +more recently the custom was to send a club with the message, "I have +sent my club; soon I myself will follow." It was death for tributaries +to _kanakanai yarau_ (_i.e._ eat with both sides). The other side were +kept fully informed of these preliminary negotiations, and had made +similar preparations. No formal declaration of war was therefore +necessary, though there were instances of it. Usually the declaration +took place in more practical fashion by the surprise and slaughter of an +unarmed party of the enemy--women fishing on the reef, or a messenger +returning home in his canoe. On the news of this exploit the war-drum +was beaten and the _tangka_ was held. Thereafter no visitor, though he +belonged properly to the opposing side, might depart. Custom required +that he should fight on the side of his hosts. + +The _tangka_ was a review, held on the eve of leaving the chief village, +and at every halting-place on the way to the battlefield. It was a +ceremony that appealed to the Fijian temperament with peculiar force, +since, to adapt the phrase of a classic in the literature of sport, it +was "the image of war, with less than ten per cent. of its danger." The +warriors, arrayed in all the majesty of their war-harness, met to defy a +distant enemy, to boast of their exploits on a future day, not to the +unsympathizing eyes of strangers, but to a gallery of applauding +friends. The public square of the village was lined with the townsfolk +and their women; at its further end sat the paramount chief and his +warriors. Presently the approach of a party of allies is announced with +a loud shout; led by their chief they file into the open, painted with +black and white, armed and turbaned, their eyes and teeth gleaming white +in terrifying contrast with their painted skins. The _tama_, the shout +of respect, is exchanged, and a man, who is supposed to represent the +enemy, stands forth and cries, "Sai tava! Sai tava! Ka yau mai ka yavia +a mbure!"[37] + +Thereupon begins the _mbole_, or boasting. The leader first, then the +warriors next in degree singly, after them companies of five, or ten, or +twenty step forward into the open, brandishing their weapons before the +presiding chief and boasting of their future exploits at the top of +their voices. Williams records a few specimens of these _mbole_:-- + +[Pageheader: THE BOASTING CEREMONY] + + "Sir, do you know me? Your enemies soon will!" + + "See this hatchet, how clean! To-morrow it will be bathed in + blood!" + + "This is my club, the club that never yet was false!" + + "The army moves to-morrow; then shall ye eat dead men till you are + surfeited!" + + (Striking the ground with his club) "I make the earth tremble: it + is I who meet the enemy to-morrow!" + + "This club is a defence; a shade from the heat of the sun, and the + cold of the rain. You may come under it!" + + A young man approaches the chief quietly carrying an anchor pole, + and smashing it across his knee, cries "Lo, sire, the anchor of + ---- (the hostile tribe); I will do thus with it!" + +These boasts are listened to with mingled laughter and applause. Thus +far and no farther does Fijian courage reach, for the performance in the +field falls woefully short of the promise. There the natural timidity +and caution of the race reasserts itself, and a reputation for desperate +valour may be cheaply won. During the _mbole_ the chief will sometimes +playfully taunt the boasters; hinting that, from their appearance, he +should have thought them better acquainted with the digging-stick than +the club. At the close of the _tangka_ the presiding chief usually made +a speech, appealing rather to the self-interest of his allies than to +their attachment, promising them princely recompense, and sometimes +giving them more definite promises, such as a woman of rank, as a reward +for valour in the field. Such a woman was called "The cable of the +Land," and was highly esteemed in the tribe to which she was given. + +The armies, even of the great confederations, rarely exceeded 1000 men. +A greater number could only be assembled with an immense effort. The +chief command was vested in the Vu-ni-valu (_lit._, Root of War). The +titular chiefs of the auxiliary tribes acted as officers. + +The first objective of the invading army was an outlying village of the +enemy. This might be a fortress on a hilltop, strongly entrenched by +nature, or a village in the plain, defended with an earthwork about six +feet high, surmounted with a breastwork of reed fencing or cocoanut +trunks, and surrounded by a muddy moat. Sometimes there was a double or +a triple moat with earthworks between. There is endless variety in these +fortifications, for advantage was always taken of the natural defences, +and almost every important hilltop in Western Vitilevu is crowned with +an entrenchment of some kind. Though there were generally from four to +eight gateways, defended by traverses, and surmounted with a look-out +place, some strongholds had but one gateway and that so difficult of +access as to be impracticable to the besiegers. The fort of Waitora, +situated on a hill two miles north of Levuka, is a rock about twenty +feet higher than the surrounding ground, and inaccessible save by means +of a natural ladder formed of the aerial roots of a huge banyan-tree, +which arch over at the top so as to form a tunnel just big enough to +admit the body. The great rock fortress of Na-koro-vatu on the Singatoka +river was taken in the rebellion of 1876 by surprising the only approach +on a Sunday morning, when the rebels thought that the government troops +would be in church. The besiegers crept up a jagged rift in the rock as +steep as the side of a well, and utterly impregnable against more +vigilant defenders. In the island of Vatulele, an upheaved coral reef +honeycombed with caverns, the fortress of Korolamalama was a cave +defended by a breastwork of stones, watered from a well in its inmost +recesses, and provisioned for a siege of many months. The last +stronghold of the rebel mountaineers in 1876 was a cave large enough to +contain the population of all the neighbouring villages, and impregnable +to every weapon except smoke, an expedient commonly employed by the +force attacking such defences. On the other hand, the chief towns of +large confederations, such as Mbau, Mathuata and Rewa, were not +fortified at all, because if the enemy had been victorious enough to +approach them, their inhabitants would have seen that all was lost and +would have sued for peace. + +[Pageheader: TORTURE OF PRISONERS] + +The first care of a besieging army is to prepare for defeat. Each +division of the army prepared its own _orua_, paths diverging from the +fortification down which they could run if assailed by a sortie, or +taken in the rear by an ambush. Sieges were never of long duration: the +attacking army, lacking any kind of commissariat, seldom carried food +for more than three days, and were in straits while the besieged were +living in comfort on their ample supplies. Like every root-eating +people, the Fijians require a heavy weight of food per head to satisfy +them, from five to ten pounds' weight of yams or other roots being the +normal daily food of a full-grown man. Consequently, if the first +assault failed, they usually retired to deliberate and secure fresh +supplies. Fortresses were seldom starved into capitulation, though, as +they were generally ill-provided with water, this method of attack, so +peculiarly suited to the native character for caution, would generally +have succeeded. It was tabu for a messenger to go direct to the army +lest he should dispirit the troops. He had first to go to the capital, +whence his message was dispatched to the Vu-ni-valu by a herald of the +town. + +A siege began with an interchange of abuse. The attacking chief would +cry in the hearing of both sides, "The men of that fortress are already +dead: its present garrison are old women!" Another, addressing his own +followers, shouted, "Are those not men? Then have we nothing to fear, +for we are truly men." A warrior from within retorts, "You are men? But +are you so strong that if you are speared, you will not fall until +to-morrow? Are ye stones, that a spear cannot pierce you? Are your +skulls of iron, that a bullet will not penetrate them?" Under the +excitement of this war of words indiscreet men were betrayed into +playing with the name of the chief of the enemy. They will cut out his +tongue, devour his brains, use his skull for their drinking-cup. These +became at once marked men, and special orders were given to take them +alive. On Vanualevu the punishment that awaited them was the torture +called _drewai sasa_, to carry fuel like old women. A bundle of dry +cocoanut leaves was bound upon their naked backs and ignited, and they +were turned loose to run wherever their agony might drive them. + +Meanwhile, within the fort the war-drum is beating incessantly, now +signalling for help to friends at a distance, now rattling a defiance to +the enemy, for, as in Abyssinia, the drum beats have a recognized +language. As a further provocation to the besiegers, when the wind +favours, the war-kite is hoisted. This is a circular disk of plaited +palm-leaves, decorated with streamers of bark cloth. The string is +passed through a hole in a pole or bamboo twenty or thirty feet long, +erected in a conspicuous part of the fort. The string is then pulled +backwards and forwards through the hole so as to keep the symbol of +defiance floating over the heads of the approaching foe. + +Upon the stronger fortresses direct assaults were rare, but when the +attacking party felt themselves to be superior, the Vu-ni-valu issued +orders for a general advance, specifying the detachment which was to +have the honour of leading. There is nothing impetuous in the manner of +attack. The assailants creep stealthily forward until they are almost +within spear-throw, and then every man acts as if his first duty was to +take care of himself. Every stone, every tree has a man behind it, for +the Fijian can outmatch the world in the art of taking cover. Having +gone so far, the assailants shout the war-cry to encourage one another +and to intimidate the enemy,[38] and watch their chance for spearing +some one exposed on the ramparts. Sooner or later the defenders are +betrayed into a sally, each man singling out an antagonist with whom to +engage in single combat. But the assailants seldom wait for the rush, +each man trusting to his heels for safety. There is no disgrace in this, +for as the Fijian proverb has it:-- + + "A vosota, na mate, + A ndro na ka ni veiwale." + + "To brave it out is death, + To run is but a jest!" + +If, however, the defenders obstinately refuse to be drawn, and the +leading detachment has shouted itself hoarse to no effect, it is +relieved by a second, or even a third, until the siege is abandoned for +the day. In the face of a determined attack a Fijian garrison loses +heart and makes but a spiritless defence, and this explains the +universal success of the Tongans, who carried everything before them by +their spirited assault. + +[Pageheader: TREACHERY HELD A VIRTUE] + +More often a fastness was reduced by stratagem. The favourite method was +the _lawa_, or net, which seldom failed, for all it was so well known. +Posting a strong body of warriors in ambush on either flank, a handful +of men would approach the fort with simulated fury. Seeing their small +numbers, the defenders left their defences and fell upon them, whereupon +they took to flight and led the pursuit right into the belly of the +"net." Then the horns closed in upon them, and they were surrounded. It +was such a trap as this that compassed the destruction of the landing +party from the East Indiaman _Hunter_ at Wailea in 1813, when even that +crafty and experienced warrior Charles Savage expiated his crimes. +Cunning was more esteemed than courage; the craft of Odysseus more than +the battle-fire of Achilles. There is no equivalent in the Fijian +language for the word "treachery," for _lawaki_, the nearest synonym, +signifies a virtue rather than a crime, and a successful act of +treachery evoked the same admiration as triumphant slimness is said to +do among the Boers. It is such differences in moral ethics that make the +gulf between the East and West. Williams records how a Rakiraki chief, +Wangkawai, who had contracted to assist the chief of Nakorovatu in war, +brained him with his club during the ceremony of the _mbole_, and +massacred his people in cold blood--an act which the treacherous ally +had been planning for years; how Namosimalua, chief of Viwa, having +undertaken to protect the people of Naingani against Mbau, led them into +the jaws of the enemy, and helped to slaughter them; but the annals of +every village will supply from recent history instances quite as +striking as these. If loss of life in open fight was small, treachery +often resulted in considerable slaughter. Williams thought that the +casualties in a native war commonly amounted to from twenty to one +hundred. The largest number within his own experience was at the sack of +Rewa in 1846, when about 400, chiefly women and children, were +slaughtered. + +The scenes that followed the sack of a fortress are too horrible to be +described in detail. That neither age nor sex was spared was the least +atrocious feature. Nameless mutilations, inflicted sometimes on living +victims, deeds of mingled cruelty and lust, made self-destruction +preferable to capture. With the fatalism that underlies the Melanesian +character many would not attempt to run away, but would bow their heads +passively to the club-stroke. If any were miserable enough to be taken +alive their fate was awful indeed. Carried back bound to the chief +village, they were given up to young boys of rank to practise their +ingenuity in torture, or, stunned by a blow, they were laid in heated +ovens, that when the heat brought them back to consciousness of pain, +their frantic struggles might convulse the spectators with laughter. +Children were strung up to the masthead by the feet, that the rolling of +the canoe might dash out their brains against the mast. + +But little loot was taken, and every man kept what he could seize upon +for his own. At the first hint of attack the women were laden with +everything of value which could be stored in a secret magazine at some +distance from the fortress; what remained was often destroyed by the +burning of the huts. Williams sets down the loot of one chief whom he +knew as seven balls of sinnet, several dogs and five female slaves, but +he believed that part of this was pay and part plunder. + +The return of a victorious party, especially if they brought the bodies +of the slain, was an extraordinary scene. The noise and confusion which +shocked the early missionaries seem all to have been part of an ancient +prescribed form. If the war-party returned by sea the dead bodies of men +and women were lashed to the prow of the canoe, while the warriors +danced the _thimbi_, or death-dance, on the deck, brandishing their +clubs and spears, and uttering a peculiar falsetto yell. The women +rushed down to the beach to meet them, and there danced and sang with +words and gestures of an obscenity never permitted at other times. In +this dance young maidens took part, and when the bodies were dragged +ashore, joined with their elders in offering nameless insults to the +corpses. Then the men, seizing the bodies by the arms, dragged them at +full speed to the temple, sometimes, as at Mbau, dashing the brains out +against a stone embedded in the earth before the shrine. All social +restrictions were then loosed, and, in the mad excitement, sexual +licence had full rein in open day. + +[Pageheader: THE WAR-CRY] + +Every tribe has its own distinctive war-cry, or rather death-cry, for it +is shouted only when giving the death-blow to an enemy. Though this is +distinct from the name of the tribe, and very seldom uttered, it is so +firmly fixed in the mind of every tribesman that, even in these days, +when it has not been heard, perhaps, for a whole generation, every +full-grown member of the tribe can remember the word. In Land Inquiries +I made a point of asking what was the death-cry of each claimant, and +also of questioning witnesses regarding its origin. Many of the words +appeared to be place-names, though the places could not be identified, +and few of the words could be translated, nor did any have any relation +to warfare. In not a single case could a witness offer any explanation +except that the word had been handed down by the ancestors of old time, +and the origin must therefore remain in doubt. The memory of the +death-cry is as tenacious as that of the tribal _tauvu_. + +The mode of treating for peace varied with the district. Sometimes a +woman of high rank, dressed in gala costume, was presented to the +victors with a whale's tooth in her hand; sometimes an ordinary _mata_ +was deputed to carry the whale's tooth. In Vatulele and other places a +basket of earth was presented in token that the soil, and all that it +produced, was at the disposal of the conqueror. The terms, especially in +cases of the last of these _soro_, were hard; the vanquished were +reduced, not merely to tribute-bearers, but to actual serfs and +kitchen-men. In a single generation their very physical bearing was +changed. + + +The Investiture of Koroi + +The religious ceremony of _Koroi_ deserves attention as having, as far +as I am aware, no parallel among other primitive races, though the +native converts profess to see in it a close resemblance to the +Christian rite of baptism. It was rather an investiture of knighthood +for prowess in battle, accompanied with the knightly preparation of +fasting and vigil. + +Every warrior who has slain his man, woman, or child in battle is +entitled to the honour, and takes a new name with the prefix _Koro-i_ +(_lit._, "Village of"). Every time his club is blooded the ceremony is +repeated and a new name conferred, so that it was not uncommon for a +warrior to change his name four times or even oftener. In olden times +the slayer of ten bore the prefix _Koli_ (Dog), and the slayer of twenty +_Visa_ (Burn), but as the influx of foreigners began to check war, these +honours were granted upon easier terms. There is a proverb bearing upon +these honours: "The slayer of ten closes one house; the slayer of twenty +closes two houses." + +I have tried in vain to have light thrown on the origin of this +institution, which, being religious in character, and under the control +of the priests, must have had its foundation in some historical +tradition. + +Waterhouse, who seems to have been an eye-witness, thus describes the +ceremony as practised at Mbau:-- + + "The ceremonies last for four days. When a war-party returns the + canoes are poled to Nailusi. The warriors who have killed their + man, bedaubed with paint, and clothed in new _malos_, rush ashore + carrying reeds with streamers attached. These they fix vertically + in the posts of the temple of Thangawalu, the war-god. When they + return to their canoes the whole army advances, the novices armed + with spears decorated with pennons bringing up the rear. As they + approach the square they execute the _thimbi_--death-dance, a sort + of Fijian _Carmagnole_. The elders who have stayed behind to guard + the town then demand the names of the new _koroi_, and give each of + them a new weapon. At night the _wati_, or dance of the knights, is + performed. The spectators form a ring round the dancers, who are + divided into three companies--(1) the candidates; (2) the + consecrated knights and warriors; (3) a select body of women. + During the night the candidates break their fast for the first + time, and the dancing is kept up till late in the following + morning. In the afternoon vast quantities of plantains are + presented to those who have played esquire to the candidates. + + "On the third day is the _Ngini-ngini_, or consecration. Each + candidate marches separately into the square at the head of his + personal friends, who are loaded with property. As he approaches + the temple of the War-god, the officiating priest announces his new + name, which the people then hear for the first time, although the + candidate has himself chosen it on the previous evening. Piling + their presents in a heap, the new knight and his party retire to + make room for another candidate. This ceremony is conducted in + silence with a stately dignity and decorum in curious contrast with + the hideous licence and uproar of the _thimbi_ death-dance of the + first day. + + "The last day is the Day of Water-drinking. Early in the morning + canoes are sent to fetch the water from a certain stream on the + mainland. When they round the point a great shout is raised, 'Lo! + the water-canoes!' and every one shuts himself fast behind doors, + for now every noise, even the crying of children, is tabu. In this + strange silence the water is carried to the temple where the new + knights are assembled, and there they drink it. + + "For several days they are kept in the temple under the usual + restrictions laid upon persons who are tabu. They may not use their + hands to feed themselves, nor wash themselves." + +[Pageheader: AN ORDER OF KNIGHTHOOD] + +John Williams thus describes the ceremony as he saw it in Somosomo:-- + + "The king and leading men having taken their seats in the public + square, fourteen mats were brought and spread out, and upon these + were placed a bale of cloth and two whale's teeth. Near by was laid + a sail-mat, and on it several men's dresses. The young chief now + made his appearance, bearing in one hand a large 'pine-apple' club + and in the other a common reed, while his long train of _masi_ + dragged on the ground behind him. On his reaching the mats, an old + man took the reed out of the hero's hand, and dispatched a youth to + deposit it carefully in the temple of the war-god. The king then + ordered the young man to stand upon the bale of cloth; and while he + obeyed, a number of women came into the square, bringing small + dishes of turmeric mixed with oil, which they placed before the + youth, and retired with a song. The _masi_ was now removed by the + chief himself, an attendant substituting one much larger in its + stead. The king's _mata_ next selected several dishes of coloured + oil, and anointed the warrior from the roots of his hair to his + heels. At this stage in the proceedings one of the spectators + stepped forward and exchanged clubs with the anointed, and soon + another did the same; then one gave him a gun in place of the club; + and many similar changes were effected, under the belief that + weapons thus passing through his hands derived some virtue. The + mats were now removed, and a portion of them sent to the temple, + some of the turmeric being sent after them. The king and old men, + followed by the young men and two men sounding conches, now + proceeded to the seaside, where the anointed one passed through the + ancients to the water's edge, and, having wet the soles of his + feet, returned, while the king and those with him counted one, two, + three, four, five, and then each threw a stone into the sea. The + whole company now went back to the town with blasts of the + trumpet-shells and a peculiar hooting of the men. Custom requires + that a hut should be built, in which the anointed man and his + companions may pass the next three nights, during which the + new-named hero must not lie down, but sleep as he sits; he must not + change his _masi_, or remove the turmeric, or enter a house in + which there is a woman, until that period has elapsed. In the case + now described the hut had not been built, and the young chief was + permitted to use the temple of the god of war instead. During the + three days he was on an incessant march, followed by half-a-score + of lads reddened like himself. After three weeks he paid me a visit + on the first day of his being permitted to enter a house in which + there was a female. He informed me that his new name was 'Kuila' + (Flag)." + +It is a remarkable fact that once in Fijian history an European was made +_koroi_, for among the Fijians foreigners were outside the pale of +tribal society, and could never aspire to enjoy the freedom of the +tribe. But in 1808, when Charles Savage, the Swede, escaped with his +musket from the wreck of the brig _Eliza_, and enabled Mbau to conquer +her great rival, Verata, with the aid of his new and terrible weapon, he +was made _koroi_ against his will. I had the details of the ceremony +from the old men of Mbau, who had the tradition from their fathers. +Jiale (Charlie), as they called him, submitted to be stripped to the +waist and smeared with turmeric and charcoal, but insisted on retaining +his trousers during the procession. And when he found that he was to +abstain from eating and drinking for three days, he shamefully broke the +tabu, burst out of the temple in a rage, and went to his own home, a +fact that was not likely to be forgotten. + +The decay of custom in warfare began with the introduction of fire-arms, +which first made the establishment of great confederations possible, and +so diminished war. The musket made the task of the early missionaries +easier, for when they had won over the chief of a confederation, the +vassal tribes followed like a flock of sheep, and so the musket +ultimately put an end to war. The inland tribes, who could get few +muskets, and whose frontiers, therefore, were the limits of the village +lands, were the last to embrace Christianity. + +There are pathetic stories of the terror inspired by the musket. At the +siege of Verata men held up mats to ward off the bullets; at Nakelo, +Savage was carried into action in an arrow-proof sedan chair of plaited +sinnet, from which he picked off the defenders until they surrendered +and were clubbed. + +The rise of confederations changed everything. A village knowing itself +weak in numbers and in arms, did not dare to defy the might of a power +like Mbau or Rewa, and hastened to put itself under the protection of a +powerful chief, paying tribute to him as a member of his confederation. +Thus, while gunpowder increased the number of combatants engaged on +either side, it almost put an end to the internecine struggles of +village against village. + +[Pageheader: WAR CUSTOMS CHANGED BY FIREARMS] + +Between 1860 and 1870 native warfare underwent a more drastic +modification by the formation of Thakombau's army organized, officered +and drilled by Europeans. When led by Europeans, the natives developed +an unexpected courage in the field, and the campaign against the hill +tribes of Navatusila impressed the whole group with the superiority of +European methods. The Armed Native Constabulary, established immediately +after annexation, and recruited from widely distant districts, tended to +make drill so popular that the first step of any native conspirator has +been to teach his followers evolutions compounded of native war-dances +and European drill, in which the Fijians see a close resemblance. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 35: _Fiji and the Fijians_, p. 43.] + +[Footnote 36: The name _Mbati_ has been erroneously derived from Mbati = +Tooth, and _Mbati-ni-vanua_ is sometimes translated "Teeth of the Land." +The true derivation is, of course, from Mbati = Edge or Border, _i.e._ +Border of the land. Borderers have ever been broken reeds to lean upon +from their proneness to consult their own interests by going over to the +stronger side.] + +[Footnote 37: An archaic phrase, whose meaning is now lost. Williams +translates it "Cut up! Cut up! The temple receives," which perhaps is +near enough, the meaning being that the bodies of the slain will be +dismembered, cooked, and presented to the gods.] + +[Footnote 38: When the story of the _Iliad_ was being translated into +Fijian I asked a Fijian what part of the story most appealed to his +people. He said at once that it was that which describes Achilles +putting the whole Trojan army to flight by merely shouting to them from +the bank of Scamander.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CANNIBALISM + + +About 1850, when the first details of cannibalism among the Fijians +began to reach England through the missionary reports, there was a good +deal of scepticism. Naval officers who had visited the group had seen +nothing of the practice, which, indeed, seemed incompatible with the +polished and courtly manners of the chiefs who entertained them.[39] But +as soon as the existence of the practice was proved there came a +reaction, and its extent is now as much exaggerated as it was formerly +underestimated. Professor Sayce, for instance, in a book published +within the last few years,[40] has committed himself to the ridiculous +assertion that the Fijians ate their aged relations--an act which would +be regarded by them with a horror at least as great as would be felt by +an European. To eat, even unwittingly, the flesh of your relation, +however distant, or to eat or drink from a vessel used by a man who had +done this, would result, so the Fijians believe, in the loss of all your +teeth. + +Except in rare cases, none but the bodies of real or potential enemies +were eaten, and these must have been slain or captured in battle, or +cast away in wrecks "with salt water in their eyes." The bodies of those +who had died naturally were invariably buried, and though there are +instances recorded of the secret desecration of graves for the purposes +of cannibalism, these were very rare, and they excited disgust among the +people themselves. + +[Pageheader: THE MORALITY OF CANNIBALISM] + +There are various traditions of the origin of cannibalism, but all agree +in saying that it was not introduced from without, and that there was a +time when the practice was unknown. The most plausible ascribes it to +the practice of presenting the human body a sacrifice to the gods as +being the most costly offering that could be made, and that, as all +presentations of food were afterwards eaten, the human sacrifice was +treated in the same way. It is tabu for an inferior to decline food +offered to him by a chief. If a slave cannot eat a cooked yam so +presented to him, he wraps it up and takes it home with him to eat at a +future meal, or if he throws it away, he does it secretly lest he should +give offence to the donor. Thus in 1853 the chief of Somosomo, in reply +to the missionary's remonstrance, said, "We must eat the bodies if +Thakombau gives them to us." This obligation was tenfold stronger when +the gods themselves were the givers. + +But whereas in times past cannibalism was confined to ceremonial +sacrifices in celebration of victory, the launching of a chief's canoe +or the lowering of its mast, it increased alarmingly about the end of +the eighteenth century--that is, a few years before the arrival of +Europeans--just as human sacrifice and its attendant cannibalism among +the Aztecs became intolerable just before the Spanish conquest. In the +Fijian mind it was but a step from offering gifts to a god and taking +them to a high chief, and great feasts soon came to be considered +incomplete without a human body to grace the meal. Among a few of the +chiefs there began to grow a vitiated taste for human flesh, though +there were not a few who never overcame their dislike to it. + +The moral attitude of Fijians towards cannibalism is as difficult to +understand as our own is difficult to explain. Apart from the fact that +cannibalism must entail homicide, there is no manifest reason for our +horror of the practice, except our reverence and tenderness for the +dead. Most, if not all, of the other carnivora are cannibals, and the +distinction we draw between the flesh of men and the flesh of other +mammalia is purely sentimental. Our other instincts are based upon some +law of Nature whose infraction is visited by Nature's penalties; yet, +so instinctive is the horror of cannibalism in Aryan races that not one +of them has thought of condemning it in its penal code, and cannibalism +has never been illegal in Europe. Some trace of this instinct is +discernible among the Fijians. Human flesh was tabu to women, and the +Mbau women of rank who indulged in it did so in secret. Except in +moments of excitement, the cooked flesh was shared out with elaborate +ceremonial, and eaten only in the privacy of the house. The care with +which the practice was concealed from Europeans, though partly due to +the knowledge that it would excite detestation and contempt, suggests +also some trace of instinctive shame. The tabus and ceremonies +surrounding it clearly indicate its religious origin. The alarming +drum-beat, called _Nderua_, which haunts all who have heard it; the +death-dance (_thimbi_); the presentation of the body to the War-god of +Mbau, and the part played by the priests in Vanualevu and other places; +the eating after decomposition had set in when the slightest taint in +other meat excited disgust; and, lastly, the fear of touching the meat +with the fingers or the lips, and the use of a special fork which was +given a name like a person, are all evidences that the gods had a share +in the rite. Every part of the body had, moreover, its symbolic name, +which was only used in connection with cannibalism. The trunk, which was +eaten first, was called _Na vale ka rusa_ (the house that perishes); the +feet, _Ndua-rua_(one-two). The fiction that bodies intended to be eaten +were popularly called "Long pig" (_Vuaka Mbalavu_) is founded upon a +_vakathivo_, or jocose toast of Tanoa, chief of Mbau, after drinking +kava, in which the object of desire was concealed in a euphemism, such +as _Sese Matairua_! ("spear with two points," _i.e._ the breast of a +virgin). + +[Pageheader: AN ACT OF VENGEANCE] + +Dr. E. B. Tylor gives six reasons for the practice of +cannibalism--Famine, Revenge or Bravado, Morbid Affection, Magic, +Religion, Habit. Three of these had no application in Fiji. The famines +were transitory, and in Tonga, where cannibalism was occasionally +resorted to from this cause, the practice died as soon as the cause was +removed. Cannibalism from morbid affection, such as Herodotus describes +among the Essedones of Central Asia, was equally unknown, since, as I +have already said, the Fijians had a superstitious horror of eating +their own relations; and as to magic, I do not think that any trace of a +belief that by eating the flesh of a warrior the eater absorbed his +courage can be found. There remain Religion, Revenge or Bravado, and +Habit, which were at the root of the Fijian practice in the order +enumerated. The history of the Aztecs shows how soon ceremonial +cannibalism degenerated into a vicious appetite for human flesh. In the +Fijian wars of the early nineteenth century a portion of every captive +was eaten, and raids were undertaken solely to procure human flesh for +chiefs who had become addicted to cannibalism. But bravado and the +gratification of revenge was the most powerful motive with the bulk of +the people. In Nandronga the liver and the hands of an enemy were +sometimes preserved by smoke in the house of one whose relations he had +slain; and whenever regrets for the dead would wring his heart, the +warrior would take down the bundle from the shelf over the fire-place, +and cook and eat a portion of his enemy to assuage his grief. Thus he +continued to sate his vengeance for one or two years until all was +consumed. In the native mind the poles of triumph and of humiliation are +touched by the man who eats his enemy and the man who is about to be +eaten. Even to-day the grossest Fijian insult is to call a man _Mbakola_ +(cannibal meat); the most appalling threat to exclaim, "Were it not for +the government I would eat you!" There was but one higher flight of +vengeance, and that was to cook the body, and leave it in the oven as if +unfit for food. The Rev. Joseph Waterhouse dug up one of these ovens +while gardening at Mbau. The element of vengeance superimposed upon +religion is admirably illustrated in the narrative of John Jackson,[41] +who was an eye-witness of what he relates. The bodies of the slain were +set up in a sitting posture in the bow of the canoe by being trussed +under the knees with a stick as schoolboys play at cockfighting. The +drums kept beating the _nderua_ all the way across the strait, and as +they neared the village a man kept striking the water with a long pole +to apprise the inhabitants of their success, and the warriors danced the +_thimbi_ on the deck. It was usual for the women to troop down to the +water's edge dancing a lascivious dance, and when the bodies were flung +out, to cover them with nameless insults; but in this instance (on the +Vanualevu coast near Male) they were carried to the village square and +set up in a row, with their war-paint still on them, while the whole +population of the village sat down in a wide circle. An old man now +approached the bodies, and, taking a dead hand in his, began talking to +them in a low tone. Why, he asked, had they been so rash? Did they not +feel ashamed to be sitting there exposed to the gaze of so many people? +Gradually becoming intoxicated with his own eloquence and wit, he raised +his voice and delivered the last sentences as loud as he could shout. At +the climax of his peroration he kicked the bodies down, and ran off amid +the plaudits and laughter of the spectators, who now ran in upon the +bodies, and, seizing an arm or a leg, dragged them off through the mire +and over the stones to a temple standing apart in a grove of ironwood +trees. A heap of weather-whitened human bones lay before it, and other +bones were embedded in the fork of shaddock-trees, where they had been +laid many years before. An old priest, with nails two inches long, was +there awaiting them, and stones were ready heating in a fire for the +oven. A number of young girls now surrounded the bodies and danced their +lewd dance, singing a song whose import could be guessed from their +action in touching certain parts with sticks which they held in their +hands. The butcher, armed with a hatchet, some shells and a number of +split bamboos, now got to work. He first made a long deep gash down the +abdomen, and then cut all round the neck down to the bone, and severed +the head by a twist. In cutting through the joints he showed some +knowledge of anatomy, seeing that he used nothing but a split bamboo, +which makes a convenient knife, since it is only necessary to split off +a fresh portion to obtain a sharp edge. The trunk, the hands and the +head were usually thrown away, but on this occasion, the bodies being +but few, all was eaten except the intestines. Banana leaves were heaped +on the hot stones of the oven, the flesh and joints were laid on them, +and the whole covered with earth until the morning. The cooked meat was +then distributed with the ceremonies usual at feasts, and warriors from +a distance, after tasting a small portion, wrapped up the remainder to +take home as a proof of their prowess. + +[Pageheader: THE EATING OF A MISSIONARY] + +When a chief or a warrior of repute was cooked, portions of the flesh +were sent all over the country. The body of the missionary Baker, killed +at Navatusila (Central Vitilevu) in 1860, was thus treated, almost every +chief in Navosa receiving a portion.[42] + +When a body had to be carried inland it was lashed to a pole face +downward in order that it might not double up, the ends of the pole +resting on men's shoulders. In dragging the body up the beach the +following words were chanted in a monotone, followed by shrill yells in +quick succession. + + "Yari au malua. Yari au malua. + Oi au na saro ni nomu vanua. + Yi mundokia! Yi mundokia! Yi mundokia Ki Ndama le! + Yi! u-woa-ai-e!" + + "Drag me gently. Drag me gently! + I am the champion of thy land. + Give thanks! Give thank!" + etc. + +As the practice of cannibalism grew, many refinements of cruelty were +devised for enhancing the gratification of revenge. According to +Seemann,[43] a whole village in Namosi was doomed as a punishment to be +eaten household by household. They obeyed the chief's command to plant a +taro bed, and as soon, as the taro was ripe a household was clubbed, and +the bodies eaten with the vegetables. None knew when his turn would +come, for the house was chosen at the whim of the executioners. One +might be tempted to enlarge upon the horrible suspense in which these +unhappy villagers must have lived, and to wonder why they did not flee +to some distant province, but such sympathy would be wasted. If the +story is true, we may be sure that they went about their daily tasks +without a thought about the club hanging over them, and that the idea of +flight never entered their heads, for the Fijian looks not beyond the +evening of the next day, and certain death within a year or two seemed +no nearer to them than it does to us who pursue our futile little tasks +with Death plucking at our sleeves, having at the most but two decades +to live. + +The torture (_vakatotonga_) consisted in the mutilation of the victim +before death. To avenge the of one of his relations, Ra Undreundre of +Rakiraki ordered a woman captured from the offending village to be laid +alive in a wooden trough and dismembered, that none of the blood might +be lost. This was a form of punishment practised in Tonga in ancient +times. In several well-authenticated cases the flesh of a victim has +been cooked and offered him to eat. A Fijian prisoner undergoes these +torments with stoical fatalism, making no attempt at escape or +resistance. In the entertainment of the Somosomo natives at Natewa, +Jackson saw standing by the pile of yams a young girl who was to be +killed and eaten when the ceremony of distribution was over. She showed +no outward sign of distress at her impending fate. At the risk of his +life Jackson caught hold of her and claimed her as his wife, and the +chiefs, more amused than angry at his breach of etiquette, granted his +request. + +[Pageheader: THE CANNIBAL FORK] + +Neither sex nor age was a defence against the cannibal oven. Aged men +and women as well as children were eaten, though the flesh of young +people between sixteen and twenty was most esteemed. The upper arm, the +thigh and the heart were the greatest delicacies; an ex-cannibal in +Mongondro told me that the upper arm of a boy and girl tasted better +than any other meat. The same man, who had eaten part of the missionary +Baker, said that the flesh of white men was inferior to that of Fijians, +and had a saltish taste. Jackson describes it as being darker in colour, +and the fat yellower than that of the turtle. In the police expedition +to Navosa in 1876, Dr. (now Sir William) McGregor surprised a village, +and found a human leg, hot from the oven, laid out upon banana leaves. +The skin had parted like crackling, disclosing a layer of yellow fat. +When the flesh is kept for several days it is said to emit a +phosphorescent light in the darkness of the hut. The Fijians cannot +understand our feeling about the killing and eating of women and +children. _Moku na katikati_ (club the women and children) is their +principle, and they explain that, since the object of war is to inflict +the maximum of injury upon the enemy, a twofold purpose is served by +killing women--distress to their relations, and the destruction of those +who might breed warriors to avenge them. + +The most celebrated cannibals from liking were Tambakauthoro, Tanoa and +Tuiveikoso of Mbau, and Tuikilakila of Somosomo, but the reputation of +these pale beside that of Ra Undreundre of Rakiraki. His victims were +called _Lewe ni mbi_ (contents of the turtle-pond), and his fork had a +name to itself--_Undro-undro_, a word used to designate a small person +carrying a great burden. His son took the missionary to a line of +stones, each of which represented a human being eaten without assistance +by his father since middle-age. They numbered eight hundred and +seventy-two, but a number had then (1849) been removed! The special fork +used exclusively for human flesh points clearly to the religious origin +of the practice, forks being never employed for other kinds of food, +even food presented to a god. There was some quality in human flesh that +made it tabu to touch it with the fingers or the lips. Moreover, the +fork was tabu to every one but its owner, and if it belonged to a high +chief, it had always a name of its own. The genuine forks have now all +been removed from the country, and those offered for sale in the group +are forgeries.[44] + +Persons slain in battle were not invariably eaten, for chiefs of high +rank were often spared this indignity, and if a friend of the dead man +happened to be of the victorious party he might intercede to save the +body from the oven. In such cases a truce is called, and the relations +are allowed to come and remove the body for burial. At the funeral the +mourners cut out their thumb nails and fixed them on a spear, which was +preserved in the temple to remind them of the service done to them, and +at the close of the war they made valuable presents to their benefactor +to extinguish the debt. + +The abolition of cannibalism cannot possibly have had any results +unfavourable to the race. It was an excrescence upon the religious and +social system, and it might have been swept away without disturbing them +in any way. In its later development, moreover, it was responsible for +raids in which many lives were lost. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 39: It is strange that the only act of cannibalism seen by any +member of the United States Exploring Expedition in 1840 was the eating +of an eye--a part of the body which was nearly always thrown away.] + +[Footnote 40: _The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia_, p. 8.] + +[Footnote 41: _Erskine's Voyage_, 1853.] + +[Footnote 42: There is a well-worn story that the chief of Mongondro +received a leg from which the Wellington boot had not been removed. +Taking the leather to be the white man's skin, the chief was much +impressed with the toughness of the superior race.] + +[Footnote 43: _Mission to Viti._] + +[Footnote 44: The Rev. F. Langham was the first to point out the test +for these forgeries. The genuine forks are carefully finished at the +root of the prongs; the forgeries have inequalities and splinters. Mr. +H. Ling Roth has questioned this distinction, but I have never known it +fail in the specimens I have examined.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RELIGION + +Ancestor-gods--Gods of the After-world--The Ndengei + Myth--Luve-ni-wai--Mbaki--The Priesthood--Witchcraft--Kalou-rere. + + +The religion of the Fijians was so closely interwoven with their social +polity that it was impossible to tear away the one without lacerating +the other. It was as unreasonable for the people to continue to +reverence their chiefs when they ceased to believe in the Ancestor-gods, +from whom they were descended, as for the Hebrews to conform to the +Mosaic law if they had repudiated the inspiration of Moses. Religion was +a hard taskmaster to the heathen Fijian; it governed his every action +from the cradle-mat to the grave. In the tabu it prescribed what he +should eat and drink, how he should address his betters, whom he should +marry, and where his body should be laid. It limited his choice of the +fruits of the earth and of the sea; it controlled his very bodily +attitude in his own house. All his life he walked warily for fear of +angering the deities that went in and out with him, ever-watchful to +catch him tripping, and death but cast him naked into their midst to be +the sport of their vindictive ingenuity. + +The Fijian word for divinity is _kalou_, which is also used as an +adjective for anything superlative, either good or bad, and it is +possible that the word was originally a root-word implying wonder and +astonishment. Sometimes the word is used as a mere exclamation, or +expression of flattery, as, "You are _kalou_!" or "A _kalou_ people!" +applied to Europeans in connection with triumphs of invention among +civilized nations, either in polite disbelief, or disinclination to +attempt to imitate them. + +The Fijian divinities fall naturally into two great divisions--the +_Kalou-vu_ (Root-gods), and the _Kalou-yalo_ (Spirit-gods, _i.e._ +deified mortals). There is much truth in Waterhouse's contention that +the Kalou-vu were of Polynesian origin brought to Fiji by immigrants +from the eastward, and imposed upon the conquered Melanesian tribes in +addition to their own Pantheon of deified mortals, and that the Ndengei +legend, which undoubtedly belonged to the aborigines, was adopted by the +conquerers as the Etruscan gods were by the Romans. The natives' belief +in their own tribal divinity did not entail denial of the divinities of +other tribes. To the Hebrew prophets the cult of Baal-peor was not so +much a false as an impious creed. The Fijians admitted from the first +that the Jehovah of the missionaries was a great, though not the only, +God, and, as will presently be shown, when converted to Christianity, +they only added Him to their own Pantheon. So, in giving their +allegiance to the chiefs who conquered them, it was natural that they +should admit the supremacy of the gods of their conquerors, who, by +giving the victory to their worshippers, had proved themselves to be +more powerful than their own gods. Wainua, the great war-god of Rewa, is +said to have drifted from Tonga, and his priest, when inspired, gives +his answers in the Tongan language. The Rewans had given the chief place +in their Pantheon to the god of mere visitors. + +[Pageheader: THE FIRE GOD] + +First among the Kalou-vu was Ndengei, primarily a god of Rakiraki on the +north-east coast of Vitilevu, but known throughout Fiji except in the +eastern islands of the Lau group. The evolution of this god from the +ancestor and tutelary deity of a joint-family into a symbol of Creation +and Eternity in serpent form is an exact counterpart of Jupiter, the god +of a Latin tribe, inflated with Etruscan and Greek myth until he +overshadows the ancient world as Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The variants +of the Ndengei myths are so numerous that they must be reserved for +another chapter; it is enough here to say that Ndengei and the +personage associated with him are proved by the earliest myths of his +home on the Ra coast to be deified mortals who have risen to the rank of +Kalou-vu by their importance as the first immigrants and the founders of +the race. + +Next in order to Ndengei is Ndauthina (the torch-bearer), the god of the +seafaring and fishing community throughout Fiji. That he is one of the +introductions from another system of mythology and not a deified mortal +of Fiji is strongly suggested by the fact that all the fisher-tribes are +_tauvu_ or _Kalou-vata_ (worshippers of the same god, and therefore of +common origin). These tribes, by the nature of their occupation, are +prone to scatter widely, though comparatively late arrivals in the +group. They seldom own any land in the province of their adoption, but +attach themselves to the chiefs, from whom they enjoy marked privileges +in return for their services. It would take but few years for the newest +arrivals, scattering thus among far distant islands, to disseminate +their cult throughout a group of islands, and there is nothing in the +Ndauthina myths that disproves their Eastern origin. The fisher-tribes +had the best of reasons for keeping the freemasonry of their bond of +_Kalou-vata_ (_lit._, same God) alive. Their calling subjected them to +frequent shipwreck, and by the law of custom the lives of castaways were +forfeit--a survival, perhaps, of a primitive system of quarantine. But +the shipwrecked fisherman might always find sanctuary in a temple +dedicated to Ndauthina, and thus win the "freedom of the city" in a +village where he was a stranger. + +Ndauthina was the Loki, the Fire-god of the Nibelung myth. He is the god +of Light and of Fire--the fire of lightning and the fire of lust in +men's blood. His love of light in infancy prompted his mother to bind +lighted reeds upon his head to amuse him, and now he roams the reefs by +night hooded with a flaming brazier. He is the patron of adulterers, and +himself steals women away by night. He loves night attacks, and flashes +light upon the defences to guide the besiegers. Taking human form he +sells fish to the doomed garrison, who, noticing a strong smell of fire, +know that Ndauthina has been among them, and that their warriors will +not see another sun. His pranks and whims are numberless. When plots are +hatched against his favourites a voice cries "Pooh!" through the +reed-walls, and he flies off to put his friends upon their guard. He +buoys up a rotten canoe to tempt warriors to embark in her only to lure +them into club-reach of their enemies. But upon his friends the +fishermen he plays no pranks, giving them fair winds and good fishing. + +Ratu-mai-Mbulu (Lord from Hades), though primarily a local divinity of +the Tailevu coast, is also probably a foreign intruder. Through him the +earth gives her increase. In December he comes forth from Mbulu, and +pours sap into the fruit trees, and pushes the young yam shoots through +the soil. Throughout that moon it is tabu to beat the drum, to sound the +conch-shell, to dance, to plant, to fight, or to sing at sea, lest +Ratu-mai-Mbulu be disturbed, and quit the earth before his work is +completed. At the end of the month the priest sounds the consecrated +shell: the people raise a great shout, carrying the good news from +village to village, and pleasure and toil are again free to all. + +In a hole near Namara he lies in serpent form, and thither the Mbauans +carried food to him once a year, first clearing the holy ground. Unlike +the other gods he drinks no kava, for the wind and noise of a blast on +the conch-shell are meat and drink to him. There was once an agnostic of +Soso, the fisher class of Mbau, named Kowika, who set forth alone to set +his doubts at rest. To a snake sunning himself at the cave-mouth he +offered fish, but this was the great god's son. When he was gone to +summon his father from the cave, a greater snake appeared--the god's +grandson he proved to be--and he departed with a more urgent message. At +length there issued a serpent so huge and terrible that Kowika doubted +no longer, and proffered his gift in fear and trembling, but as the god +was loosening his vast coils he shot an arrow into them and fled. As he +ran a voice rang in his ears, crying, "Nought but snakes! Nought but +snakes!" And so it was. The pot was cooked when Kowika reached home, but +his wife dropped the skewer with a shriek, an impaled snake wriggled on +its end. When he lifted the bamboo to drink, snakes poured forth +instead of water. He unrolled his sleeping mat; that too was alive with +snakes. And as he rushed forth into the night he heard the voice of the +priest prophesying the fall of the city as a just punishment for the +sacrilege of wounding the God of Increase. He took the one way of +salvation left to him: he _soro_-ed in abject humility, and he was +pardoned. + +[Pageheader: THE SHARK GOD] + + +Totemism + +The shark-god is the tutelar divinity of numerous tribes who are not +_tauvu_ with one another, unless they call him by the same name. +Waterhouse gives the following list of names under which the shark is +invoked: Ndakuwanka, (Outside-the-canoe), Circumnavigator-of-Yandua, +Feeder-of-fish, Lover-of-canoe-spars, Waylayer, Rover-of-the-man-groves, +Expectant-follower, Ready-for-action, Sail-cleaner, +Lord-Shark-that-calls, Tabu-white, Tooth-for-raw-flesh. The tribes that +invoke Ndakuwanka are _tauvu_, but the Soro people who worship +Ndakuwanka recognize no tie with the Yandua tribe, who invoke the +Circumnavigator-of-Yandua. Each of these names covers a distinct cult, +and the fact that a number of unrelated tribes should have agreed in +choosing the shark for their god needs explanation. That shark-worship +is pure totemism is shown by the beneficence of the shark to his +worshippers, and the obligation that lay upon them not to eat their +divinity. Mana, a Soro native, capsized in the open sea, called upon +Ndakuwanka to save him, and a shark rose near him and towed him safe to +land by his back fin. The same god jumped athwart a Soro canoe in the +invasion of Natewa in 1848, turned over to show the tattooing on his +belly, and leapt back into the sea to lead his votaries to the attack. +In 1840 a tabu shark was eaten at Navukeilangi in the island of Ngau, +and all who had eaten of it died. But there the usual features of +totemism stop. The spirits of the dead do not pass into the totem; men +never assume the shark form; the shark-totem does not necessarily +intermarry with any other totem. Totemism in Fiji does not affect the +social system in any way. It is an accident rather than a design in the +religious system; an anthropomorphic divinity would have served as well. +Nor is it totemism in decay, as some have suggested, for with the cult +of the totem so active and vigorous some survival of its attendant +customs in the marriage laws or in the beliefs of the future state would +assuredly have been found. The mental attitude of primitive races in all +parts of the world to worship a species of living animal or plant taught +the Fijians where to look for their tutelary divinity, and the shark +being to a people seafaring in frail craft the most dreaded and +implacable of all the animal kingdom, a number of diverse tribes chose +to propitiate the shark independently. + +The shark, though the commonest, is not the only totem. The hawk, the +eel, the lizard, the fresh-water prawn, and man himself have their +adherents. The man-totem were perhaps the only tribe who never practised +cannibalism, the flesh of their totem being forbidden to them. + +Totemism, in this limited form, was perfectly consistent with +ancestor-worship. Except in the case of the shark--a malevolent being +claiming constant propitiation from fishermen--the totem had not often a +temple or a priest. Saumaki, the river-shark, was remembered as a piece +of tribal tradition, but his totem worshipped other gods. They were +sometimes _tauvu_ through gods independent of their totem. Lasakau and +Sawaieke, Nayau and Notho were _tauvu_ through their shark-totem, but +Rewa and Verata were _tauvu_ through an ancestor-god, +Ko-mai-na-ndundu-ki-langi, or Ko-Tavealangi (Reclining-on-the-sky), and +greeted one another in the formula, "Nonku Vuniyavu" (Foundation of my +house). Many tribes have either forgotten or have never had a totem, and +the greater number of those who have preserve the tradition as a piece +of family history, and refer to it with a smile, which is apt to fade +when they survey the ruin of their property on the morrow of a visit +from a devastating horde of their _tauvu_ kin. + +[Pageheader: THE SOUL'S LAST JOURNEY] + + +Gods of the After-world + +Besides the divinities that concerned themselves with terrestrial +affairs, there was a well-peopled mythology of the after-life. These +beings had neither temples nor priests. They haunted well-known spots on +the road by which the Shades must pass to their last resting-place, but +as they left the living unmolested, the living were not called upon to +make propitiatory offerings. They were kept alive by the professional +story-tellers, who revived them after funerals, when men's thoughts were +directed to the problem of Death, and they gained in detailed +portraiture at every telling. In a land where every stranger is an +enemy, the idea of the naked Shade, turned out friendless into eternity, +to find his own way to the Elysium of Bulotu, conjured up images of the +perils that would beset every lone wayfarer on earth, and the Shade was +made to run the gauntlet of fiends that were the incarnations of such +perils. + +Though the story of the Soul's journey agreed in general outline, the +details were filled in by each tribe to suit its geographical position. +There was generally water to cross, either the sea or a river, and there +was, therefore, a ghostly ferryman (Vakaleleyalo) who treated his +passengers with scant courtesy. There was Ghost-scatterer, who stoned +the Shade, and Reed-spear, who impaled him. Goddesses of fearsome aspect +peered at him, gnashing their teeth; the god of murder fell upon him; +the Dismisser sifted out the real dead from the trance-smitten; +fisher-fiends entangled cowards in their net; at every turn in the road +there was some malevolent being to put the Shade to the ordeal, and +search out every weak point, until none but brave warriors who had died +a violent death--the only sure passport to Bulotu--passed through +unscathed. The names differed, but the features of the myth were the +same. The shades of all Vitilevu and the contiguous islands, and of a +large part of Vanualevu took the nearest road either to the Nakauvandra +range, the dwelling-place of Ndengei, or to Naithombothombo, the +jumping-off place in Mbau, and thence passed over the Western Ocean to +Bulotu,[45] the birth-place of the race. + +What belief was more natural for a primitive people, having no revealed +belief in a future state except than that the land of which their +fathers had told them, where the yams were larger and the air warmer, +and the earth more fruitful, was the goal of their spirits after death. +We almost do the same ourselves. Englishmen who emigrate never tire of +telling their children of the delights of "home" as compared with their +adopted country. If the Canadians or South Africans knew nothing of +England but what they had heard from their fathers, and had no beliefs +concerning a future state, England would have come to be the mysterious +paradise whither their souls would journey after death, and their +"jumping-off place" would be the mouth of the St. Lawrence or of the +Orange River. With the Fijians the traditions have become so dim with +antiquity that nothing remains but a vague belief that somewhere to the +westward lies the Afterworld, and that the Shades must leap from the +western cliff to reach it. + +[Pageheader: THE PATH OF THE SHADES] + +Every step of the soul's journey was taken on a road perfectly familiar +to the people, and constantly frequented by daylight. But after +nightfall none were found so foolhardy as to set foot upon this domain +of the Immortals, while the precincts of Ndengei's cave and +Naithombothombo (the Jumping-off place) were tabu both by day and +night. In 1891 a surveyor, employed in sketching the boundaries of the +lands claimed by the Namata tribe, was taken by his native guides along +a high ridge, the watershed between the Rewa river and the eastern coast +of the main island. As they cut their way through the undergrowth that +clothed the hilltop, he noticed that the path was nearly level, and +seldom more than two feet wide, and that the ridge joined hilltop to +hilltop in an almost horizontal line. Reflecting that Nature never works +in straight lines with so soft a material as earth, and that natural +banks of earth are always washed into deep depressions between the +hills, and are never razor-edged as this was, he had a patch of the +undergrowth cleared away, and satisfied himself that the embankments +were artificial. Following the line of the ridge, the saddles had been +bridged with banks thirty to forty feet high in the deepest parts, and +tapering to a width of two feet at the top. The level path thus made +extends, so the guides said, clear to Nakauvandra mountain, fifty miles +away. For a people destitute of implements this was a remarkable work. +Every pound of earth must have been carried up laboriously in cocoanut +leaf baskets and paid for in feasts. Even when the valley was densely +populated the drain on the resources of the people must have been +enormous, for thousands of pigs must have been slaughtered and millions +of yams planted, cultivated, and consumed in the entertainment of the +workers. With the present sparse population the work would have been +impossible. It was thought at first that this was a fortification on a +gigantic scale, for Fijians never undertake any great combined work, +except for defence, to preserve their bare existence. It could not be a +road, because the Fijian of old preferred to go straight over obstacles, +like the soldier ants that climb trees rather than go round them. The +old men at Mbau, whom I questioned, knew no tradition about it, except +that it was called the "Path of the Shades," and that it was an +extension of one of the spurs of the Kauvandra mountain range. Of one +thing they were certain--that it was not built for defence. Then I asked +for guides to take me over it, and three grey-headed elders of the +Namata tribe were told off to accompany me. We started in the driving +rain. My guides were reticent at first, but when we had climbed to the +higher ridge, and were near the "Water-of-Solace," the spirit of the +place seemed to possess them, and at every turn of the path they stopped +to describe the peril that there beset the poor Shade. The eldest of the +three became at times positively uncanny, for he stopped here and there +in the rain to execute a sort of eerie dance, which, if it was intended +to exorcise the demons of the Long Road, was highly reprehensible in a +professing Wesleyan. Little by little I wormed the whole story out of +them, together with fragments of the sagas in which it is crystallized. +After I had reached home two of my native collectors were sent to Namata +to reduce the tradition to writing. The following is a literal +translation of what they brought me-- + + +_The Spirit Path_ (_Sala Ni Yalo_) + +There is a long range which has its source at Mumuria in the Kauvandra +mountain, and stretches eastward right down to Nathengani at Mokani in +Mbau. It is called the Tuatua-mbalavu (Long Range), but in Tholo and Ra +it is called the Tualeita. This range is nowhere broken or cut through, +nor does the course of any stream pass through it. And all the streams +that discharge into the Wainimbuka take their source in this range, and +also the streams that run towards the sea, on the whole coast, from +Navitilevu to Namata. + +Now our ancestors said that the souls of the dead followed this range on +their way to Kauvandra, and at the foot of the range at Mokani was their +fountain of drinking water, called Wainindula. We begin our account of +the "Spirit Path" at Ndravo, for at that place all the souls of those +who have died at Mburetu, and Nakelo, and Tokatoka, and Lomaindreketi, +and Ndravo crossed the water. + +This is the story-- + +[Pageheader: THE GHOSTLY FERRYMAN] + +When a man died his body was washed, and girded up with _masi_ and laid +in its shroud. A whale's tooth was laid on his breast, to be his stone +to throw at the pandanus-tree, which all the Shades had to aim at. And +while his friends were weeping, the Shade left the body and came to a +stream so swift that no Shade could swim across it. This stream was +called the Wainiyalo (River of the Shades), but it is now called the +Ndravo river. When the Shade reached the bank he stood and called +towards the Mokani side, where the god Themba dwelt, the same whose duty +it is to ferry the Shades across the water. Now Themba has a great +canoe, divided in the middle; one end is of _vesi_, and in this the +chiefs embark; but the other is of _ndolou_ (a kind of bread-fruit), and +on this the low-born Shades take passage. The name of the place where +they stand and call Themba is Lelele. When the Shade reaches Lelele he +stands and calls, "Themba, bring over your canoe." And Themba answers, +"Which end is to be the prow?" If the Shade answers, "The _vesi_ end," +Themba knows that it is the shade of a chief, but if it cries, "Let the +bread-fruit be the prow," it is a low-born Shade, and the bread-fruit +end touches the bank. + +When the Shade is ferried across from Lelele it goes straight to the +bluff at Nathengani, but before it reaches it it has to cross a bridge +called Kawakawa-i-rewai. Now this bridge is a monstrous eel, and while +the Shade is crossing it, if it writhes it is a sign to the Shade not to +tarry, for it means that his wife will not be strangled to follow him. +But if the eel does not writhe, then the Shade sits down, for he knows +that his wife is being strangled to his manes, and will soon overtake +him. + +Now, as he climbs the bluff at Nathengani the path is blocked by an +orchid, and from this orchid the disposition of the man is known, +whether it is good or bad; for if it is the Shade of a man kindly in his +life, and he cries to the orchid "Move aside," it allows the Shade to +pass, but if it is the Shade of a churlish man the orchid will not move, +but still blocks the path, and the Shade has to crawl beneath it. And +when he reaches the top of Nathengani he sees the pandanus-tree, and he +flings his stone at it. If he hits it he sits down to await his wife, +for it means that she has been strangled and is following him, but if he +misses it he goes straight on, knowing that no one is following him as +an offering to his manes. + +It is also related of the eel-bridge that if it turns over as a Shade +crosses it, that is a sign that the husband or wife of the Shade has +been unfaithful during life, and that when the Shade feels the eel +turning he goes forward weeping, because he knows that his wife had been +unfaithful to him in life. + +A goddess named Tinaingenangena guards the end of the range at +Nathengani. These are the verses that relate to her:-- + + Let us send for Tinaingenangena, + To teach us the song, + When we have learned it we are dissolved in laughter, + Her short _liku_ is flapping about, + As for us we are being laughed at, + The Shade of the dead is passing on, + Passing on to Nathengani, + He is stepping on the bridge; the eel-bridge, + It writhes and the Shade rolls off, + My dress is wet through, + He speaks to the orchid at Nathengani, + Speaks to the orchid that blocks the road, + Move a little that I may pass on, + He breaks the whale's tooth in half, + Breaks it that we may each have one, + That we may throw at the red pandanus, + He misses and bites his fingers in chagrin, + She loves her life too well. + +And as the spirit travels onward it comes to a _Ndawa_-tree called +"The-Ndawa-that-fells-the-Shades" (_Vuni-ndawa-thova-na-yalo_), which +stands at Vunithava. This it climbs to tear down the _ndawa_ fruit to be +its provision for the journey, and it weeps aloud as it goes in +self-pity for the deceit of the wife who had been unfaithful, as it now +knows. + +And now the Shade hears the voice of the god Ndrondro-yalo +(Pursuer-of-Shades), and he strides towards the Shade bearing in his +hand a great stone with which he pounds the nape of his neck, and the +_ndawa_ fruit the Shade is carrying is scattered far and wide. Therefore +this spot was called Naitukivatu (the Place-of-the-pounding-stone). + +[Pageheader: THE WATER OF OBLIVION] + +Then the Shade comes to a place called Ndrekei, where there are two +goddesses named Nino, whose custom it is to peer at all the Shades that +travel along the "Spirit-path." These goddesses are terrible on account +of their teeth; and as the Shade limps along the path they peer at it, +creeping towards it, and gnashing their teeth. And when the Shade sees +them it cries aloud in its terror and flees. + +And as the Shades flee they come to a spring, and stop to drink. And as +soon as they taste the water they immediately cease their weeping, and +their friends who are still weeping in their former homes also cease, +for their grief is assuaged. Therefore this spring is called +Wai-ni-ndula (Water-of-Solace). + +And as soon as they have finished drinking they rise up and look afar, +and lo! the _mbuli_ shells of the great dwellings of Kauvandra are +gleaming white, and they throw away the rest of their provision of +_via_, and to this day one may see the via they throw away sprouting at +this place, where no mortal may dig it. For now they know that they are +drawing near their resting-place; therefore they throw away their +provisions that they may travel the lighter. + +These are the verses that tell of the journey of the Shade from +Vunithava to the Water-of-Solace:-- + + What do we see at Vunithava? + A _ndawa_-tree weighted to the ground with fruit, + Climb it that we may eat, + To be provision for the Shades on their long journey, + Here have we reached the "Stonebreaker," + He pounds us and spills our _ndawa_ fruit, + Thence we go forward limping, + Nino begin to creep forward peering at us, + Now we arrive at the garden of puddings, + We stop to rest at the Wainindula, + We meet and drink together, e e. + Having drunk we are mad with joy (forgetting the past) + The Kai Ndreketi are growing excited, + They have sight of our bourne, + The shell-covered ridge-poles to which we are journeying + They seem to pierce the empyrean + We throw down our provisions, + Soon the great _via_ plants will appear (that have sprouted from the + _via_ thrown away). + +Journeying on from the Water-of-Solace the Shade comes to a place called +Naisongovitho, where stands a god armed with an axe. The name of this +god is Tatovu. When the Shade reaches this place Tatovu poises his axe +and chops at his back, and thenceforward the Shade goes with his back +bent. Presently he reaches Namburongo, where the god Motonduruka +(Palm-spear) lies in wait to impale every Shade with a spear fashioned +from a reed. + +Wounded with the rush-spear of Motonduruka, the Shade journeys on to a +place called Natambu, where there is a god called Naiuandui who wounds +him in the back, and he goes forward reeling in his gait. Therefore is +this place called Naimbalembale (the Reeling-place). + +There are verses that tell of the journey of the Shades from Rokowewe to +Naimbalembale:-- + + Rokowewe ("Lord Ue-Ue!") announces us, + "Prepare, ye old women," + They prepare their nets and shake them out for a cast, + They entangle them (the Shades), and cast them out, + Tatovuya (the Back-cutter) cuts them down, + Motonduruka (the Cane-spear) stabs them, + Naiuandui bruises them, + How far below us lies Nawakura, + How far above Mambua, + Mambua the land of insolence, + The land to which the spirits of every land come, + We are struck down, we are slain, + We go on reeling from side to side, e e. + +Now when the Shades have passed Naimbalembale they reach a spot called +Narewai. Here they have to crawl on their bellies. Thence they journey +to a place called Nosonoso (the Bowing-place), which they have to pass +in a stooping posture. There they bow down ten times. + +Thence they come to Veisule, where they throw down the provisions they +have taken and faint away. Thence they are dragged on to Nayarayara (the +Dragging-place) as corpses are dragged to the ovens to be cooked. Thence +they travel to Nangele. + +[Pageheader: THE DREAD FISHERWOMEN] + +Thence they come to a place called Navakathiwa (the Nine-times). This +they have to encircle nine times. Thence they have to journey on till +they come to a spot called the Watkins (the Pinching-stone). Every Shade +has to pinch this stone. If he indents it it is known that he was a +lazy man in his lifetime, for his nails were long, as they never are +when a man has been diligent in scooping up the yam hills in his garden +with his hands. But if his nails do not indent the stone it is known +that he was industrious, for his nails were worn away with working in +his plantation. From the "Pinching-stone" they go forward, dancing and +jesting, towards the god Taleya (the Dismisser), who is the god that +lives in the great _mbaka_-tree at Maumi. Then Taleya asks each Shade +how he died, whether by a natural death, or by the club in war, or by +strangling, or by drowning. And if he answers "I died by a natural +death," Taleya replies "Then go back and re-enter your body."[46] Hence +is the god called Taleya--the Dismisser. But if the Shade replies that +he was slain in war or drowned, Taleya lets him pass on. The Shades that +are sent back to re-enter their bodies do not always obey, for some are +so eager to reach Kauvandra that they disobey his command.[47] + +Thence the Shades follow the Long Road to a spot called Uluitambundra, +which is on the junction of the road with Namata. At this spot there is +a god who announces the Shades with a shout. His name is Rokowewe, and +when a Shade reaches Uluitambundra he shouts "Ue, Ue, Ue!" And two +goddesses at Naulunisanka on the road shake out their nets in readiness, +for they are set to net the Shades as they pass. These goddesses are +called Tinaiulundungu and Muloathangi, and they make a sweep with their +net. If it be the Shade of a warrior it will overleap the net as does +the _kanathe_; but if it be the Shade of a coward it will be entangled +like the _sumusumu_, and the goddesses will disentangle it and bite its +head as if it were a fish, and will loop up their nets and throw the +fish into their baskets. These goddesses inhabit the "Long Road" +(Tualeita), and they loiter in the path listening for the sound of +wailing from the villages below them, for the sad sound is wafted to +the "Long Road." But the real dwelling of these goddesses is Ulunisanka, +a peak on the road. There is a saga about these goddesses, and how they +fish for the shades of the dead. It is well known in Namata among the +women there, and it is called "Shade of the Dead" (Yalo mate). + + The goddesses are looping up their nets, + They are listening to the sound of weeping, + From what village does this weeper come? + Let us stand and dispute about it, + It is weeping from the village of ----? + They spread out their nets for a catch, + They spread their net across the belly of the road, + We hold the net and wait, + The shade of the dead is topping the ridge, + Let us lift up the head of the net cautiously, + The Shade leaps and clears the net at a bound, + One goddess claps, and clasps her hands, and the other bites her fingers + (in chagrin). + I look after the Shade, but it is far on its way, + Let us fold up the net and return. + +The Shades that have escaped from the Fisherwomen at Uluisanka follow +the "Long Road" to Naikathikathi-ni-kaile[48] (the +Calling-place-for-kaile). In the valley below this spot are two +goddesses boiling _kaile_, and when the Shade reaches the spot it calls +to them for _kaile_. If it calls for a red _kaile_ it is known for the +Shade of a man slain in war, but if it calls for a white _kaile_ it is +the Shade of one who was strangled. Some, however, call for _kaile_ from +Mburotu; these are they who have died a natural death, and _kaile_ from +Mburotu are taken to them. Other things, too, are called from this +place. + +When each Shade has received the _kaile_ for which he called, he passes +on to a place called Naikanakana (the Eating-place), and there he eats. +Thence he goes on to a place called Naililili (the Hanging-place). Here +there is a _vasa_ tree, and from the branches are hanging like bats the +Shades of the little children who are waiting for their fathers or their +mothers, and when one sees its mother it drops down, and goes on with +her to Kauvandra. + +[Pageheader: WHERE THE SHADES MEET] + +The children cry to the Shades as they pass, "How are my father and my +mother?" If the Shade answers, "The smoke of their cooking-fire is set +upright" (meaning that they are still in their prime), then the +child-Shade cries, "Alas, am I still to be orphan?" But if the Shade +replies, "Their hair is grey, and the smoke of their cooking-fire hangs +along the ground," the Shade of the child rejoices greatly, crying, "It +is well. I shall soon have a father and a mother. O hasten, for I am +weary of waiting for you." + +Thence the Shade follows the "Long Road" to a place called +Vuningasau-leka (Short reeds). Here the Shades stop to rest for a time, +and they turn to see who is following them, and there they recognize +each other, and become companions for the rest of their journey to +Kauvandra. Hence this place of Vuningasauleka is a by-word when there is +strong anger between two persons. If one would tell the other that he +will not see his face or speak to him again until one of them is dead, +he says, "We two will meet again at Vuningasaleka," meaning that they +will never meet again in this world. + +Thence the Shades journey to Nankasenkase (the Crawling-place). Here +they kneel down and crawl to the place called Naisausau (the +Clapping-place), where they stand upright and clap their hands. In +former times a village of the Naimbosa tribe was in this place, and they +say that in those days they used to hear about them the sound of the +hand-clapping which the Shades made at Naisausau. + +Thence they pass on to a place called Tree-fern-target (Balabala-ulaki), +where there is a tree-fern at which reeds are thrown, and here they stop +to throw at it. And next they come to Levukaniwai, and then to +Vakanandaku, where they rest for a time with their backs turned to one +another (Vakanandaku). Then they come to Naterema (the Coughing-place), +and here they cough loudly. Thence they pass through the place called +Buremundu, to Nainkoronkoro (the Place of Wonder), and there they stand +and marvel at the world, the beauty, the pleasures, the sorrows, and the +labour of it. Here they take their last look at the world before passing +on to Kauvandra. + +Passing through Nakovalangi, and Bulia, and Navunindakua, and +Matanikorowalu (the-Gate-of-the-eight-villages), which is a village of +Vungalei, they come to a place called Naisa-vusavu-ni-weli (the +Spitting-place). Each Shade as it arrives at this spot spits at the foot +of a _ndrindriwai_ tree, and go on to another place called Naikanakana +(the Eating-place), and here they stop to eat. Now our fathers have told +us that when we dream that the spirit of a dead man is eating us, it +signifies that the Shade has reached Naikanakana-ni-yalo, and that there +he finds the spirits of us the living, and that straightway he pursues +our spirits with intent to devour them. Therefore we sometimes say, +"Last night the Shade of so-and-so ate me, and I shouted till I almost +died." + +Having eaten the spirits of the living, the Shades of the dead pass +onward to Vunivau-nkusi-mata (the Hybiscus-for-wiping-the-face), and +here they break off leaves of the hybiscus, and wipe their faces with +them. If it be the Shade of a man the leaf will be black, but if it be +the Shade of a woman the leaf will be red. + +Thence they pass on to a spot called Navuniyasikinikini (the +Sandal-wood-tree-to-be-pinched), for in this spot there is a sandal-wood +which is pinched by all the Shades, and if the nails of the spirit make +an impression on the tree, it is known that it is the Shade of a lazy +man, but if the Shade pinches and leaves no impression it is plain that +it is the Shade of an industrious man who is diligent in gardening. + +Thence they pass on through the places called Naloturango and Tova, +through Navitikau and Tanginakarakara, still following the "Long Road" +through Thengunawai and Naitholasama and Nathau. + +[Pageheader: THE DANCE OF THE GODS] + +Next they reach a spot called Mbalenayalo (the Spirit falls), and as +each Shade reaches this spot it suddenly falls down with a loud report. +Thence they pass through Thenguna-sonki (Pigeon's rest), Drakusi (the +Wound), and Nambaikau (the Wooden wall), and Kelia, and Suva, and +Waitamia, the waterfall of Ndelakurukuru (Thunder-hill), Namatua's city. +Now this is a great city of the gods built on the "Long Road." Here the +Shades enter a house near the _rara_ (village square) called +Naisongolatha (Sail-cloth door). In this house they are to rest and +witness the dance of the gods of Ndelakurukuru. And when the gods have +finished dancing the Shades of the dead dance before them in their turn +in the great house of Nasongolatha. This is the song of the gods:-- + + I am in the house of Nasongolatha, + Likuse-ni-karawa speaks, + The great chiefs are met to practise a song, + Thou, dear to women, come and practise. + Mbatibukawanka leads the song, + Thavuthavu-mata (the Face-stealer) follows. + (This god used to steal the faces of good-looking men in order to + seduce women.) + He carries the club Singana-i-tamana (His father's triumph). + Roko Matanivula ("Lord Moon") is next; + Whence do all these chiefs come? + They are the chiefs from Molikula, + All their brothers follow them, + They assemble in the _rara_, + They turn once and scrape their feet, + They stamp and the earth splits, + Like the sound of thunder in the morning. + +When this song is finished the Shades leave the house to bathe in the +bathing-place of Ndelakurukuru, which is called Ndranukula (the Red +pond). This pool is in the middle of the city. And when they are about +to bathe, the god Namatua, who rules the city of Ndelakurukuru, +exorcises the water. This is the song with which he exorcises it:-- + + Bathe at Ndranukula and Namatua speaks, + There is a wind on Ndelakurukuru (Thunder-hill). + The breeze is scented with _ndomole_ flowers, + As clear water flowing forth from a spring. + All my children are dancing, + Weliwelinivula (Moonshine) leads the dance, + Together with Molikula. + +And after they have bathed the Shades go to look at the quicksand. This +sand is white and very fine, and the spirits go to look at it, and after +trying to cross it they fall asleep from very weariness, for, being a +shifting sand, it cannot be crossed. This is the song that tells of +it:-- + + I fall asleep at Nukutoro, the quicksand, + The sound of the singers and the drummers floats to me, + The sound of the spear-dance from the mountains, + The onlookers in their delight climb one upon another to see. + + The guardians of the mountains sing on, + The calves of their legs are like shaddocks, + Their red turbans are of the colour of blood, + Like the fruit of the _vutore_ tree floating down a river. + +Then the children of Namatua are assembled to be counted in order that +the Shades may know their numbers, the children of the god of Vungalei. +And when they are counted they are found to number one hundred and two, +and they are called collectively the Vuanivonokula (the +Fruit-of-the-red-kula). This was their title of honour. Now all these +sons of Namatua are young gods, strong and handsome. This is a portion +of one of the poems that relates to them:-- + + Let the sons of the god be counted, + They number one hundred and two; + The fruit of the _vono_ is drifting, + The fruit of the red _vono_.[49] + +The Shades, watching the dances of Ndelakurukuru and marvelling at the +strong and warlike appearance of the young gods, long to repay them by +singing a song of their own land. But they can only sing of their own +sufferings. They think that they will thus raise in the minds of the +gods anger against the mortals that are still living, and against the +race of mosquitoes, and flies, and black ants, for the dead are ever +malignant towards the living. This is their lament:-- + + My Lords, in ill fashion are we buried, + Buried staring up into heaven, + We see the scud flying over the sky, + We are worn out with the feet stamping in the earth,[50] + The rafters of our house (the ribs) are torn asunder, + The eyes with which we gazed on one another are destroyed; + The nose with which we kissed has fallen in; + The breast to which we embraced is ruined; + The thighs with which we clasped have fallen away; + The lips with which we smiled are fretted with decay; + The teeth with which we bite have showered down, + Gone is the hand which threw the _tinka_ stick, + Rolled away are the hawks' stones (testiculi), + Rolled away are the blunters of razors + (alluding to the custom of shaving the pubes). + Hark to the lament of the mosquito: + "Well it is that they should die and pass onward; + "But alas for my conch-shell that they have taken away" (the human ear). + Hark to the lament of the fly:[51] + "Well it is that they should die and pass onward, + But alas! they have carried away the eye from which I drank." + Hark to the lament of the black ant: + "Well it is that they should die and pass onward; + "But, alas! for my whale's tooth that they have taken away!" + (The male organ; the most vulnerable point of attack for that insect + when a native sits down.) + +[Illustration: Painting a _tapa_ shroud.] + +[Pageheader: THE LAMENT OF THE SHADES] + +And when the gods of Ndelakurukuru heard this song they cried, "Liku +tangoi ya io," which signifies in the language of the immortals, "The +mortals' way of burial is well enough, are we to condemn it for a song?" + + We are sitting and the stars are appearing, + My feet are in the ferry canoe, + There is trampling on the Path of the Shades + They are following the "Long Road." + I go on and speak as I go, + The world there is lying empty, + I am standing on the firm ground, + I stand on the hard path, + The path that leads straight to Kauvandra, + The dance of the "Mbuno-ni-tokalau" echoes, + What tree shall I take shelter under, + I sit under the _ndanindani_ tree, + We sit there chattering, + Our food is thrown away, + Our children are weeping, + I hate to be buried looking skywards, + I hate being buried to be stamped upon, + The hand with which I threw my _tinka_ stick has been torn off, + My legs have fallen off, like rotten fruit. + Our bodies have been broken in half, + Our teeth have showered down till not one is left, + Our pupils have been turned round to show the whites, + Turned so as to show the whites, + The whole land is tremulous with haze, + I sit down and weep with head bowed to the earth, + Let us go and enter the house at Naisongolatha, + Ndaunivotua has entered it (the singer of the _votua_), + To teach us to sing the _votua_, + They keep remembering as they dance, + They sleep till it is daylight. + + +The reminiscence of Greek myth in Themba, the ghostly ferryman, and in +the Water-of-Solace is, of course, mere coincidence. The republican +sentiments of Charon find no echo in Fiji, for Themba reserved the +hard-wood end of his craft for aristocratic passengers. The +Water-of-Solace, too, was a more complex invention than the Water of +Lethe, for the Fijians, whose emotions are transient, make their Lethe +an excuse for the shortness of their mourning for the dead. "And his +friends also ceased from weeping, for they straightway forgot their +sorrow, and were consoled." The saga is valuable for the light that it +throws on the moral ethics of the Fijians. Cowardice and idleness were +the most heinous crimes; a life of rapine and a violent death were +passports to the sacred mountain. A natural death was so contemned that +the Shade was commanded by Taleya to re-enter the body and die +respectably. This part of the story was of course devised to account for +recoveries from trance and fainting fits. Life on earth was not a +desirable possession. Seeing the misfortunes that overtook the spirit in +its last journey, the Fijians might well have exclaimed with Claudio-- + + "The weariest and most loathed worldly life, + Is Paradise to what we fear of death." + +Yet so gloomy and joyless is the prospect of a return to life that the +Shades who are offered the privilege by Taleya do not all obey, so +"anxious are they to reach Nakauvandra." + +Light is also thrown upon a fact wonderingly related by the early +missionaries, that the widows of dead chiefs themselves insisted upon +being strangled to his manes, although it was notorious that they did +not love him. It was their good name that was at stake, for we read that +when the Shade had missed his throw at the pandanus-tree, and knew +therefrom that his wives would not be strangled, he went on weeping, for +he had now a proof that they had been unfaithful to him in life. + +[Pageheader: THE ANCESTOR GOD] + +The religion of a primitive people springs from within them and reflects +their moral qualities, and the modification that it receives from the +physical character of the country in which they live is a mere colour +that goes no deeper than the surface. Every turn in the "Long Road" +embodies an article of social ethics. If there had been no long spur +protruding from Nakauvandra into the plain the story would have been +different, but the moral ethics of the race would somehow have been +illustrated; the industrious and courageous would somehow have been +rewarded; the man of violence would have had some advantage over the man +of peace; the Shades would in some way have shown their preference for +the terrors of death to the gloom of life; the idle and the cowardly +would somehow have been put to shame. + + +The Ndengei Myth + +Ndengei is supreme among the _Kalou-Vu_ (original gods), and his +authority was recognized by the whole of Vitilevu and its outlying +islands, and by the western half of Vanualevu. The oldest tradition in +which his name occurs mentions him as one of the first immigrants with +Lutu-na-somba-somba, but his fame far exceeded that of his companions, +and so many myths gathered about his name, that when the first +missionaries arrived he had come to be a counterpart of Zeus himself. In +serpent form he lay coiled in a cavern in the Kauvandra mountain above +Rakiraki, and when he turned himself the earth quaked. Enormous +offerings of food were made to him by the Rakiraki people. Several +hundred hogs and turtle were carried to the mouth of the cavern, which +the priests approached, crawling on their knees and elbows. One of the +priests then entered the cave to proffer the request. If it was for a +good yam-crop he would reappear, holding a piece of yam which the god +had given him; if for rain, he would be dripping with water; if for +victory, a fire-brand would be flung out in token that the enemy would +be consumed, or a clashing of clubs would be heard, one for each of the +enemy that would be slaughtered. Beyond the limits of his own district +he had scarcely a temple, and little actual worship was paid to him, +though in the great drought of 1838 King Tanoa of Mbau sent propitiatory +offerings to him; and even in Raki-raki itself, there is a humorous +song in which Uto his constant attendant, is represented as visiting the +public feasts for the god's portion, and returning to Ndengei with the +rueful intelligence that nothing but the under shell of the turtle was +allotted to him. In some versions Ndengei has the head and neck only of +a serpent, the rest of his body being of stone. He is the creator of +mankind, but he has no emotions, sensations, or appetites except +hunger.[52] Another version describes him as sending forth his son, +Rokomautu, to create the land. He scraped it up from the ocean-bed, and +where his flowing garment trailed across it there were sandy beaches, +and where the skirt was looped up the coast was rocky. He also taught +men how to produce fire. + +When the missionaries first attempted the conversion of Rakiraki the +people thought that Christianity was a mere variant of their own cult of +Ndengei, using the following argument: Ndengei = the True God; Jehovah = +the True God; therefore, Jehovah = Ndengei. Many years later the false +prophet, Navosavakandua, whose career is set forth hereafter, used a +similar argument to prove that his teachings did not clash with those of +the missionaries, but were merely a newer revelation. + +Ndengei was a purely Melanesian deity, and therefore, as I have said, +the whole of Abraham Fornander's argument of a settlement of Polynesians +in Fiji from the second to the fifth centuries a.d., which is founded on +the fallacy that Ndengei was of Polynesian origin, falls to the +ground.[53] For the serpent-worship indicated in the serpent form of +Ndengei, on which he lays so much stress, is a modern gloss, and, even +if it had been ancient, it would have proved no connection with the +Polynesians, since snake-superstitions are common throughout Melanesia. + +[Pageheader: THE SHOOTING OF THE SACRED PIGEON] + +The great saga of the war in Nakauvandra is far older than the myth +ascribing serpent form to Ndengei, and there the god figures as a +splenetic and irascible old man, as no doubt he was in his remote +earthly career. I take the story from the version written down by Ilai +Motonithothoko, to whom I have referred elsewhere. When Ndengei had +grown old the settlement on the Kauvandra mountain consisted of several +villages, one of which belonged to Rokola and his carpenter clan, and +the grandsons of the first arrivals were grown men. In the village of +Nai-lango-nawanawa, on the slopes of the mountain, lived two twin +grand-nephews of Ndengei, named Na-thiri-kau-moli and Na-kau-sambaria, +who having brought down a pigeon with an arrow without injuring it, +clipped its wings and tamed it. They gave the bird the name of Turukawa, +and every morning and evening, and at flood-tide and ebb-tide, its +cooing resounded far and wide over the mountain. Old Ndengei, hearing +its voice, sent a messenger to ask the youths to give it to him, but +they were absent from home, and the messenger, assured by their father +that their consent was not necessary, took the bird to his master. +Ndengei wanted the bird for a practical purpose. Elderly Fijians are +somnolent, and the pigeon's cooing at sunrise was useful in arousing him +from slumber. + +Next morning the twin brothers were startled at hearing their pigeon +cooing in Ndengei's village, and when they heard that it had been taken +away without their consent, they flew into a rage, crying, "Sombo! is +this to be the way with us children of men?" And they made ready their +bow, which was called Livaliva-ni-singa (Summer-lightning), and set +forth to shoot Turukawa. And when they drew near the banyan-tree in +which he was perched, they doffed their turbans; therefore the place is +called Ai-thavu-thavu-ni-sala (the Doffing-place) to this day. And they +shot an arrow at Turukawa, who fell dead to the ground. And they drew +out the arrow, and went to the carpenters' village, Narauyamba, because +it was fortified, and their own village was not fortified. + +For four days Ndengei missed the cooing of his Awakener, and he sent +Uto, his messenger, to see what had become of him. And Uto came to the +banyan-tree, and found the body of Turukawa, and saw the arrow-wound, +and said, "There is none who would so forget Ndengei as to kill his +Awakener but the twin brothers whose bird he was. Why have they gone to +live at Narauyamba, except it be because it has a war-fence?" And he +told Ndengei his suspicions. Then he went to the brothers and questioned +them, and they said, "Yes, we did shoot Turukawa." + +Then Ndengei sent to them to come to him, and they refused. And his +anger blazed up within him, and he cried with a terrible voice, "Go, +tell them to depart to a land where I am not known!" + +But this also they refused to do, and Rokola ordered his carpenters to +build a war-fence of _vesi_ timber, very high, with neither joint nor +chink in it. And when Ndengei knew that the carpenters had entrenched +themselves, he sent messengers to Rokomouto to come and help him. + +Then there was war in Kauvandra--such a war as has never since been seen +in Fiji. Joined to Ndengei were Rokomouto and his clan, who had settled +on Viwa, and together they laid siege to the fortress. Many heroes fell +on either side, but never a warrior could storm the wall of _vesi_ built +by the carpenters. But now Rokola devised a dreadful engine of war. +Before the gate of his fortress there was a ragged rift in the +mountain-side. He sent out his warriors to cut stout vines in the +forest, and suspended a bridge of twisted vines over the chasm. From the +tops of two stout posts, planted within the fortress, he stretched ropes +that appeared to be mere supports to the bridge, but were in reality a +trap such as the men of Notho use when they would snare wild duck in +their taro-beds. For when a man trod upon them he was caught fast in a +noose, and the defenders hauled suddenly upon the ropes, and swung him +high over the rampart into their midst, where they could club him at +leisure. Then warriors were sent out to flee before the enemy to entice +them on the bridge, and many were caught in the trap, and swung into the +fortress to meet their doom. Thus were Ndengei's forces dispirited. + +[Pageheader: THE GREAT DELUGE] + +There were traitors in Ndengei's camp, who were conspiring with the +enemy, and carrying food to him by night. These men were seized, and +being found guilty on their own confession, were exiled from Kauvandra +for ever. They left the mountain, some going towards Matailombau, +others towards Navosa. Now, when Ndengei saw that he could not prevail +against the fortress, he sought out one Mbakandroti, a man related to +the carpenters, who had chosen to take part with Ndengei against his own +kin, and bade him devise a plan for betraying the fortress. That night a +spirit appeared to Mbakandroti in a dream, and told him to cut down a +_vungayali_-tree that grew close to the rampart. And when he had related +his dream, one Vueti was appointed to cut it down. He had scarce laid +his stone axe to the root when water began to gush forth from the wound. +All that day the water poured into the fortress, and by nightfall it was +knee-deep, and rising still. So the carpenters took counsel, and +resolved to ask pardon of Ndengei, since the gods were with him. So +Ndengei took counsel with his chiefs, and they said, "These craftsmen +are too valuable; we cannot destroy them; let them be exiled!" The +fountain had now become a mighty river flowing southward from the +mountain, and the craftsmen built them canoes in haste, and embarked, +and sailed down the stream till they came to a new land, and there they +settled. These are the ancestors of the carpenter clan at Rewa.[54] But +there was no pardon for the twin brothers; to their exile there was to +be no limit. Yet, for Rokola's sake, they were given time to build their +canoe. And Rokola built them a vessel such as has never since been seen +in Fiji, and named it Nai-vaka-nawanawa (the Lifeboat), and sailed away +down the stream into the western ocean, and were never heard of more; +only the prophecy remains that one day they will come again. It will +presently be related how the false teacher Na-vosa-vakandua turned this +prophecy to account. + + +The Epic of Dengei + + Ko Dengei sa tangi langalanga, + "Bongi ndua, bongi rua ka'u yandra + Bongi tolu, bongi va ka'u yandra, + Sa tambu ndungu ndina ko Turukawa, + Isa! nonku toa, na toa turanga, + Isa! nonku toa, na toa tamata, + Tiko e ulunda na ka rarawa, + Au lolova kina, au tambu kana, + Matanivanua, mai thithi manda, + Mai thithi sara ki Narauyamba, + Mo tarongi rau na ndauvavana, + 'Kemundrua, ru vanai Turukawa?' + Sa tambu ndungu ni vakamataka, + Ma lolo koto Kotoinankara, + Ma mbunotha no a wai ni matana, + Vakasunka me ramothe mai wanka." + + Thus did Dengei weep tears of annoyance, + "One night, two nights have I lain awake, + Three nights, four nights have I lain awake, + Not once has Turukawa cooed, + Alas! my fowl, my noble fowl! + Alas! my fowl, my man-like fowl, + Sorrow has taken possession of my brain, + I am sick with it; I cannot eat, + Come, herald, run, + Run straight to Narauyamba, + Question the archers, and say, + 'You, did you shoot Turukawa? + Not once did he coo at daybreak, + The 'Cave-dweller'[55] is still fasting, + The tears are welling from his eyes; + The men are off to sleep on board.' + +[Pageheader: THE CRAFTSMEN DECLARE WAR] + + +The Herald Speaks + + Nonku nduri tiko ni karakaramba, + Sa talaki ma Kotoinankara, + "Matanivanua mai thithi manda, + Mo lakovi rau na turanga, + Nonku toa sa mate vakathava? + Au tambu kila no a kena thala." + Soraki ka tukutuku ko Mata, + Ma mbolea mai ko Nakausamba, + 'Matanivanua, mo na ngalu manda, + O kenda kethe na luve ni tamata, + Oi au na luve ni mathawa, + Oi au na luve ni vula thandra, + Vakathambethambe nga ko Waithala, + Ka levu ko cava kei Mata, + Au kaya mo na sa vavi manda, + Tha nde ko senga ni na laukana, + Ni ko rui kaisi tha sara, + Au a lenkata na vula ma thandra." + Ko Nathirikaumoli ma vosaya, + "Me tukuna ma Kotoinankara, + Nona ruve e rawata vakathava? + E kune e wai, se rawata matha? + Ko la'ki tukuna me nda tu sa vala, + Sa vu ni tha nga ko Turukawa, + Me tawase kina ko Nakauvandra, + Sa tha nondatou tiko vata, + Me ngundu na masi me tou sa vala." + Kena moto ma rara no kivata, + Na malumu me thavu e na wakana, + Ko wilika ma na sai mbalambala, + Tiko sombu ndaru na okaokata, + E undolu vakatini sa rawa, + Me tou tinia na masi ni vala, + A ndrondro a ue ki sankata. + Mataisau era mbose toka, + Era mbose, era ndui vosavosa, + Me nkai vosa mai ko Rokola, + "Mbai vesi mo ndou la'ki vonota, + Matamata mo ndou la'ki karona," + Na mbongi ni vala ka sa tini toka, + Kena wa ma mbuki ma so vota, + Velavela ko Lutunasombasomba, + Sai koya nga na ndauloloma, + Nda nkai nanuma tale nona vosa, + "Tou a nkai kune ka ngona, + O ndou nguthe tou na mbokola, + Me mai mbaleta nai votavota." + E tini na vuthu ka tambu na vosa. + + I am wearied with the labour of poling, + Dispatched with this message from the Cave-dweller, + "Come, herald, run, + Summon the two chiefs to come to me, + Why was my fowl slain? + I know of no evil that he did." + Thus the herald gave his message, + Nakausamba answers him boastfully, + "Herald, hold thy peace, + We are all the children of men, + I am the child of space, + I am the child of the rising moon, + Which Waithala made to rise, + This herald is full of questions, + My way would be to have thee roasted, + It would be a pity not to have thee eaten, + For thou art the worst of lowborn men; + I have confined the rising moon." + Then speaks Nathirikaumoli, + "Tell this to the Cave-dweller, + How came he by his pigeon? + Found he it in the water, or found he it on land, + Go, tell him that we will fight for it, + Turukawa is the root of the evil, + It is by him that Kauvandra is divided, + It is not well that we should live together, + Up with the flag and let us fight." + His spear lies ready on the shelf, + And his club can be snatched from the eaves, + Have you counted the spear-points of tree-fern? + Sit down and let us number them, + Ten times one hundred in all; + Let us hoist the pennants of war, + The welkin rings with the tumult. + The craftsmen are sitting in council, + They consult, each gives his opinion, + Rokola now speaks, + "Go and fit close a rampart of vesi, + Give special heed to the gate," + Ten days has the battle raged, + The rope has snared them; they are dismembered, + Lutunasombasomba is dishonoured, + He it is who is to be pitied, + Let us then recall his words, + "We are now in terrible plight, + You gloat over our corpses, + Thinking how ye will dismember them for the feast." + The poem is finished and there is silence. + + +Vunivasa + + Ndungu toka ni singa ko Turukawa, + Sa tambu ndungu ni vakama taka, + Tangi ko Ndengei ru sa lomana, + Isa nonku toa, na toa turanga, + U vula ndua koto ni tambu kana, + U vula rua koto ni lolovaka, + Me ndua me thithi ki Narauyamba, + I tarongi rau na ngone turanga, + Oi ndrua, ru vanai Turukawa, + Sa tambu ndungu ni vakamataka, + "Tiko i ulunda na tiko vinaka, + Ru sanga voli nai vakayandra." + Ra tukia ni mbongi na veivala, + Ndua nai valu ma sorovi rawa. + Tambu ni sorovi mo ndru la'ki kamba, + Era mba nai valu i ruarua, + Ndua i yaviti yae; ndua i tambili, yae, + Ului Ndreketi era sa mbini. + Seu nai valu i matasawa, + Ia la'ki seu ki sawana, + Ru la'ki samuti ko Nakauvandra, + Vosa i cei a vuna vala? + Thimbi koto nai valu sa rawa, + Lave a osooso ni turanga, + Enda vala, enda vala, enda vala--i! + +Second Choir + + Turukawa used to coo all the day long, + He did not coo at daybreak, + Ndengei wept for love of him, + Alas! my fowl, my noble fowl, + For a whole month I have eaten nothing, + For two months have I fasted for him, + Let one run to Narauyamba, + And question the two young chiefs, + Did ye shoot Turukawa? + He did not coo at daybreak, + "Joy possesses us, + We did injure the Awakener." + They joined battle at nightfall, + It is a war that can never be atoned. + Never atoned; go, storm the fortress, + Both sides joined battle, + Ah! one is clubbed, Ah! another is down, + The bodies of the Ului Ndreketi are piled high. + The war spreads even to the shore, + Aye, spreads even to the sea-shore, + The Kauvandra tribes are thrashed, + Whose was the word that set the battle going? + Lo! the death-dance for the ending of the war! + Crash goes the club into the thick of the chiefs! + We fight, we fight, we fight--i! + +This poem is given in the dialect of Rakiraki. As in all Fijian poems +there are no indications of the speaker, and it is as difficult to +translate as a modern play would be if all the speakers' names and the +stage directions were omitted. Judging by the phraseology I take it to +be a late version of the ancient story, probably not more than a century +old. The older poems contain archaic words whose meaning is +unintelligible to the natives of these days, for the language is being +steadily impoverished as the older generation is giving place to men +taught in the mission schools. + + +The Tuka Heresy + +[Pageheader: THE IMMORTALITY HERESY] + +In 1876 the Fijians had all nominally accepted Christianity. In every +village throughout the group services were held regularly by native +teachers of the Wesleyan Mission; the heathen temples had been +demolished; and all customs likely to keep alive the old heathen cults +had been sternly discountenanced. Even the old men conformed outwardly +to the new faith, and it was hoped that, as they died out, the old +beliefs would perish with them. But it was not to be expected that they +had really abandoned all belief in the religion of their fathers. + +Towards the end of 1885 strange rumours were carried to the coast by +native travellers from the mountains. A prophet had arisen, who was +passing through the villages crying, "Leave all, and follow me." He had +gathered around him a band of disciples on whom he was bestowing the +boon of immortality (_tuka_), to fit them to consort with their +ancestors who were shortly to return from the other world bringing the +millennium with them. The Commissioner of the Province, the late Mr. +Walter Carew, found the rumour to be substantially true. A man named +Ndungumoi, of the village of Ndrauni-ivi in the Rakiraki district, who +had been deported in 1878 to one of the Lau islands for stirring up +sedition, but had been allowed to return home about three years before, +had announced that he had had a revelation from the ancestor-gods. He +said that the foreigners had deported him to Tonga and still believed +him to be there. They had tried to drown him, he said, by throwing him +overboard with the ship's anchor tied about his neck, but, being _vunde_ +(charmed), he had swum safely ashore with his body, leaving his spirit +behind to deceive the foreigners. Taking the title of Na-vosa-vakandua +(He who speaks but once), the native title for the Chief Justice of the +Colony, he appointed two lieutenants, who went through the mountain +villages enrolling disciples and teaching them a sort of drill +compounded of the evolutions of the Armed Native Constabulary and native +dances. The prophet carried about with him a bottle of water, called +Wai-ni-tuka (Water of Immortality), which conferred immortality upon him +who drank of it. People paid for the boon at a rate varying from ten +shillings' to two pounds' worth of property, and so remunerative was +this part of his business, that at a feast held at Valelembo he could +afford to present no fewer than four hundred whales' teeth, a king's +ransom according to the Fijian standard. Fortunately for the Government, +the prophet was no ascetic. He had enrolled a bevy of the best-looking +girls in the district to be his handmaidens, by persuading them that his +holy water conferred not only immortality, but perpetual virginity, and +that they therefore ran no risk of the usual consequences of +concubinage. It was through the parents of these "Immortality Maidens" +that information first reached the Government officers. + +Ndungumoi's teachings were an ingenious compound of Christianity with +the cult of Ndengei. Recognizing probably that the Mission had too firm +a hold to be boldly challenged, he declared that when Nathirikaumoli and +Nakausambaria, the twins who made war against Ndengei, had sailed away +after their defeat, they went to the land of the white men, who wrote a +book about them, which is the Bible; only, being unable to pronounce +their Fijian names correctly they called them Jehovah and Jesus. His, +therefore, was the newer revelation. There was some controversy among +the faithful whether Ndengei was God or Satan. Most of them inclined to +the latter belief, because Satan, like Ndengei, was a serpent. They +named various places round Kauvandra Roma (Rome), Ijipita (Egypt), +Kolosa (Colossians), etc., and they said that if a man were bold enough +to penetrate to the recesses of the great cavern he might see the flames +of hell. + +[Pageheader: THE ARREST OF THE PROPHET] + +The prophet had more practical concerns than the discussion of problems +in theology. The twin gods, he said, were about to revisit Fiji, +bringing all the dead ancestors in their train, to share the ancient +tribal lands with their descendants: the missionaries, the traders, and +the Government would be driven into the sea, and every one of the +faithful would be rewarded with shops full of calico and tinned salmon. +Those who believed that he was sent before to prepare the way would be +rewarded with immortality, but the unbelievers would perish with the +foreigners. The white men, he said, were fully aware of what was coming, +as was shown by the officers of men-of-war who, when questioned as to +why they squinted through glass instruments, looked disconcerted, and +said evasively that they were measuring the reefs, whereas in fact they +were looking for the coming of the divine twins. In the meantime the +faithful were to drill like soldiers, and the women to minister to them. +They used a travesty of English words of command, and pass-words such as +"Lilifai poliseni oliva ka virimbaita,"[56] which is not sense in any +language. + +Temples were built secretly at Valelembo and other places, wherein, +behind the curtain, the god might be heard to descend with a low +whistling sound. A white pig, a rarity in Fiji, and probably a symbol +for the white men, was being fattened against the day when it was to be +slaughtered as a sacrifice to the ancestors. + +The prophet had fixed the day; the feasts were all prepared; threats +about what was to happen to church and state were being freely +exchanged, when the prophet was arrested. He then besought his guards +not to send him to Suva, and so defeat all the glorious miracles he was +about to work for the redemption of the race. Unless the twin gods +reappeared on earth the power of Ndengei, which is the Old Serpent, +would continue in the ascendant, for the twins were they of whom it was +foretold that they should bruise the head of the serpent. He was a +sooty-skinned, hairy little man of middle age, expansive enough with the +native warders in Suva gaol, but reticent when questioned about his +mission. He was deported to Rotuma, where he is still living, and the +outbreak was stamped out for the time. + +In 1892 the heresy broke out afresh. One of his lieutenants, who had +been allowed to remain in the district, began to receive letters from +him. He would stand in the forest with a bayonet, and the magic letter +fluttered down from the sky and impaled itself on the point. This was +the more remarkable since Ndungumoi could not write. Holy water was +again distributed, there was more drilling, and the end of British rule +was again foretold. This time the Government decided to let the light +and air into Ndrauni-ivi, the fount of superstition; the people, lepers +and all, were deported in a body to Kandavu, and the very foundations of +the houses were rased to the ground. + +These false prophets were not all self-deceived, nor were they wholly +deceivers. They were of that strange compound of hysterical credulity +and shrewd common-sense that is found only among the hereditary priests +of Fiji. They knew what strings to play upon in the native character. +The people are arrogant and conservative; they secretly despise +foreigners for their ignorance of ceremonial, while conforming to their +orders through timidity; their nature craves for the histrionic +excitement and the ceremonial proper to traffic with unseen powers. They +chafe secretly at the ordered regularity imposed upon them; at the +inexorable punctuality of the tax-collector, at the slow process of the +courts in redressing their grievances, at the laws which forbid them to +seize with a strong hand the property they covet. It would have been no +disgrace to them to yield allegiance to a conqueror, but the white men +never conquered them, and therefore the tribute which they pay annually +in the form of taxes is an ever-recurring dishonour. They pant for +change--for the coming of a time when the heroic stories that they have +heard from their fathers shall be realized, and their chiefs be again +lords paramount over their own lands. They have forgotten the curse of +war, the horror of the night attack, the tortures, the clubbings, the +ovens, the carrying into captivity, to which half at least of the tribes +would again be subject if their millennium came; for all the gifts which +the Empire has bestowed upon its coloured subjects, the _Pax Britannica_ +is the last to be appreciated. Good government? They would welcome the +worst anarchy so it were their own and not the foreigner's! + +[Pageheader: A HEATHEN REVOLT] + +Upon all the jangling strings Ndungumoi harped, half believing the while +in the mission he professed. The Fijians secretly hated the foreigners +and coveted their goods; the foreigners should be swept away, leaving +their goods behind them. They found the Mission services tame; they +should dabble in the black art as often as they pleased; they loved the +excitement of conspiracy, and they admired the Old Testament; if they +believed in him they might hatch plots against the Government with +biblical sanction. Left to themselves the Tuka superstitions would have +resulted in bloodshed, if not in grave political danger. To the white +settlers in the outlying districts the natives are in the proportion of +many hundreds to one, and these must infallibly have fallen victims to +Ndungumoi's demand for blood-sacrifice. The outbreak would probably have +been confined to the island of Vitilevu, and the Government could have +counted on nearly one-half of the group to aid in suppressing it; but as +in the case of Hauhauism among the Maoris, which the Tuka resembled, the +military operations would have been protracted and costly. + + +The Revolt at Seankanka (_Seaqaqa_) + +The outbreak in the Mathuata province in 1895, which had no political +importance, is interesting from the fact that the rebels at once +returned to heathen worship and to cannibalism, as if there had not been +a break of more than twenty years. The district of Seankanka includes a +number of inland villages whose people scarcely ever visit the +sea-coast. Split up into little communities of three or four houses, +they have been as completely cut off from the influence of the Mission +and the Government as if they were in another country. It may indeed be +doubted whether heathen practices of some kind were not carried on +continuously, although the people were nominally _lotu_. They were +naturally a peaceable folk who only asked to be left alone, and the +coast people had long been irritating them by putting upon them more +than their share of the communal and tax work of the district. + +On June 11, 1895, the Governor received a letter from the Roko Tui +Mathuata announcing that on the last day of May a native constable sent +to serve a summons at the inland village of Thalalevu had been attacked +and beaten by the inhabitants, who had subsequently taken the villages +of Nathereyanga and Ndelaiviti without bloodshed. The Governor, Sir +John Thurston, sailed that night for Mathuata with a small force of +armed constabulary, and found that the rebels had followed up their +success by burning the village of Saivou, killing two of its +inhabitants, named Sakiusa and Samisoni, whose bodies were afterwards +found dismembered and prepared for cooking. The rebels had retired to an +old hill fortress called Thaumuremure, where they were strongly +entrenched. On the march inland the besiegers had to pass the grave of +the late Buli Seankanka in the village of Nathereyanga, and there they +interrupted some of the rebels, who had carefully weeded the grave, and +were in the act of presenting kava to the spirit of the dead chief to +implore his aid. The siege of Thaumuremure will not loom large in +history. The garrison numbered at the most one hundred persons; they had +no arms but their spears, while the besiegers carried Martini-Henry +rifles. But the garrison bravely blew their conch-shells and danced the +death-dance till the last. It was all over in a few minutes. Nine men +were shot dead, and the rest took to their heels, to surrender a few +days later, while the Government force could boast but three +spear-wounds. Nkaranivalu, the arch-rebel, and the two old heathen +priests, who had eaten the arms and the legs of the two victims of the +outbreak, were carried to Suva to expiate their crime. The people of the +scattered villages were collected into one large village under the eye +of their chief, and the district was at rest. + +The outbreak is only interesting in that it shows how the Fijians +confuse Christianity with the Government, and cannot throw off the one +without repudiating the other; and how cannibalism was a religious rite +and not the mere gratification of a depraved taste. + + +The Mbaki, or Nanga Rites + +[Pageheader: THE RITES OF THE FIRST FRUITS] + +We have now to consider a cult which is remarkable in more than one +respect--in its contrast to the religious system of the Fijians, its +resemblance to certain Australian and Melanesian rites, and in the +sidelights which it seems to throw upon the origin of ancient monuments +in Europe.[57] Fijian mythology is essentially tribal; the Mbaki took no +cognizance of tribal divisions. It was rather a secret religious society +bound together by the common link of initiation. The rite of initiation +is a curious echo of the Engwura ceremony of the Arunta tribe in Central +Australia as described by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. The Nanga, the +open-air temple in which the Mbaki was celebrated, has more than a +slight resemblance to the alignments at Carnac in Brittany and Merivale +on Dartmoor. + +The Nanga was the "bed" of the Ancestors, that is, the spot where their +descendants might hold communion with them; the Mbaki were the rites +celebrated in the Nanga, whether of initiating the youths, or of +presenting the first-fruits, or of recovering the sick, or of winning +charms against wounds in battle. The cult was confined to a +comparatively small area, a bare third of the island of Vitilevu. +Outside this area it was unknown, and even among the tribe that built +and used the Nanga there were many who knew nothing of the cult beyond +the fact that a certain spot near their village might not be visited +without exciting the displeasure of the gods, although members of tribes +that worshipped other gods, and were frequently at war with them, +resorted to the Nanga, which they were not permitted to approach. Even +when the two tribes were at war those of the enemy that were initiated +were safe in attending the rites, provided that they could make their +way to the Nanga unobserved. + +The Nangas are now in ruin. There is a large and very perfect one at +Narokorokoyawa, several in Navosa (Western Tholo), and three on the +south coast between Serua and the Singatoka river. On the western coast +there are said to be two, one in Vitongo and the other in Momi. I have +visited several whose structure was so identical that one description +will serve for all. The Nanga is a rough parallelogram formed of flat +stones embedded endwise in the earth, about 100 feet long by 50 feet +broad, and lying east and west, though the orientation is not exact. The +upright stones forming the walls are from 18 inches to 3 feet in height, +but as they do not always touch they may be described as "alignments" +rather than walls. At the east end are two pyramidal heaps of stones +with square sloping sides and flat tops, 5 feet high and 4 feet by 6 +feet on the top. The narrow passage between them is the main entrance to +the enclosure. Two similar pyramids placed about the middle of the +enclosure divide it roughly into two equal parts, with a narrow passage +connecting the two. The western portion is the Nanga-tambu-tambu (or +Holy of Holies); the eastern the Loma ni Nanga (or Middle Nanga). In the +Nangas on the south coast the two truncated pyramids near the entrance +are wanting. At the middle of the west end there is another entrance, +and there are gaps in the alignments every six or eight feet to permit +people to leave the enclosure informally during the celebration of the +rites. Beyond the west end of the Nanga near Vunaniu the ground rose, +and on the slope were two old graves upon which were found the decayed +remains of two "Tower" muskets. It is possible that chiefs were buried +near the "Holy of Holies" of all the Nangas in order that their Shades, +who haunted the graves, when summoned to the Nanga by their living +descendants, should not have far to come. + +[Pageheader: HOW THE RITES ORIGINATED] + +Attention was first called to the Mbaki cult by the Rev. Lorimer Fison, +of the Wesleyan Mission, who, though he did not visit any Nanga, wrote +an account of the rites in the charming style that marks all his +writings.[58] He overcame the natives' reluctance to reveal these dread +secrets by a ruse. While he was describing the Australian Bora rites to +one of the _Vunilolo Matua_ of the Nanga a woman passed, and, lowering +his voice, he whispered, "Hush! the women must not hear these things!" +Covering his mouth with his hand the old native exclaimed, "Truly, sir, +you are a Lewe ni Nanga. I will tell you all about it." Mr. Adolph Joske +was probably the first European to see and describe the great Nanga at +Nerokorokoyawa, and he has added much to our knowledge of the +rites[59]. The two accounts vary in detail, perhaps because Mr. Fison +drew some of his information from Nemani Ndreu, the Raisevu, who seems +to have supplemented his ignorance of the Mbaki with excerpts from his +own Kalou-rere cult, and from the rich stores of his imagination. + +The tribes that used the Nanga were the Nuyamalo, Nuyaloa, Vatusila, +Mbatiwai and Mdavutukia. All these tribes have spread east and south +from a place of origin in the western mountain district. They are of +Melanesian type, and have fewer traces of Polynesian admixture than the +coast tribes. The Mbaki, while its Nanga-temple bears a superficial +likeness to the Polynesian Marae, has a very strong resemblance to +Melanesian institutions; its dissonance with the Fijian religious system +at once suggests that there must be some tradition of its introduction +from over-sea. For this we have not far to look, for the tradition is +green in the memory of every initiate. + +"Long ago two little old men, called Veisina and Rukuruku, drifted +across the Great Ocean from the westward, and passing through the Yasawa +Islands, they beached their canoe upon the little island of Yakuilau, +which lies by the coast of Nandi. Veisina, who landed first, fell into a +deep sleep, and slept till the coming of Rukuruku. From the spot where +Veisina lay sprang _thanga_ (turmeric), and from Rukuruku's footsteps +sprang the _lauthi_ (candle-nut--_Aleurites triloba_), and therefore the +followers of Veisina smear themselves with turmeric, and the followers +of Rukuruku with the black ash of the candle-nut, when they go to the +Nanga. + +"The two old men took counsel, saying, 'Let us go to the chief of +Vitongo and ask him to divide his men between us that we may teach them +the Mbaki.' And when they made their request the chief granted it, and +gave them a piece of flat land on which to build their Nanga. There they +built it and called the place Tumba-levu. The descendants of men to whom +these two little black-skinned old men taught the mysteries of the Nanga +are they which practise it to this day. When they left their home and +travelled eastward they carried the mysteries with them. The Veisina do +not know what the Rukuruku do in the Nanga, nor do the Rukuruku know the +mysteries of the Veisina." + +Here we have the earliest tradition of missionary enterprise in the +Pacific. I do not doubt that the two sooty-skinned little men were +castaways driven eastward by one of those strong westerly gales that +have been known to last for three weeks at a time. By Fijian custom the +lives of all castaways were forfeit, but the pretence to supernatural +powers would have saved men full of the religious rites of their +Melanesian home, and would have assured them a hearing. The Wainimala +tribes can name six generations since they settled in their present +home, and therefore the introduction of the Nanga cannot have been less +than two centuries ago. During that time it has overspread one-third of +the large island. + +The following account of the rites is gathered from inquiries that I +have made of old men who accompanied me to the Ndavotukia Nangas, +supplemented by the full accounts written by Messrs. Fison and Joske. +The Veisina and Rukuruku sects used the same Nanga, but were absolutely +forbidden to reveal their mysteries to one another on pain of madness or +death. In Wainimala they seem to have held their respective festivals in +alternate years. But a few of the youths of each sect were initiated in +the mysteries of both, in token, perhaps, of the common origin of their +institutions. Mr. Joske says that no Nanga was used twice for an +initiation ceremony, but I found no support for this statement among the +Ndavotukia, whose Nanga was said, and certainly appeared, to have been +used for generations. + +[Pageheader: THE PROCESSION] + +Each "Lodge" comprised three degrees: (1) The _Vere Matua_, all old men +who acted as priests of the order; (2) the _Vunilolo_, the grown men; +and the _Vilavou_ (_lit._, "New Year's men"), the youths who were +novices. The great annual festival was the initiation of these youths, +who were thus admitted to man's estate, and brought into communion with +the ancestral spirits who controlled the destinies of their descendants. +The word _Vila_ is the inland synonym for Mbaki, which, with the +distributive affix _ya_ (ya-mbaki) is the coast word for "year." The +_Vilavou_, or New year ceremony of initiation, was an annual festival, +held in October-November, when the _ndrala_-tree (_Erythrina_) was in +flower. The flowering of the _ndrala_ marked the season for +yam-planting; the same seasons were observed by the Hawaiians and +Tahitians as the New Year. The rites of the Veisina differed slightly +from those of the Rukuruku, but as they were more tame and formal I will +give precedence to the Rukuruku. + +Preparation for the _Vilavou_ began months before the appointed time by +putting all kinds of food and property under a tabu. On the occasion of +the last ceremony a number of pigs had been dedicated by cutting off +their tails and turning them loose in the vicinity of the Nanga. _Masi_ +was beaten, clubs and spears were carved, paint was prepared for the +bodies of the worshippers, and a vast quantity of yams was planted. As +the _Vere_ of Ndavotukia expressed it, "If any man concealed any of his +property, designing not to give it, he was smitten with madness." The +same fate awaited any that killed one of the tailless pigs, or dared to +dig up any plant that grew near the Nanga. Invitations were sent to the +members of other Nangas, who were called the _Ndre_, and they brought +lavish contributions of property. + +On the day appointed the _Vere_ and the _Vunilolo_ went first to the +Nanga to present the feast and make other preparations, while in the +village novices were having their heads shaved with a shark's tooth, and +being swathed in coils of masi. A procession was then formed. An old +_Vere_ went first, carrying a carved staff with a socket bored in its +upper end. Blowing upon this as on a flute, he sounded a shrill whistle, +and the boys followed in single file, carefully treading in his +footsteps. As they approached the Nanga they heard the weird chant of +the _Vunilolo_, which was supposed to imitate the sound of the surf +breaking on a distant reef. The boys flung down their weapons outside +the sacred enclosure, and with the help of the _Vunilolo_ divested +themselves of the huge swathing of _masi_, each lad revolving slowly on +his axis while another gathered in the slack, like unwinding a reel of +cotton. It being now evening, the property was stored in a temporary +shelter, and the ceremony for the day was over. The ovens were opened, +and all feasted together far into the night. For four successive days +this ritual was repeated, until the storehouse was full to bursting. +Thus were the novices made acceptable to the ancestral spirits. + +On the fifth day an immense feast was prepared, and the boys were so +weighted with the cloth wound about their bodies that they could +scarcely walk. They followed the _Vere_ piping on his staff as before, +but as they approached the Nanga they listened in vain for the welcoming +chant. The enclosure seemed silent and deserted, but from the woods +broke forth shrill parrot calls, and a weird booming sound, which they +presently came to know as the note of a bamboo trumpet immersed in +water. The old _Vere_ led them slowly forward to the eastern gate of the +Nanga, and bade them kneel and crawl after him on all fours. Here a +dreadful sight appalled them. Right across the entrance lay the naked +body of a dead man, smeared with black paint from head to foot, with his +entrails protruding. Above him, stretched stiff, with his head upon one +pyramid and his feet on the other, lay another body, and under this +hideous arch, over this revolting threshold they were made to crawl. +Within the enclosure their hearts turned to water, for the dead men lay +in rows, smeared with blood and entrails, and over every body they had +to crawl. At the further end sat the chief _Vere_, regarding them with a +stony glare, and before him they were made to halt in line. Suddenly he +burst out with a great yell; the dead men started up, and ran to wash +off the blood and filth in the river hard by. They are the _Vere_ and a +few of the _Vunilolo_, playing the part of the dead Ancestors with the +aid of the blood and entrails of the pigs now baking in the ovens. + +[Pageheader: THE INITIATION] + +The ancient priest now relaxes the ferocity of his mien, and displays an +activity remarkable for a person of his years. Capering up and down, he +chants in shrill tones: "Why is my enclosure empty? Whither have its +inmates gone? Have they fled to Tumbalevu (the deep sea)? Have they fled +to Tongalevu?" Presently he was answered by a deep-toned chant, and the +_Vunilolo_, washed, oiled and garlanded, return with rhythmic step, each +carrying a club and a root of kava. When all are seated in the Nanga +four of the _Vere_ come in, the first carrying a piece of roast yam, the +second a piece of pork, the third a shell of kava, and the fourth a +napkin of native cloth. The first three put their offering, which is +carefully wrapped against contact with the fingers, to the mouths of +each of the _Vilavou_ in turn, who nibble the food, sip the kava, and +allow the napkin-bearer to wipe his mouth. Then one of the old _Vere_ +admonishes them solemnly against revealing any of the mysteries to the +uninitiated, or infringing any of the tabus of the Nanga, or being +niggardly in contributing their property, for the penalty attached to +all these grievous sins is insanity and death. + +The _Vunilolo_ now brought in food, and towards evening the _Mundu_, a +great pig dedicated years before and allowed to run wild in the sacred +precincts, was dragged in and presented to the boys. Feasting was +continued for several days, during which the boys did not leave the +Nanga, except to obey the calls of nature. By the sacrament of food and +water, too sacred even for the elders' hands to touch, they have become +_Vilavou_: their Ancestors had deigned to receive them as members of the +Nanga. + +A few days after this it was the turn of the women, who had thus far +been rigidly excluded, to come to the Nanga. The usual dress of the +women of these tribes was a _liku_--narrow enough, truly, but still +sufficient for decency. But for this occasion they were dressed in a +series of such fringes as would satisfy the most puritanical if they did +not begin too late and end too early. The fringes were tied one over +another from the waist to just below the breast, so as to clothe the +trunk in a neat thatch, and, seeing the postures the women had to +assume, it was a pity that a thatch starting at the waist should not +have been carried downwards instead of in the other direction. In this +fantastic garb, with hair dyed black, the women proceeded to the Nanga +with baskets of food. At the entrance they dropped on their hands and +knees, and crawled into the enclosure in single file, the men sitting on +either side of a narrow lane left for the procession, and crying, +"_Lovo ulu! Lovo ulu!_" (Keep your heads down!) During this performance +it was strictly forbidden for the women to gaze about them, or to look +behind them, on pain of insanity. The lane was interrupted with little +mounds of freshly-turned earth, and over these the women had to crawl. +It was in topping these mounds that a better arrangement of the fringes +suggested itself. In the inner chancel of the Nanga the _Vere_ were +chanting a song called the _Vaya_. The chief _Vere_ dipped his hands in +a bowl of water, and prayed to the Ancestors to bless the women with +ample families. This is called the _Vuluvulu_ (hand-washing), and as the +_Vuluvulu_ is the ordinary form of release from a tabu, it is possible +that it is intended to absolve the women from the usual consequences of +entering a place forbidden to them. As to what happened after this, the +native accounts are in conflict. Mr. Joske's informants declared that +women only entered the Nanga to bring food, and that the rites were +orderly and inoffensive; Mr. Fison says that when the women emerged from +the enclosure, "the men rushed upon them, and an indescribable scene +ensued. The men and women addressed one another in the filthiest +language ...," and that from this moment until the close of the +ceremonies "very great licence prevailed." Mr. Walter Carew was assured +that in Wainimala the men rushed upon the women while they were in the +Nanga, and that any woman laid hold of was the lawful prize of her +captor. Among the Ndavotukia I had no difficulty in obtaining an account +of the ritual until I came to this point, but here all my informants +broke off with a self-conscious giggle, and said that they knew no more. +One told me frankly that they "did things that they were ashamed to +think about in these enlightened days, and, when pressed upon the point, +wrote down for me a song of gross indecency connected with the tattooing +of women. A native of Mbau, who lived for some years near the Nanga, +assured me that the visit of the women to the Nanga resulted in +temporary promiscuity; all tabus were defied, and relations who could +not speak to one another by customary law committed incest. This would +account for the mystery that is thrown about the rite even now. The +festival was a propitiatory sacrifice to the Ancestors to bless their +descendants with increase, and the temporary abrogation of all human +laws that interfered with freedom between the sexes had a logical place +in such a sacrifice. + +[Illustration: Serua, an island chief village in the _Mbaki_ country.] + +[Pageheader: FEEDING THE SACRED PIGS] + +On finally leaving the Nanga the property was carried to the village, +together with two candlewood saplings, which were set up in the village +with appropriate songs, and the property was piled between them. Those +who were not members of the Order had to keep fast within doors, for if +they inadvertently caught sight of the worshippers they would have been +smitten with insanity. The invited visitors, who were in hiding near the +village, were now summoned by parties of the Order, who went out +chanting a song to find them. These they followed to the village square, +where they deposited enormous quantities of property by the saplings. +The feasting and licence continued for several days. On the last day the +_Vere_ shared out the property, taking the best care of their own +interests, and a number of the pigs were shorn of their tails and turned +out near the Nanga to serve for a future celebration. It was an act of +piety to feed these pigs, to which the sacrificer calls the attention of +the Ancestors in words such as these: "Remember me, O ye our chiefs, who +lie buried. I am feeding this pig of yours." To kill one was an +inconceivable sacrilege. One of these great brutes was living within a +year of my visit to the Nanga. It met its death at the hands of an +irreligious half-caste, whose continued sanity after this sacrilegious +deed was attributed to his foreign parentage. + +The ceremony ended with the _Sisili_ (or Bath). All the men went in +company to the river, and washed off every trace of the black paint. The +_Vilavou_ were then drawn up before the _Vere_ on the river bank to +listen to a long discourse upon the new position they had assumed. They +were admonished to defer to their elders, to obey the customary law of +the tribe, and to keep the secrets of the Nanga on pain of the sure +vengeance of the Ancestors. Especially were they to avoid eating eels +and freshwater fish and all the best kinds of food. These must be +presented to the elders, for their food, until they had attained a +higher rank in the Order, must be wild yams and food that is held in +less esteem. + + +Minor Rites of the Nanga + +As the Nanga is the earthly dwelling-place of the Ancestral spirits, it +is not necessary to seek the intervention of a _Vere_ in order to invoke +them as in the case of the Fijian tribal deities, who can only be +consulted through the priest. A member of the Nanga could approach the +Ancestors at any time by depositing an offering on the wall with proper +invocations. For many years after the people had abandoned heathenism +the native mission teachers used to keep a sharp look-out for footprints +leading in the direction of the Nanga. Two years after the conversion of +the Wainimala people a visitor to the Nanga found property and food and +the carcasses of pigs in a state of putrefaction, showing that sacrifice +was still being made. The Nanga that I last visited had not been used +for twenty-eight years. At the eastern end I found the _Vere's_ +whistling staff, just where he had planted it in the earth. Moss-grown +and fretted with decay, it still emits a shrill whistle when I blow upon +it. All about the enclosure candle-nut trees had sprung up from the nuts +that had been thrown aside, and about the walls were strewn a number of +the curious funnel-shaped cooking-pots that were only used during the +Nanga celebrations. + +The _Sevu_ (First-fruits) of the yam harvest were always piled in the +Nanga before the yams were dug, and allowed to rot there. From these +decayed offerings numerous yam-vines were seen sprouting among the +undergrowth. From this custom the Nanga is generally spoken of as the +Mbaki, which, as I have said, also gives its name to the Fijian +year--ya-mbaki. + +Before going on the war-path warriors used to repair to the Nanga to be +made _vunde_ (invulnerable). The rites appear to have been similar to +those of the Kalou-rere. + +[Pageheader: CIRCUMCISION] + +But next in importance to the _Vilavou_ celebration was the rite of +circumcision, which Mr. Fison says was practised as a propitiation to +recover a chief from sickness. My inquiries did not confirm this. I was +assured, on the contrary, that while offerings were certainly made in +the Nanga for the recovery of the sick, every youth was circumcised as a +matter of routine, and that the rite was in no way connected with +sacrifice for the sick. But, although Mr. Fison may have been wrong in +his application of the ceremony, his description of the rite itself is +undoubtedly correct. He says: "On the day appointed, the son of a sick +chief is circumcised, and with him a number of other lads who have +agreed to take advantage of the occasion. Their foreskins, stuck in the +cleft of a split reed, are taken to the Nanga and presented to the chief +priest, who, holding the reed in his hand, offers them to the ancestral +gods, and prays for the sick man's recovery. Then follows a great feast, +which ushers in a period of indescribable revelry. All distinctions of +property are for the time being suspended. Men and women array +themselves in all manner of fantastic garbs, address one another in the +most indecent phrases, and practise unmentionable abominations openly in +the public square of the town. The nearest relationships--even that of +own brother and sister--seem to be no bar to the general licence, the +extent of which may be indicated by the expressive phrase of an old +Nandi chief,[60] who said, 'While it lasts we are just like the pigs.' +This feasting and frolic may be kept up for several days, after which +the ordinary restrictions recur once more. The rights of property are +again respected, and abandoned revellers settle down into steady-going +married couples, and brothers and sisters may not so much as speak to +one another. Nowhere in Fiji, so far as I am aware, excepting in the +Nanga country, are these extravagances connected with the rite of +circumcision." + + +The Priesthood + +The priesthood was no exception to the Fijian rule that all skilled +trades must be hereditary. But inasmuch as any man who showed a natural +aptitude for carpentry or haircutting or the exorcism of evil spirits +might win a _clientele_ as a canoe-builder, a barber, or a doctor, so a +clever rogue who could shake well and make a lucky forecast of public +events might pretend to inspiration by a god, and obtain a grudging +recognition from the chiefs. In practice this seldom occurred, because +the recognized deities were amply furnished with a priesthood who +brooked no interference from an amateur, and to overcome their +opposition and the cold suspicion of the chiefs demanded a very rare +combination of assurance and cunning. + +It is doubtful whether the high chiefs believed in the inspiration of +the priests, though it suited their policy to appear to do so. There was +rather an understanding between the two orders, not the less cordial +that it was unexpressed. The priests depended for subsistence upon the +offerings made to the god, and a priest who delivered oracles +unfavourable to the chief's policy saw his temple falling into decay and +his larder empty. On the other hand, so enormous was the influence of +the oracle upon the common people that the chief had the best reason for +keeping the priests in good humour. Both knew that neither could stand +firm without the support of the other. A chief with whom the gods were +angry enjoyed but a waning authority; a priest whose god the chief did +not think worth propitiating fell into disrepute and was soon superseded +by another who could shake as well and more wisely. Such relations +between the powers spiritual and temporal are not unknown in other +latitudes. + +Williams relates that the Thakaundrove chief presented a large offering +to the gods on the morrow of a warlike expedition. Among the gods +invoked was Kanusimana, but in the subsequent division of the feast the +priest of that deity was put off with one wretched pudding instead of +the turtle he had expected. That night the god visited him, and foretold +defeat as a punishment for the slight, and the tidings were carried to +the king, who immediately countermanded the expedition, knowing that the +depressing effect of the news upon the spirit of his warriors would +bring defeat. In a similar case, however, matters took a different turn. +"Who are you?" asked the chief angrily. "Who is your god? If you make a +stir I will eat you." + +[Pageheader: A HEATHEN REFORMATION] + +A more organized resistance to sacerdotal pretensions was seen in the +"Reformation" in the Rewa province. A few years before the arrival of +the missionaries the chiefs found it necessary in their own interests to +disestablish the whole priestly caste, which, as they said, had fallen +into the hands of "low-born persons of ill repute," or, in more +intelligible language, which had begun to assume the _imperium in +imperio_ that has provoked Reformations in another hemisphere. They +repudiated the entire priesthood publicly, and announced that members of +the ruling family had received inspiration. The sacerdotal clan +immediately fell into their proper rank in society--a very humble +one--but the arrival of the missionaries deprived the new state-made +priesthood of a fair trial. + +The priests were not always the tools of the chiefs; sometimes they were +the mouthpiece of the people's discontent at some unpopular exercise of +authority. "The famine is eating us up because you gave the large canoe +to Tonga instead of to Mbau." "This hurricane was sent to punish us for +your refusal to give the princess to the Lord of Rewa." + +The priests of one god were generally, but not always, confined to one +family. They owed their consideration to their office rather than to +their rank, which was generally humble. They ranked according to the +importance of the god to whom they ministered. When the chieftancy and +the priesthood were united in the same person, both were of low order. +The titular spiritual chief (Roko Tui) was not a priest, although divine +honours were paid to him, for the act of inspiration appeared to be +thought derogatory to the dignity of a high chief. The priesthood could +not be dispensed with, because the gods could not be approached except +through the medium of a priest, who could only be inspired in the temple +of his god except on rare occasions, such as a campaign in a distant +island, when the oracle must be consulted in a private house if at all. + +"One who intends to consult the oracle dresses and oils himself, and, +accompanied by a few others, goes to the priest, who, we will suppose, +has been previously informed of the intended visit, and is lying near +the sacred corner, getting ready his response. When the party enters he +rises and sits so that his back is near to the white cloth by which the +god visits him, while the others occupy the opposite side of the +_mbure_. The principal person presents a whale's tooth, states the +purpose of the visit, and expresses a hope that the god will regard him +with favour. Sometimes there is placed before the priest a dish of +scented oil with which he anoints himself and then receives the tooth, +regarding it with deep and serious attention. Unbroken silence follows. +The priest becomes absorbed in thought, and all eyes watch him with +unblinking steadiness. In a few minutes he trembles; slight distortions +are seen in his face, and twitching movements in his limbs. These +increase to a violent muscular action, which spreads until the whole +frame is violently convulsed, and the man shivers as with a strong ague +fit. In some instances this is accompanied with murmurs and sobs, the +veins are greatly enlarged, and circulation of the blood quickened. The +priest is now possessed by his god, and all his words and actions are +considered as being no longer his own, but those of the deity who has +entered into him. Shrill cries of '_Koi au! Koi au!_' (It is I! It is +I!) fill the air, and the god is supposed thus to notify his approach. +While giving the answer the priest's eyes stand out and roll as in a +frenzy; his voice is unnatural, his face pale, his lips livid, his +breathing depressed, and his entire appearance like that of a furious +madman. The sweat runs from every pore, and tears start from his +strained eyes; after which the symptoms gradually disappear. The priest +looks round with a vacant stare, and, as the god says, 'I depart!' +announces his actual departure by flinging himself down on the mat, or +by suddenly striking the ground with a club, while those at a distance +are informed by blasts on the conch, or by the firing of a musket, that +the deity has returned to the world of spirits. The convulsive movements +do not entirely disappear for some time; they are not, however, so +violent as to prevent the priest from enjoying a hearty meal, or a +draught of yankona or a whiff of tobacco, as either may happen to be at +hand. Several words are used by the natives to express these priestly +shakings. The most common are _sika_ and _kundru_. _Sika_ means to +appear, and is used chiefly of supernatural beings; _kundru_ means to +grunt or grumble. The one refers to the appearance, the other to the +sound attendant upon these inspired shakings. + +[Pageheader: AN INSPIRED PRIEST] + +As whatever the priest says during the paroxysm is supposed to be direct +from the god, a specimen or two of these responses will be +interesting.... A priest of Ndengei, speaking for that divinity, once +said, "Great Fiji is my small club. Muaimbila is the head; Kamba is the +handle. If I step on Muaimbila I shall sink it into the sea, while Kamba +shall rise to the sky. If I step on Kamba it will be lost in the sea, +and Muaimbila shall rise to the sky. Yes, Vitilevu is my small club. I +can turn it as I please. I can turn it upside down."[61] + +The propitiatory offering might be anything from a bunch of cocoanuts +covered with turmeric powder to a great feast. In the last case, part, +called the _singana_, was set apart for the god, the rest apportioned +among the people. In theory the god consumed the spiritual essence of +all the food, and the people ate its grosser fibre. The _singana_ was +eaten by the priest and a few privileged old men; it was tabu to youths +and women. + +The psychological aspect of the inspiration of the Fijian priest is +difficult to appreciate. The inspired paroxysm is something more than +conscious deception. Williams was present when a famous Lakemba priest +was questioned by the Tongan chief, Tubou Totai:-- + +"Lanngu, did you shake yesterday?" + +"Yes." + +"Did you think beforehand what to say?" + +"No." + +"Then you just say what you happen to think at the time, do you?" + +"No. I do not know what I say. My own mind departs from me, and then, +when it is truly gone, my god speaks by me." + +Williams adds that this man "had the most stubborn confidence in his +deity, although his mistakes were such as to shake any ordinary trust. +His inspired tremblings were of the most violent kind, bordering on +frenzy."[62] He was, no doubt, absolutely sincere. In this race, as in +the Hindus and the Malays, there is an undercurrent of hysteria which no +one looking at their placid surface would suspect. In the first heat of +conversion to Christianity it was quite common in the Mission services +for a man to be inspired (by the Holy Spirit, as he said) and to +interrupt the minister with an outburst of gibberish accompanied with +all the contortions that seized the heathen priest. His companions would +try to calm him by patting him gently with soothing exclamations, and +the good missionaries, who had been enlarging on the gift of tongues at +Pentecost, were not a little embarrassed in discouraging the practice. +The "revival" which took place at Viwa in 1845 was a curious instance of +this. To judge from John Hunt's account of it, the entire island was +seized with religious hysteria, and "business, sleep and food were +entirely laid aside" for several days, until the missionaries had to +force the new converts to eat. Such ebullitions are rare in these days, +but that they are still smouldering unsuspected is shown by the +hysterical outbursts of emotion that sometimes take place at the +_Bolotu_ or Night Revival meetings, introduced from Tonga. More than one +generation must come and go before all danger from this neurotic chord +in the Fijian constitution is removed. Any acute cause of native +discontent which might be fanned into active hostility to the white race +would most certainly produce the heathen priest again, and the most +dangerous of these might well be the man who now delivers eloquent +emotional sermons to Wesleyan congregations Sunday after Sunday. Such a +spectacle would shock the European missionaries beyond expression, but +it would not surprise those who know the natives intimately. The schism +of Ndungumoi and the heathen outbreak of Vanualevu in 1895 were but a +bubble from the seething pitch that lies below the placid outer crust of +the converted Fijian. + +[Pageheader: THE TOOLS OF THE WIZARD] + +Even now a practised eye might pick out from an assembly of Fijians the +sons of the heathen priests, by their shifty glance, their crafty +expression, and their smooth, insinuating address, which are as much a +part of them as the set of their eyes and the colour of their skin.[63] + + +Witchcraft + +_Ndraunikau_ (_lit._, leaves) + +In 1618 two women were executed at Lincoln for burying the glove of +Henry, Lord Rosse, in order that "as that glove did rot and waste, so +did the liver of the said lord rot and waste." The belief illustrated by +this trial is found in every people, in every country, and in every age. +Dr. E. B. Tylor has remarked with much force that the occult sciences +are nothing but "bad reasoning." There being obvious relation between a +glove and its owner, between a waxen image and the person it represents, +the sorcerer reasons that what he does to the one will happen to the +other. Health being the normal condition of all, except the very aged, +sickness and death must be the work of some malevolent agency, divine or +human; and, if the sick person is free from all suspicion of sacrilege, +the gods can have no motive for afflicting him. Instead of "Whom the +gods love die young," the primitive man reads "An enemy hath done this." +This theory of disease being once established, it is a short step to the +professional agents of disease, who, for a consideration, will wreck the +health of the strongest man with the simplest of tools--a lock of his +hair, a scrap of his food, or a garment that he has worn. The belief in +such powers is not more wildly foolish than our own theory of microbes +would have seemed if it had been put forward before there were +microscopes to prove its truth. It could at least point to success in +its support, for there can be no doubt whatever that numbers of +bewitched persons did actually die--from fear--and that many sick +recovered as the result of curative counterspells that put new heart +into them. + +The terror of witchcraft was never absent from the mind of a Fijian. +Williams relates that the sceptics who laughed at the pretensions of a +priest trembled at the power of the wizard, and that this was the last +superstition to be eradicated from the mind of the convert to +Christianity. It would be more true to say that the Christian native has +never lost it. The professional wizard was not necessarily a priest, but +if he had not the protection of sanctity, he was a person of +considerable courage, for witchcraft was a dangerous profession. The pay +was very high, but since the transaction could never be kept entirely +secret, the wizard had to brave the resentment of his victim's +relations. + +[Pageheader: A CHIEF IS BEWITCHED] + +The procedure was this: If a man desired the death of a rival he +procured something that had belonged to his person--a lock of hair, the +parings of his nails, a scrap of food, or, best of all, his excreta, for +witchcraft by these produced incurable dysentery. With these he visited +the wizard by night, taking a whale's tooth as an earnest of the reward +that he would pay when the death of his rival was accomplished. The +wizard then prepared the charm by wrapping the object in certain leaves +of magical properties, and burying the parcel in a bamboo case either in +the victim's plantation or in the thatch of his house. In a few days the +man began to sicken--generally, no doubt, because hints of the design +had been conveyed to him--and if the charm could then be discovered and +destroyed, he would recover. But if a diligent search failed, offerings +were made to the gods, or the chief in whose district the wizard lived +was invoked to use his authority. It was more common, however, to fee +another wizard to make the charm innocuous by counterspells, which were +often effective through the fresh hope infused into the sufferer, to the +profit of both practitioners. When the victim died the wizard claimed +his reward by attending the funeral with a blackened face, and bold +indeed would be the employer who dared to bilk him. This practice was +sometimes abused. Any sudden death being ascribed to witchcraft, a +professional wizard, who was entirely innocent, would blacken his face +at the funeral in the hope that some one who had an interest in the +death would pay him the fee he had never earned. Such a case occurred as +late as 1887 at the funeral of Mbuli Mbemana, who died of a chill +contracted in taking a huge _vesi_ log down the river as a king-post for +the council-house at Nandronga. A man with a blackened face was pointed +out to me at the funeral, and shortly afterwards a formal complaint was +made by the dead man's relations against the river tribes of having +fee'd this wizard to compass the Mbuli's death. I summoned them to a +meeting, but all my arguments were impotent against the undoubted fact +that the Mbuli was dead, that the river tribes detested him and had an +interest in his death, and that their wizard had appeared with a black +face at his funeral. _Fiat experimentum_: let them commission their most +famous wizards to compound a spell that no man could withstand--I would +supply them with all the material they wanted--and if I still lived they +would put away this superstition for ever. They discussed the +proposition with gravity, and replied through their spokesman that this +would be no proof at all, for it was well known that white men, who +subsist on outlandish meats, were proof against Fijian spells. There was +with me a Tongan, named Lijiate (the nearest the Tongans can get to +"Richard"), whose enlightened contempt for the dark-mindedness of these +heathen had been expressed with unnecessary emphasis. Him I proffered as +a substitute. But I had reckoned without my host. "Pardon me," he said, +when I asked him for a lock of his hair, "but I almost believe in it +myself." One stout-hearted Fijian servant was ready to step into the +breach, but it was then my turn to interfere, for the knowledge that he +was bewitched would lay the stoutest-hearted Fijian low in less than a +week.[64] + +A man, delirious with triumph at his narrow escape, once brought me a +spell that he had found buried in the thatch of his house in Tawaleka. +It was a bamboo six inches long, corked with a tuft of grass. Within was +a shred of _masi_, torn, no doubt, from his clothing and a handful of +withered leaves of some bush shrub. He wished me to hold inquisition +over the countryside in the hope that his enemy would confess the crime, +for _ndraunikan_ had been wisely made a punishable offence. Its utility +has long passed away, and its power for harm remains. Apart from the +death and suffering it may inflict on the victim through terror, it not +infrequently leads to actual violence. The murder of Mbuli Mbureta in +1884 is a notable instance. At the trial of his murderers it was +elicited that a number of disaffected chiefs in his district had fee'd a +wizard to remove him by witchcraft. When weeks had passed, and the +unpopular chief continued in obstinate good health, the wizard's +employers taunted him with his lack of skill, and received a definite +promise of the Mbuli's death before a fixed date. The promise was kept; +the victim disappeared, but when his body was discovered it was found +that the skull had been fractured by an axe-stroke from behind. + +In the face of such instances as these it demands some courage to assert +that upon the whole the belief in witchcraft was formerly a positive +advantage to the community. It filled, in fact, the place of a system of +sanitation. The wizard's tools consisting in those waste matters that +are inimical to health, every man was his own scavenger. From birth to +old age a man was governed by this one fear; he went into the sea, the +graveyard or the depths of the forest to satisfy his natural wants; he +burned his cast-off _malo_; he gave every fragment left over from his +food to the pigs; he concealed even the clippings of his hair in the +thatch of his house. This ever-present fear even drove women in the +western districts out into the forest for the birth of their children, +where fire destroyed every trace of their lying-in. Until Christianity +broke it down, the villages were kept clean; there were no festering +rubbish-heaps nor filthy _raras_. + +[Pageheader: SOOTHSAYERS] + +In this respect Fijian witchcraft was immeasurably superior to that of +other primitive races who employ similar methods. The Gold Coast tribes +slay men by spells of roots tied together with a curse;[65] the +priest-king Laibou of the Wa-Nandi tried to annihilate the Uganda force +sent against him by leaving a snake tied to a dog near their camp.[66] +The Swahili bury medicine at the door of the hut by which the doomed +person must pass.[67] But in none of these cases are the excreta of the +victim necessary, nor does the superstition react in the interest of +public health. + + +Kinda and Yalovaki + +Not less important in the native polity were the wizard's services in +the detection of crime. This was a special branch of the black art, and +the _ndaukinda_ seldom engaged in the deadly business of _ndraunikau_. +When property was stolen the owner took a present to the seer, and told +the story of his loss. The seer, bidding the man pronounce the names of +those whom he suspected, fell into deep abstraction, and presently +checked the man at a certain name, announcing that an itching in his +side or this finger or toe proved the person named to be the thief. If +the seer was a member of the tribe he would dispense with the names, and +would begin to twitch convulsively and himself pronounce the thief's +name. If he was lucky enough to hit upon the right man--and an intimate +knowledge of the characters and relations of his fellow-tribesmen often +enabled him to do so--the offender would confess at once, for to brazen +out a theft against the evidence of a seer's little finger demanded an +effrontery that no Fijian could boast. The proper course for a person +wrongfully accused by a seer was shown in the case of Mbuli Yasawa, who +in 1885 was charged with embezzling the district funds. It appeared that +the funds in question were intact, but that, through an error in +book-keeping, the scribe had led the people to believe that a +considerable sum had been abstracted. Persons were deputed to consult a +noted seer, called Ndrau-ni-ivi, whose finger tingled at the mention of +the Mbuli's name. The poor Mbuli, knowing for the best of reasons that +he was innocent, instead of taking the obvious course of submitting his +books to be audited by the magistrate, presented a larger fee to a rival +seer to "press down" (_mbika_) that given to Ndrau-ni-ivi, and +triumphantly vindicated his character by the verdict of his +practitioner's great toe. Upon this evidence he prosecuted his +slanderers for defamation before the Provincial Court. The cunning and +knack of clever guessing necessary for the lucrative calling of the seer +formerly made the business a monopoly of the priests. + +The _yalovaki_ (soul-stealing) was an even surer method of detecting +crime. It was the mildest form of trial by ordeal ever devised, but no +boiling water or hot ploughshare could have been more effective. If the +evidence was strong, but the suspect obstinately refused to confess, +complaint was made to the chief, who summoned the accused, and called +for a scarf. Usually the man confessed at the bare mention of the +instrument, but if he did not, the cloth was waved over his head until +his spirit (_yalo_) was entangled in it, and it was then folded together +and nailed to the prow of the chief's canoe. Then the man went mad, for +the mad are they whose soul have been stolen away. + + +Charms + +There is no unusual feature in the Fijians' belief in charms. They were +carried to avert calamities of all kinds, but principally shipwreck and +wounds in battle. A mountain girl, who had never before seen the sea, +was once a fellow-passenger with me in a stormy passage to Suva. A heavy +lurch of the little vessel threw her sprawling on the deck, and I +noticed that, while the other natives were bantering her, she was crying +bitterly. Her fall had disengaged a pebble from her hand which had been +given her as a talisman against death by drowning. Charms have their +uses in litigation I had once before me a little old man who enjoyed +some reputation for skill in witchcraft. Being sentenced for some petty +offence, he solemnly removed his loin-cloth, and took from between his +thighs a little bag, containing dried root, and flung it away with a +gesture of contempt, much to the amusement of the enlightened native +police, who explained that it was an amulet against conviction. + +[Pageheader: TRAPPING THE LITTLE GODS] + + +The Kalou-rere + +The _kalou-rere_ differed from other religious observances in that, +though it was practised in most parts of the group, either under its +prevailing name or that of _ndomindomi_, the form was universal. The +votaries were youths of the male sex only: there was no recognized +priesthood; the cult was rather one of the effervescences of youth which +in England find their vent in the football field and the amateur stage. +The object of the rites was to allure the "Little Gods"--the +_Luve-ni-wai_ (Children of the Water)--a timid race of Immortals, to +leave the sea, and take up their temporary abode among their votaries on +land. Beyond the gift of immunity from wounds in battle, and such +pleasure as may be drawn from the excitement of the secret rites, it is +not clear that the Little People conferred any boon upon their +worshippers commensurate with the labour and privations that worship +entailed, but more than this has been urged against Freemasonry by its +critics. + +In a retired place near the sea a small house was built, and enclosed +with a rustic trellis fence, tied at the crossings with a small-leafed +vine, and interrupted by long poles decorated with streamers. Within the +enclosure a miniature temple was erected to contain a consecrated +cocoanut, or some other trifle. No effort was spared to make the place +attractive to the shy little gods; the roof of the house was draped with +_masi_; the wall studded with crab-claws, and span-long yams and painted +cocoanuts were disposed about the foundations that they might eat and +drink. + +A party of twenty or thirty youths spent several weeks in this +enclosure, drumming every morning and evening on the ground with hollow +bamboos to attract the sea-gods. During this long period they observed +certain tabus, and spent the days in complete idleness. Williams heard +of a party who, to facilitate the landing of the _Luve-ni-wai_, built a +jetty of loose stones for some distance into the sea. When they were +believed to be ascending, flags were set up in some of the inland passes +to turn back any of them that might try to make for the forests inland. +On the great day a Nanga-like enclosure was made with long poles piled +to a height of twelve inches and covered with green boughs, spears +bearing streamers being set up at the four angles. Within this the lads +sat gaily draped, with their votive offerings of clubs and shells before +them, thumping their bamboo drums on the earth. Presently the officers +of the lodge were seen approaching headed by the _Vuninduvu_, a sort of +past-master, armed with an axe, and capering wildly; the _Lingu-viu_ +(Fan-holder) circling madly round the drummers, waving a great fan; the +_Mbovoro_, dancing and carrying in his hand the cocoanut which he is +about to break on his bent knee; the _Lingu-vatu_, pounding his nut with +a stone. Amid a terrific din of shrieks and cat-calls the gods entered +into the _Raisevu_, who thereafter was regarded as a peculiarly favoured +person. Then all went mad; the _Vakathambe_ shouted his challenge; the +_Matavutha_ shot at him, or at a nut which he held under his arm, and +all became possessed with the same frenzy as the inspired priests. One +after another they ran to the _Vuninduvu_ to be struck on the belly, +believing themselves invulnerable, and if the _Vuninduvu_ was +over-simple or over-zealous he sometimes did them mortal injury. +Williams, who gives the above description of the rites, says that in the +old days the orgy was free from licentiousness: we shall see how they +have deteriorated since the conversion of the people to Christianity. + +[Pageheader: THE CAREER OF A _RAISEVU_] + +On the western coast of Vitilevu the favourite ascending place of the +_Luve-ni-wai_ is marked with a large cairn of little stones, which has +grown year by year with the stones flung upon it by each worshipper and +by every passer-by. The more republican institutions of the western +tribes permit a commoner to rise to considerable influence, and not a +few of these great commoners can trace their eminent career to the +youthful distinction of having been the _Raisevu_. The combination of +hysteria and cunning and impudence necessary to that distinction raised +Nemani Ndreu from the lowly position of a commoner of a Nandi village to +be the official _Roko Tui_ of Mba. At the date of annexation in 1874 he +was _Tui Rara_ (Town-crier); in the heathen outbreak two years later, he +was naturally found upon the winning side, and his services as guide and +spy were so useful that he rapidly rose in Government favour. I was +present at the council when his appointment to the highest office open +to Fijians was announced. In an impassioned speech to a cold and hostile +audience he suddenly burst into tears that coursed down his cheeks and +impeded his utterance, and his most inveterate enemies seemed to be +affected. As we left the council-house he turned to me, with the tears +still wet upon his cheeks, and said, "How then? Didn't I do that well?" +It is unnecessary to add that he was an eminent local preacher. + +The _kalou-rere_ was one of the few offences which, under British law, +was punished with flogging, a harsh provision if the rites were as +innocent as Williams represents. The truth is that they have changed +sadly for the worse. The rites are still occasionally practised in +secret, but though the ritual is much the same, it may be doubted +whether any of the votaries believe that they are alluring the "Little +Gods" from the sea. A few lawless young chiefs get a band of roysterers +together in a secluded place, and there go through a travesty of the +rites as an excuse for nocturnal raids upon the hen-roosts of the +neighbouring trader. Usually an equal number of girls are induced to +visit them by night under the pretence of practising heathen dances, +which are, in reality, mere orgies of debauchery. In one of these cases, +reported in detail by the late Mr. Heffernan, stipendiary magistrate of +Ba, the frenzy of the votaries was quite genuine, but it found vent in +sensuality, the dancers having access to their partners in a set measure +controlled by words of command. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 45: Buro-tu, or Bulo-tu as the Samoans and Tongans call it, is +Buro, or Bouro or Bauro with the suffix _tu_, signifying high rank, +which is found in the words _tu-i_ (king) and _tu-ranga_ (chief). There +are two places of that name in the West, namely, Bauro (S. Christoval) +in the Solomon Islands, and Bouro in the Malay Archipelago. Quiros heard +of an Indian, "a great pilot," who had come from Bouro when he visited +Taumaco in the Duff Group in 1606, and Mr. Hale, the philologist in +Wilkes Expedition, tried to establish the identity of the Malay Bouro +with the sacred island, by assuming that the "arrows tipped with +silver," which Quiros says were in possession of this native, showed +that there was communication between Taumaco and the Malay Islands. But, +as Dr. Guppy points out (_The Solomon Islands_, p. 277), the Bouro there +alluded to must have been S. Christoval, which was only 300 miles +distant, and the silver arrows a relic of the Spanish expedition to that +island forty years before. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that S. +Christoval was named Bouro by emigrants from the Malay Island after +their old home, and that S. Christoval was a halting-place of the race +on their journey eastward.] + +[Footnote 46: The disgrace of dying a natural death is so keenly felt +that the bodies of the Tui Thakau of Somosomo, and the Rokovaka of +Kandavu, who die naturally, are struck with a stone on the forehead or +clubbed, to avert the contempt of the gods [Waterhouse].] + +[Footnote 47: Thus the Fijians explain recovery from trance.] + +[Footnote 48: An edible root related to the yam.] + +[Footnote 49: There are many poems relating to the gods at +Ndelakurukuru. They are all well known at Namata, where they are +performed on great occasions, such as the feast made on the departure of +the Thakaundrove chiefs.] + +[Footnote 50: The Chief of Lakemba used to assure the missionaries that +they could do him no greater favour than to give him a wooden coffin, +that his body might not be trampled on [Williams].] + +[Footnote 51: The indigenous fly is nearly extinct. He is larger than +the European species that has supplanted him, and his buzz is louder.] + +[Footnote 52: Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, p. 21.] + +[Footnote 53: _The Polynesian Race_, pp. 44, 167, 168.] + +[Footnote 54: This was the Fijian deluge. There are traditions of great +floods within historical times. One of them, about 1793, purged the land +of the great Lila epidemic. The waters rose over the housetops; hundreds +were swept away, and the silt left by the receding waters raised the +alluvial flats of the Rewa river several feet, a statement that is borne +out by the fact that a network of mangrove roots underlies the alluvial +soil at a depth of four or five feet. This flood was preceded by a great +cyclone. Traditions of great floods are preserved by almost every +primitive people.] + +[Footnote 55: Dengei was supposed to inhabit a cavern in Nakauvandra.] + +[Footnote 56: _Oliva_ is the name of Captain Olive, formerly Commandant +of the Armed Constabulary; _virimbaita_ is "to hedge in." The other +words mean nothing.] + +[Footnote 57: The alignments at Carnac in Brittany and Merivale on +Dartmoor are suggestive of the rites of the Mbaki.] + +[Footnote 58: _Journal Anthrop. Instit._, Vol. xiv, p. 29.] + +[Footnote 59: _Internationales Archiv. fuer Ethnographie_, Bd. II, 1889.] + +[Footnote 60: Probably Nemani Ndreu, whose career I have described.] + +[Footnote 61: Williams's _Fiji and the Fijians_, p. 224.] + +[Footnote 62: Williams's _Fiji and the Fijians_, p. 224.] + +[Footnote 63: Such a one was Kaikai of Singatoka, whose exploits as a +prison-breaker were set forth in my _Indiscretions of Lady Asenath_.] + +[Footnote 64: In 1902, under the flooring stones of a prehistoric +kistvaen near the Sepulchral Circle on Pousson's Common, Dartmoor, two +tresses of human hair were discovered, neatly coiled up. They were +doubtless the record of witchcraft practised within the nineteenth +century, on the same plan as that of the Fijians.] + +[Footnote 65: _Nine Years at the Gold Coast_, by Rev. D. Kemp.] + +[Footnote 66: _Campaigning on the Upper Nile and Niger_, by Lieut. +Vandeleur.] + +[Footnote 67: _East Africa_, by W. W. Fitzgerald.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +POLYGAMY + + +From the writings of early travellers it might be inferred that the +Fijians practised polygamy to the same extent as the Arabs and other +Mahommedan nations, but a moment's reflection will show that this was +impossible. The high chiefs, it is true, were accustomed to cement +alliances by taking a daughter of every new ally into their households, +and these women with their handmaids, who were also the chief's +potential concubines, swelled their harems inordinately; and as +travellers were always the guests of the chiefs, and described things as +they found them, these exceptional households were taken as fair samples +of Fijian family life. But inasmuch as the Fijians could not draw upon +other races for women, and the sexes of the children born throughout the +group numbered about the same, to say nothing of the practice of female +infanticide, it is obvious that for every addition to the chief's harem, +some commoner had to go without a wife. + +This view is borne out by the missionary, James Calvert, who, in +defending the abolition of polygamy by the missionaries, says: "Polygamy +is actually confined to comparatively few. It is only the wealthy and +powerful who can afford to maintain such an expensive indulgence." + +[Pageheader: MISSIONARIES PUT DOWN POLYGAMY] + +The actual facts were these: The highest chiefs had harems of from ten +to fifty women, counting concubines, according to their rank and +importance; the chiefs of the inland tribes had five or six wives, who +cultivated their plantations for them, and were more agricultural +labourers than wives; the chiefs of tributary tribes had seldom more +than two wives, and the bulk of the people were monogamists. Young men +of the lower orders married rather late in life for a primitive race, +rarely, it appears, before the age of twenty-five. Under these +conditions it might be expected that there would have been some form of +prostitution, but in fact there was nothing of the kind. The nearest +approach to it was to be found in the chief's kitchen, where the women +in attendance on the chief's wives, especially those nearing middle age, +were wont to sit and gossip with their lord's male retainers. In the +tributary villages the young men were too well watched in the _mbure_, +and the girls in the houses of their parents, for there to have been +much philandering. Thus, if it comes to a question of fact--and the +terms are to be applied in their most literal sense--the Fijians have a +better title to be called monogamists than the men of civilized Europe. + +The action of the early missionaries in breaking down polygamy did not +result in as much hardship as might be supposed. Their policy is set +forth in the following instructions from the Society to its ministers: +"No man living in a state of polygamy is to be admitted a member, or +even on trial, who will not consent to live with one woman as his wife, +to whom you shall join him in matrimony, or ascertain that this rite has +been performed by some other minister; and the same rule is to be +applied in the same manner to a woman proposing to become a member of +the Society." The chiefs seem to have made little difficulty about this. +They were married to their principal wife, and the rest went home to +their friends, where they had not long to wait for husbands, since there +was a certain prestige in marrying a woman who had belonged to a high +chief. The discarded wives rarely complained of their dismissal, for +their lives in the harem had been unenviable. Exposed to the jealousy +and tyranny of the chief wife, they were subjected to daily +mortification, and if they had the misfortune to displease the great +lady, they were set upon and beaten and ill-treated by her attendants. + +At the time of annexation in 1874 the Mission order quoted above had +been sufficient to stamp out the custom everywhere but in the hill +districts of Vitilevu, where the older chiefs still had from two to four +wives apiece. The Government wisely resolved to recognize all these +wives as legally married,[68] but not to allow any more polygamous +marriages, and in a few years the custom died out of itself. In the +polygamous households with which I came into contact the wives were all +stricken in years, and they lived harmoniously together, dividing the +labour of wood-cutting, water-carrying, and tilling their husband's +garden between them. + +I do not think that the abandonment of polygamy has had any effect upon +the vitality of the race, for the simple reason that its practice was +very limited in extent. Then, as now, practically all the women were +appropriated. The evils arising from polygamy among the natives in South +Africa, cited by the Commission appointed in 1882 by the Governor of +Cape Colony to inquire into native customs--namely, idleness of the men, +enforced work by the women, immorality of young wives wedded to old men, +forced marriages of girls, strife and jealousy among the wives leading +to the practice of witchcraft and the sale of young girls--were not +prevalent in Fiji; nor had the reasons there adduced in its favour--that +polygamy is a provision against old age, since the children of the young +wives maintain their parents when the older children have left the +home--any application in the Pacific Islands. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 68: Native Regulation 12 of 1877 provided that "all marriages +performed and confirmed according to Fijian customs before the passing +of this Regulation" should be legal and binding.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +FAMILY LIFE + + +Among the tribes in Fiji, where Melanesian blood predominates, the +_mbure-ni-sa_, or unmarried man's house, was a universal institution. In +the Lau group the strong admixture of Polynesian blood had in some +degree broken down the social laws connected with this house, although +in most villages the house existed. Among the purer Melanesian tribes of +the interior of Vitilevu, after twenty-five years of Christianity and +settled government, the _mbure-ni-sa_ exists as a part of the social +life of the village, as if obedience could still be enforced. + +The _mbure-ni-sa_ was usually the largest house in the village. It was +the men's club in the day-time and the men's sleeping house at night. No +woman could enter it without committing a grave breach of propriety. +Young boys below the age of puberty went naked and slept with their +parents at home; but, from the day that they assumed the _malo_, or +perineal bandage, they removed to the _mbure-ni-sa_ at nightfall, and +slept there under the eyes of the elders who either had no home of their +own or had adopted the mbure-ni-sa from choice. When the young man +reached the age for marriage his mother chose a wife for him from among +his concubitant cousins, _i.e._ the daughters of his maternal uncle; and +immediately after the marriage he removed from the _mbure-ni-sa_ to a +house of his own, or to that of his parents. In parts of Vanualevu, +where uterine descent was still recognized, he removed to the village of +his wife's parents. + +As soon as his wife was confined he was banished again to the +_mbure-ni-sa_ for the entire suckling period, which lasted from two to +three years. During the whole of this time, unless he had more than one +wife, he was obliged to live a life of celibacy. + +In the above description I am, of course, speaking of the ordinary +middle-class Fijian. The higher chiefs, having several wives, provided a +separate house for the confinement, and never saw the _mbure-ni-sa_ +again after their marriage. Men of the lowest rank had generally no +wives at all. + +The _mbure-ni-sa_ thus served a double purpose. The girls of the tribe +sleeping with their parents, and the young men being practically +incarcerated every night under the eyes of their elders, there was +little opportunity for immorality before marriage. With the duties of +defence, of fighting, of providing food and of fishing, the young men +had little time for philandering, and it is asserted by many of the +elder natives that it was a rare thing for a girl to have lost her +virtue before marriage. Such sexual immorality as took place was between +the young men and the older married women. + +But the chief value of the _mbure-ni-sa_ undoubtedly lay in the +separation of the parents of a child during the suckling period. +Natives, when asked to account for the decrease in their numbers, have +for years mentioned the breaking down of this custom of abstinence as +the principal cause, asserting that cohabitation injures the quality of +the mother's milk. Not understanding the true cause that lay behind this +belief, Europeans, medical men as well as missionaries, have treated the +opinion with contempt, without, however, shaking the natives' fixed +belief. Within the last few years a missionary, the late Rev. J. P. +Chapman, characterized this custom of abstinence as an "absurd and +superstitious practice." + +[Illustration: The Mbure-ni-sa (Club House).] + +The teaching of the missionaries, who believed that the only perfect +social system was to be found in the English mode of family life, and +the example of the Europeans settled in the group, have broken down the +custom of the _mbure-ni-sa_ in all parts of the islands, except the +mountain districts of Vitilevu. The example of the native teachers, one +of whom is to be found in every village, was in itself enough to +discourage a custom which the men had long found irksome, and the +natives assert that a large number of infant deaths might have been +prevented if public opinion still sufficed to keep the parents apart. + +[Pageheader: PROLONGED PERIOD OF SUCKLING] + +The Fijian word _ndambe_ has been loosely applied to the custom of +separating the parents while the mother is suckling her child. The word +is really an adjective signifying the injury sustained by the child +whose parents cohabit too soon after its birth. It becomes _ndambe_, +that is to say, it shows symptoms of general debility, accompanied with +an enlargement of the abdomen. The infringement of the rule of +abstinence is described at Mbau by a slang word, _nkuru vou_. During the +long period of suckling--varying from twelve to thirty-six months--the +mother abstained from cohabitation from the fear of impoverishing her +milk, a superstition which hid behind it a most important truth; namely, +that a second conception taking place during the suckling period must +cause the child to be prematurely weaned. While the _mbure-ni-sa_ still +existed, secret cohabitation between the parents was made the more +difficult by the custom of young mothers leaving their husband's house +and living with their relations for a year after the birth of a child; +since the adoption of English family life, husband and wife no longer +separate, but give their parole to public opinion to preserve the +abstinence prescribed by ancient custom. The health of the child is +jealously watched for signs that the parents have failed in their duty. +If it fall off in condition it is declared to be _ndambe_, and the +mother is compelled to wean it immediately, with an effect upon the +child which varies with its age. If it suffers it is said to be _kali +ndole_--prematurely weaned. The Fijians have no artificial food for +their infants. There is nothing between the mother's milk and solid +vegetable food, and until the digestive organs are fit to assimilate +such foods the child must be kept at the breast. Among European women +menstruation is rarely re-established during the period of suckling, and +there is therefore no particular danger to the child in cohabitation +during this period. At the worst, if conception takes place, the child +can be brought up upon artificial diet. With Fijian women, however, +menstruation often recommences at the third or fourth month after +parturition, and cohabitation, even at this early stage, often results +in a second pregnancy. The mother is physiologically incapable of +nourishing at the same time the foetus within her and the child at her +breast, and the symptoms of defective nutrition become evident in the +latter very soon after the new conception has taken place. The child +must be weaned at once, since it soon becomes too weak to undergo the +strain of a change of diet; it becomes _ndambe_. An old Fijian midwife +told me that the children of elderly men are less often _ndambe_ than +those of young men, because the older father, being less ardent, is more +likely to observe the rule of abstinence. + +Nearly half the Fijian children born die within the first year. In many +cases, no doubt, death is caused by premature weaning owing to a second +conception, but there is no doubt that a number of weakly children are +brought into the world through the physical incapacity of the Fijian +mother for bearing healthy children in quick succession. This incapacity +may proceed from some inherent racial defect, or from improper or +insufficient food. Under the old wise system of abstinence, the forces +of the mother had time to recuperate before she was again called upon to +bear the strain of maternity, but with the early death of her child she +is at once pregnant. The birth-rate is increased by the production of a +weak offspring that will go in its turn to swell the death-rate; in +other words, a lower birth-rate would tend to increase the population. + +In Tonga and in the Gilbert Islands the separation is rigidly enforced. +In the latter group _ndambe_ is called _ngori_. The relations of the +mother exercise extreme vigilance to prevent the couple from cohabiting, +and the husband who infringes the rule is scolded by his wife's +relations and sent for the future to sleep with the young men. + +Lieutenant Matthews, who visited the Sierra Leone River between 1785 and +1791, says of the Mandingoes: "Mothers never wean their children until +they are able to walk and carry a calabash of water, which they are +instructed to do as soon as possible, as cohabitation is denied to them +while they have children at the breast." Even in Japan, where there is +artificial food for infants, prolonged suckling is still the rule. Sir +Edwin Arnold[69] says: "Japan is of all countries, except England, that +where fewest children die between birth and the age of five years; +albeit a point in favour of Japanese babies is that they are nursed at +the breast until they are two or even three years old." + +The Pitcairn Islanders, who possess goats, but are otherwise as ill +provided with artificial food for infants as the Fijians, were found by +Beechey in 1831 to be suckling their children for three and even four +years."[70] + +It is proper here to notice traces of the couvade, not perhaps +indicating that the couvade itself was ever practised as a custom, but +showing rather how widely spread are the ideas underlying that custom. +In the province of Namosi, where children were suckled for three years, +there is a belief that if the father, when separated from his wife, has +an intrigue with another woman his child will fall off, showing the +symptoms of _ndambe_. The sickness is called there by the suggestive +name of _veisangani tani_ (_lit._, "alien thigh-locking"). Dr. R. H. +Codrington[71] says of Mota (Banks Islands): "When a child is born, +neither father nor mother eats things, such as fish or meat, which might +make the children ill. The father does not go into sacred places which +the child could not visit without risk. After the birth of the first +child the father does no heavy work for a month lest the child should be +injured." Mr. Walter Carew says of the district north of Namosi: "I have +frequently observed a father abstain from certain articles of food from +fear of affecting the child, born or unborn; and I have often joked the +people about it. Once I persuaded a man to break the tabu and eat some +fowl. Unfortunately, the child died some time afterwards, and the father +more than half believed me to have been the cause of its death." In +discussing this belief as a trace of the couvade, Starke quotes +Dobizhoffer's remarks upon the Abipones: "They comply with this custom +with the greater readiness because they believe that the father's rest +and abstinence have an extraordinary effect on the well-being of unborn +infants, and is indeed absolutely necessary for them.... For they are +quite convinced that any unseemly act on the father's part would +injuriously affect the child on account of the sympathetic tie which +naturally subsists between them, so that in the event of the child's +death the women all blame the self-indulgence of the father, and find +fault with this or that act." + +Among the Lake Nyassa tribes the husband ceases cohabitation as soon as +his wife announces her pregnancy, and does not resume it until the child +is weaned. If he has no other wife "he will strive to remain chaste in +the fear lest, if he commit adultery, his unborn child will die."[72] +Among the Atonga, in the same region, the husband has no relations with +his wife for five or six months after the child's birth. If he has +access to any other woman during this period, the popular belief is that +she will certainly die.[73] + +This widely extended custom of prolonged suckling among non-pastoral +peoples seems to show that Nature intended the human mother to suckle +her offspring until it had developed the teeth necessary for masticating +solid food. Civilization, ever driving Nature at high pressure, has +found artificial food for infants, leaving the mother free to bear the +stress of a second maternity. To meet this increased strain the +civilized mother is nourished and tended with a care that is never +bestowed upon her savage sister. Barbarism followed the law of Nature +and supported it by a customary law of mutual abstinence, but the +customary law of the Fijians has been mutilated and has left them +between two stools, not yet adopting the conveniences of civilization +and obliged, nevertheless, to do the high pressure work of the civilized +state without help. The reproductive powers of the Fijian woman of +to-day are forced, though her body is no better prepared by a generous +course of food to meet the strain than when she was allowed to follow +the less exacting course of Nature for which only her body is fitted. +And to make matters worse, the Fijians, recognizing the evils of too +frequent conceptions, drink nostrums to prevent them, probably injuring +thereby the child at the breast. + +[Pageheader: THE MISSIONARIES' MISTAKE] + +If the missionaries, as is said, are responsible for breaking down these +customs of abstinence, and still regard it as "absurd and +superstitious," it is a pity that they did not recognize another +important difference between European and Fijian society--the irregular +and insufficient nourishment for the women and the lack of artificial +food for infants--and devote their efforts to reforming this before they +discouraged a custom so admirably adapted to meet the evils of a lack of +cereals and milk-yielding animals. It is too late now to go back. The +Fijian husband will never again consent to enforced separation from his +wife. Rapid conceptions and a high birth-rate must be reckoned with, and +the only feasible remedy is to improve the diet of the nursing mother, +and induce the people generally to keep milk-yielding animals for their +children. Cattle thrive in Fiji, but the efforts of the Government to +convert the Fijian agriculturist to pastoral pursuits cannot be said to +have been successful. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 69: _Some Pictures from Japan_, by Sir Edwin Arnold.] + +[Footnote 70: _Beechey's Voyage_, p. 128.] + +[Footnote 71: _Notes on the Customs of Mota (Banks Islands)_, by the +Rev. R. H. Codrington, M.A.] + +[Footnote 72: _British Central Africa_, by Sir H. H. Johnston.] + +[Footnote 73: _Ibid._, p. 415.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE MARRIAGE SYSTEM[74] + + +There are two systems of kinship nomenclature current among Fijians, one +indicating consanguinity, and the other kinship in relation to marriage. +This latter system radiates from the central idea of Concubitancy, and +it is this system that is now to be discussed. The word "Concubitant" is +adopted because, besides being a fair translation of the Fijian word +_vei-ndavolani_ (_vei_ = reciprocal affix, _ndavo_ = to lie down), it +expresses the Fijian idea that persons so related ought to cohabit. + +In order to understand the system it is necessary to free the mind from +the ideas associated with the English terms of relationship, and to +adopt the native terms, which are as follows:-- + + (1) _Tama_--Father, or paternal uncle. + + _Tina_--Mother, or maternal aunt. + + _Tuaka_--Elder brother, sister, or cousin (not concubitant). + + _Tathi_--Younger brother, sister, or cousin-german (not + concubitant). _Luve_--Child. + + _Tuka_--Grandfather. + + _Mbu_--Grandmother. + + _Makumbu_--Grandchild. + + _Tumbu_--Great-grandparent. + + (2) _Ngane_(reciprocal form, _vei-nganeni_)--The relationship of a + male and female of the same generation between whom marriage is + forbidden, _i.e._ brother and sister, both real and artificial. + + _Ndavola_ (reciprocal form, _vei-ndavolani_)--The relationship of + males and females of the same generation between whom marriage is + right, and even obligatory--consequently sister-in-law. + + _Tavale_ (reciprocal form, _vei-tavaleni_)--Male cousins who would + be concubitant if one were a female, consequently a man's + brother-in-law. + + _Ndauve_ (reciprocal form, _vei-ndauveni_)--Female cousins who + would be concubitant if one were a male--consequently a woman's + sister-in-law. + + _Vungo_--Nephew, _i.e._ son of a man's sister or woman's brother, + also son-in-law or daughter-in-law, also used reciprocally. + + _Ngandina_--Maternal uncle or father-in-law; vocative form in the + case of father-in-law, is _ngandi_ or _momo_. + + _Nganeitama_--Paternal aunt or mother-in-law; vocative form in the + case of mother-in-law, is _nganei_. + +[Pageheader: THE CONCUBITANT RELATIONSHIP] + +Besides these there are compound names for some of the more remote +relationships, and names for certain connections, such as _karua_ +(_i.e._ "the second," reciprocal form, _vei-karuani_), used of wives of +a bigamous household, and also of children of the same father by +different mothers. + +I propose to call the Ngane (reciprocal form, _vei-nganeni_) tabu, +because marriage between them is forbidden. _Vei-ndavolani_ I call +"concubitants," because marriage between them is right and proper. + +The tabu relationship occurs-- + +(1) Between the son and daughter of the same parents. + +(2) Between children respectively of two brothers or the children +respectively of two sisters, such children being male and female. + +From a Fijian point of view, in both these cases the relationship is +exactly the same. The father's brother and the mother's sister share +with the father and the mother an almost equal degree of paternity. Thus +a man or a woman, referring to his or her father's brother calls him +_Tamanku_ (my father), and if he is asked _Tamamu ndina?_ (your real +father?) he will answer _A Tamanku lailai_ (my little father). The same +applies to the mother's sister. The tabu relationship also occurs +artificially between the children respectively of concubitants who have +broken through the system, and have not married, but to this I will +refer in its proper place. + +_Concubitants._--This relationship occurs between persons whose parents +respectively were brother and sister. The opposition of sex in parents +not only breaks down the barrier of consanguinity, but even constitutes +the child of the one a marital complement of the child of the other. The +young Fijian is from his birth regarded as the natural husband of the +daughters of his father's sister and of his mother's brother. The girls +can exercise no choice. They were born the property of their male +concubitant if he desire to take them. Thus the custom, if generally +followed, would enclose the blood of each family within itself, and +obstruct the influx of a new strain at every third generation. The +natural tendency towards the renovation of the blood would be checked, +and its stagnation be continued. Thus-- + + A. (m) marries B. (f) + | + ------------------ + E. (f) = C. (m) tabu D. (f) = F. (m) + | | + G. (f) Concubitants H. (m) + +[Pageheader: INTOLERANCE OF THE SYSTEM] + +A. and B. were concubitants, their children tabu. G. and H. being the +children of tabu relations are concubitants. They marry, and of course +their children being brother and sister are again tabu. But if D. had +been a male who had married F. a female, G. and H. would have been tabu. +It will thus be seen that the concubitant and the tabu alternate +generation after generation. The children of concubitants must be tabu, +and the children respectively of tabu must be concubitant. + +It must of course happen that persons who are concubitant have a mutual +dislike to one another and do not marry, or, since a man cannot marry +all his concubitants, or a woman all her concubitants, the system is +dislocated by some of them marrying persons who are in no way related to +them. Thus-- + + (m)A. = B.(f) + | + -------------------- + | | + W.(f) = C.(m) D.(f) = X.(m) + | | + Y.(f) = G.(m) Concubitant + | with H.(f) = Z.(m) + | | + L.(m) tabu J.(f) + +G. and H. are concubitant, born husband and wife, as were their +grandparents A. and B., but they grow up and take a dislike to one +another and each marries some one else. Yet the system takes no account +of such petty interruptions as likes and dislikes. They were born +married, and married they must be so far as their children are +concerned. They have each married outside the tribe, yet their children +L. and J. are tabu just as much as if G. and H. had married and they +were the offspring of the marriage. G. and H. have in fact dislocated +the system for all posterity, but the system goes on, refusing to admit +the injury done to it. The most striking feature in the system is this +oppressive intolerance. It is so indifferent to human affections that if +a man dares to choose a woman other than the wife provided for him his +disobedience avails him nothing. His concubitant is still his wife, and +her children are his children. It will, it is true, give way so far as +to recognize as his wife the woman he has chosen, but only on the +condition that she becomes his fictitious concubitant, and that all her +relatives fall into their places as if she had actually been born his +concubitant. + +This brings us to a fresh starting-point from which the concubitous +relationship is established. Since a man who is the concubitant of a +woman is necessarily also the concubitant of all her sisters, by a +natural evolution, if he marries a woman unrelated to him by blood, and +_ipso facto_ makes her his concubitant, all her sisters become his +concubitants also. In the past they would have been his actual wives, +for a man could not take one of several sisters--he was in honour bound +to take them all. In the same way a woman and her sisters became the +concubitants of all her husband's brothers, and upon his death, she +passed naturally to her eldest brother-in-law if he cared to take her. +This does not imply polyandry or community among brothers, but rather +what is known to anthropologists as Levirate, a woman's marriage to her +brother-in-law being contingent on her husband's death. + +_Tabu Relationships._--Hitherto we have dealt with persons sprung from +the respective marriages of a brother and sister, and have not touched +upon the offspring respectively of two brothers or two sisters. These +are tabu to one another, being, as I have said, regarded as being as +closely consanguineous as actual brothers and sisters. + + A. B. brothers + | | + X.(m) = C.(f) tabu D.(m) = Y.(f) + | | + G.(f) = H.(m) Concubitant. + +C. and D., being the offspring of two brothers, are tabu. They marry +respectively their concubitants, and their offspring G. and H. are +concubitant. Thenceforward the concubitant and tabu relationships occur +in alternate generations. It must not be understood, however, that in +these remote occurrences the tabu relationships are always strongly +tabu, or that the concubitant relationships always entail marriage. The +fact is remembered, that is all. "They are _vei-nganeni_!" "But they are +married!" "Yes, but their _vei-nganeni_-ship is remote." (_Ia ka sa yawa +nondrau vei-nganeni._) + +[Pageheader: CONCUBITANT MARRIAGE IS DECREASING] + +It will be well at this point to examine the exact nature of the +obligation existing between concubitants. The relationship seems to +carry with it propriety rather than obligation. Concubitants are born +husband and wife, and the system assumes that no individual preference +could hereafter destroy that relationship; but the obligation does no +more than limit the choice of a mate to one or the other of the females +who are concubitants with the man who desires to marry. It is thus true +that in theory the field of choice is very large, for the concubitant +relationship might include third or even fifth cousins, but in practice +the tendency is to marry the concubitant who is next in +degree--generally a first cousin--the daughter of a maternal uncle. A +very good illustration of this occurred a few years ago among the +grandchildren of the late king Thakombau. The concubitant of his +granddaughter Audi Thakombau was Ratu Beni, chief of Naitasiri, but for +various rascalities he had been deported to the island of Ono. Meanwhile +her relations proposed an alliance with the powerful chief family of +Rewa, and she was formally betrothed to the young chief Tui Sawau. But +just before the marriage Ratu Beni was liberated, returned home, and at +once laid claim to his concubitant. The claim was allowed by her +relatives, the match broken off, and for some time the relations between +Mbau and Rewa were so strained that the chiefs went in bodily fear of +one another. + +I have always been assured by the natives that the practice of +concubitancy has greatly decreased since the introduction of +Christianity and settled government. From the fact that thirty per cent, +still marry their concubitants, it may be guessed how universal the +custom must formerly have been. Now that free communication exists +between the islands, and men have a far larger field of selection, they +are said to choose rather not to marry their concubitants. Ratu Marika +explained this by saying: "One has no zest for one's _ndavola_. She is +too near. When you hear man and wife quarrelling, one says, 'What else? +Are they not _vei-ndavolani_?'" The result is curious. They do not marry +as they did formerly, but they commit adultery either before or after +marriage. No sooner is a girl married than her concubitant comes and +claims her, and so strong is custom that she seldom repulses him. It is +said that about fifty per cent of the adultery cases brought before the +criminal courts of the colony are offences between concubitants, but a +number never come before the courts because the husband does not care to +prosecute. There are few prosecutions for fornication between +concubitants, because the complainants, the parents of the girl, do not +feel themselves to be aggrieved. + +_Vei-tavaleni._--It is natural to expect some peculiarity in the +relations between males, who would, if they were male and female, be +concubitants. This relationship is called _vei-tavaleni_. To break +through for once the rule of not using European terms, I may remark that +_vei-tavaleni_ must of necessity mean both cousin and brother-in-law, +and the reason is sufficiently obvious. Your _tavale_ is a brother of +the woman to whom you were born married; _ergo_, your brother-in-law. +The fact that you do not marry her makes no difference. She is your +natural wife, and he is your natural brother-in-law. Even if your +_tavale_ has no sister, he is still your brother-in-law, because, +potentially, a sister might be born to him, who would be your wife. At +this point I thought that I had found an inconsistency in the logic of +the system. As the children of _vei-ndavolani_ (concubitants) are tabu, +I supposed, naturally, that the children of _vei-tavaleni_ would be tabu +also; but I found, to my surprise, that this was not so. Their children +became _vei-ndavolani_ (concubitants). It seemed illogical, but I +supposed that it was done as a compensation. The parents could not marry +because they were of the same sex; therefore, to compensate the system +for the loss of a concubitant marriage, their children were made to +repair the accident by being concubitants. + +I pointed this out to Mr. Fison, and he, looking at the system purely +from the point of view that it was a development of group marriage, when +the entire tribe was divided into two exogamous marrying classes, said +that he saw no inconsistency at all. We worked the problem out on paper, +and discovered that, with the class marriage as a clue, this fact became +perfectly consistent and logical-- + + | + ____________________ + | | + an X. woman = A.^{o} (m) B.^{o} (f) = an X. man + ___________ | + | | | + C.^{o} (f) D.^{o}(m) = G.^{x} (f) E.^{x} (m) = F.{o} (f) + | | + H. (m)^{o} | + | + J.^{x} (f). + +Let us suppose the population to be divided into two great classes, X. +and O. Descent, in Fiji, follows the father, therefore the two +_vei-tavaleni_ D. and E. belong to opposite classes. D. O. marries an X. +woman. E. X. marries an O. woman. Their children obviously belong to two +opposite classes. They cannot therefore be tabu, and, through their +relationship, they become concubitant. We thus stumbled upon an analogy +that goes far to uphold the theory that concubitancy is merely a +development of exogamous group marriage. + +[Pageheader: LOGIC OF THE SYSTEM] + +_Vei-ndauveni._--Let us now consider the relations between females who +would have been concubitants had they been of opposite sexes. They are +called _vei-ndauveni_, which, according to our phraseology, would mean +cousin and sister-in-law, for in the concubitant system these terms are +one and the same thing. As in the case of the concubitants, the +_vei-ndauveni_ is curiously stretched to cover the case of a man +marrying a stranger woman unrelated to him. She becomes _vei-ndauveni_ +to his sister as a logical deduction from the fiction that she is +concubitant with him, and as the children of _vei-ndauveni_ must be +concubitant, so her children and her sister-in-law's children are +concubitants. + +_Ngandina._--The system extends even to the earlier generations. The +_ngandina_ means in our phraseology both mother-in-law and uncle and +father-in-law, for since your wife is the daughter of your mother's +brother, it is obvious that he must stand to you in both those +relations. A man may marry a woman unrelated to him, yet his +father-in-law becomes forthwith his uncle (_ngandina_), for by the +marriage he has constituted his wife concubitant with him, and this +entails the fiction that her father was tabu to his mother (_i.e._ her +brother), and therefore his uncle. + +_Vungo._--Nephew, _i.e._ son of a man's sister or woman's brother, also +son-in-law or daughter-in-law, used reciprocally, as _vei-vungoni_. + +My mother's brother is my _vungo_; my sister's son is my _vungo_; my +daughter's husband is my _vungo_. Under our system there seems little +akin between these three relationships, but in the Fijian system they +are one and the same. + + D.^{x} (m) = C.^{o} (f), sister of E.^{o} = F.^{x} (f) + | | + A.^{x} B.^{o} (f) + Concubitants. + +A.'s mother's brother, A.'s _vungo_, has a daughter B., who is +concubitant with A. Whether she marries him or not, A was born her +husband, and he is therefore her father's _vungo_, son-in-law and +nephew. It is to be remembered that marriage is never permitted between +relations of different generations. Under no circumstances must +_vei-vungoni_ marry, though under the rules of exogamous marrying +classes they would, unless specially forbidden, have been permitted to +marry. In the above table, A. being an X., his mother's brother is an O. +On no account must the latter marry G., A.'s sister, who is an X., but +if A.'s _vungo_ has a daughter B. O., the marriage between A. and B. at +once becomes obligatory. Here is to be found a reason for the curious +custom of the avoidance of a mother-in-law among the Australians and +other tribes. Many theories have been advanced for this, but, with the +exception of Mr. Fison, I believe that no one has propounded the true +explanation. It is that in uterine descent a man's mother-in-law belongs +to the class from which he must take his wife. But she, being of a +different generation, is tabu to him; hence he must avoid her +absolutely, lest he be tempted by her charms to break through the law of +the system. + +This marriage system is practised generally throughout the Fiji Islands, +with the following exceptions and modifications:-- + +In the province of Namosi the descendants of two brothers or of two +sisters are regarded as tabu throughout as many generations as their +parentage can be remembered, and are strictly forbidden to intermarry. +The children of concubitants who have neglected to intermarry do not, as +in Mbau, become tabu, but are made to repair their parents' default by +themselves becoming concubitants. + +[Pageheader: CONCUBITANCY UNKNOWN IN POLYNESIA] + +In Lau, Thakaundrove, and in the greater portion of Vanualevu, the +offspring of a brother and sister respectively do not become concubitant +until the second generation. In the first generation they are called +tabu, but marriage is not actually prohibited. The children of two +brothers or of two sisters are, as in Mbau, strictly forbidden to +intermarry. + +Inquiries that have been made among the natives of Samoa, Futuna, +Rotuma, Uea, and Malanta (Solomon Group), have satisfied me that the +practice of concubitant marriage is unknown in those islands; indeed, in +Samoa and Rotuma, not only is the marriage of cousins-german forbidden, +but the descendants of a brother and sister respectively, who in Fiji +would be expected to marry, are there regarded as being within the +forbidden degrees as long as their common origin can be remembered. This +rule is also recognized throughout the Gilbert Islands, with the +exception of Apemama and Makin, and is there only violated by the high +chiefs. In Tonga, it is true, a trace of the custom can be detected. The +union of the grandchildren (and occasionally even of the children) of a +brother and sister is there regarded as a fit and proper custom for the +superior chiefs, but not for the common people. In Tonga, other things +being equal, a sister's children rank above a brother's, and therefore +the concubitant rights were vested in the sister's grandchild, more +especially if a female. Her parents might send for her male cousin to be +her _takaifala_ (_lit._, "bedmaker") or consort. The practice was never, +however, sufficiently general to be called a national custom. So +startling a variation from the practice of the other Polynesian races +may be accounted for by the suggestion that the chiefs, more autocratic +in Tonga than elsewhere, having founded their authority upon the fiction +of their descent from the gods, were driven to keep it by intermarriage +among themselves, lest in contaminating their blood by alliance with +their subjects their divine rights should be impaired. A similar +infringement of forbidden degrees by chiefs has been noted in Hawaii, +where the chief of Mau'i was, for reasons of state, required to marry +his half-sister. It is matter of common knowledge that for the same +reason the Incas of Peru married their full-sister, and that the kings +of Siam marry their half-sisters at the present day. + +_Origin of the custom._--I venture to offer here three possible +explanations of the origin of this custom, leaving it to the +acknowledged authorities upon the history of marriage to point out what +in their opinion is the true explanation:-- + +1. It may be a survival of an earlier custom of group-marriage and +uterine descent such as is to be found in the Banks Islands, where the +entire population is divided into two groups, which we will call X. and +O. A man of the X. group must marry an O. woman, and _vice versa_. The +children, following the mother, are O.'s, and are, therefore, kin to +their mother's brother rather than to their own father. Their mother's +brother, an O., marries an X. woman, whose children are X.'s, and are +potential wives to their first cousins; although in the Banks group the +blood relationship is not lost sight of, and close marriages are looked +upon as improper, whilst in Fiji such a union would be obligatory.[75] +The children of two brothers of the X. group, following their mothers, +would be O.'s, and therefore forbidden to marry; and so also would be +the children of two sisters. Thus far the results of the two customs are +the same; but in the Banks group consanguineous marriage is checked by +public opinion, which in Fiji favours such marriages. Group-marriage on +precisely the same lines has been noticed in Western Equatorial +Africa[76] and among the Tinne Indians in North-West America.[77] + +In Fiji, agnatic has generally taken the place of the uterine descent +(although in some parts of Vanualevu traces of the custom still appear +to linger), but the existing system of _vasu_, which gives a man +extraordinary claims upon his maternal uncle, may be an indication that +concubitant marriage is a survival of the more ancient custom. The +_vasu_ system is found to some extent among all peoples who trace +descent through the mother. Tacitus, speaking of the ancient Germans, +says that the tie between the maternal uncle and his nephew was a more +sacred bond than the relation of father and son.[78] + +[Pageheader: ORIGIN OF CONCUBITANCY] + +2. It is also possible that concubitant marriage is a relaxation of the +stricter prohibition in force amongst the Polynesians. The origin of +these prohibitions may, perhaps, be found in some such occurrence as +that described in the "Murdu" legend of Australia, quoted by Messrs. +Fison and Howitt in _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_-- + +"After the Creation brothers and sisters and others of the closest kin +intermarried promiscuously, until, the evil effects becoming manifest, a +council of the chiefs was assembled to consider in what way they might +be averted." + +Some such crisis must have been reached in every group of islands that +was peopled by the immigration of a single family, and the natural +solution in every case would have been to prohibit the marriage of both +classes of cousins-german. But, little by little, the desire for +alliances among chief families, for the restoration of the claims of +_vasu_, and for the restoration of an equivalent of the tillage rights +given in dowry, may have chafed against the prohibitions until these +were so far relaxed as to allow the marriage of cousins in the degree +most effective for promoting an interchange of property. For a similar +reason Moses ordered the daughters of Zelophehad to marry men of their +father's tribe, in order that their property should not pass out of the +tribe, and "their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of +their father" (Numbers xxxvi. 12). + +3. A third solution may be found in the transition from uterine to +agnatic descent, a change that came about gradually as social +development prompted the sons to seize on the inheritance of their +father to the exclusion of the nephew (_vasu_). With the admission of +the father's relationship to his son grew the idea that he was the +life-giver and the mother the mere vehicle for the gestation of the +child, and the child came to be regarded as related to his father +instead of to his mother.[79] Thus Orestes,[80] arraigned for the +murder of his mother, Clytemnestra, asks the Erinyes why they did not +punish Clytemnestra for slaying her husband Agamemnon; and, upon their +answer that she was not kin to the man she slew, he founds the plea that +by the same rule they cannot touch him, for he is not kin to his mother. +The plea is admitted by the gods. By this rule, a man is not kin to his +father's sister's daughter, she being kin to her father only; but her +affinity to him would render their marriage convenient as regards the +family possessions. From long usage a sense of obligation would be +evolved, and such cousins come to be regarded as concubitant. The +children of sisters would still be within the forbidden degrees, for, +although not kin through their mothers, their fathers, being presumably +the concubitant cousins of their mothers, would be near kin. + +I incline to accept the first explanation--that the custom of +concubitancy has been evolved from an earlier system of group-marriage +and uterine descent. I think that it dates from the remote period when +there was indiscriminate intercourse between the members of two +exogamous marrying classes, when it was impossible to say who was the +actual father of the children born. Under such a system the reputed +offspring of two brothers might in reality be the children of only one +of them, and the children of two sisters might have a common father, and +their union be incestuous. But the children of a brother and sister +respectively could not possibly have a common parent, and their +intercourse was therefore innocuous. For the same reason the children of +concubitants who were not known to have cohabited were still held to be +tabu to each other, for the male concubitant had a right of cohabitation +with the female of which he might at any time have availed himself, and +their offspring reputed to be by their other partners might in reality +be half brother and sister without their knowledge. + +[Pageheader: CENSUS OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES] + +Though the Fijian system of relationships is closely allied to those of +the Tamils in India and the Two-mountain Iroquois, and the Wyandots in +North America, none of these, except the Tamils, I believe, recognize +the principle of concubitant cousinship. The custom must be regarded, I +think, as being one of limited range, evolved from marriage laws of far +wider application. It undoubtedly exercises upon the Fijians a marked +influence in promoting consanguineous marriages--an influence from which +the other races in the Pacific are comparatively free, if we except the +inhabitants of the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides and possibly some +other islands not yet systematically investigated. + +_Concubitancy in practice._--The fact of a race of men habitually +marrying their first cousins promised to exhibit such remarkable +features in vital statistics that we did not stop short at investigating +the theory alone. We caused a census to be taken of twelve villages, not +selected from one province, but chosen only for convenience of +enumeration in the widely separated provinces of Rewa, Colo East, Serua, +and Ba. I am indebted to the late Mr. James Stewart, C.M.G., for the +analysis of the returns which follows:-- + +In the twelve villages there were 448 families. The couples forming the +heads of these families have had born to them as children of the +marriage 1317 children, an average of 2.94 to each marriage. But of +these 1317 children, only 679 remain alive, 638 being dead. The heads of +these families therefore do not replace themselves by surviving +children, for only 51.5 per cent. survive, while 48.5 are lost. + +We divided the married couples into four classes-- + +(1) Concubitant relations who have married together. These we found to +be on inquiry in nearly every case actual first cousins. They formed +29.7 per cent. of the total number of families. + +(2) Relations other than concubitant cousins who have intermarried. +Two-fifths of these are near relations, uncle and niece, and +non-marriageable cousins-german, brother and sister according to the +Fijian ideas. But the remaining three-fifths are more distantly related +than are the concubitants. These form 12.3 per cent. of the total +number of families. + +(3) Fellow villagers--natives of the same village, but not otherwise +related--who have married together. These form 32.1 of the total number +of families. + +(4) Natives of different villages, not being relations who have +intermarried. These form 25.9 of the total number of families. + +Thus it will be seen that the concubitant and other relations who have +intermarried number over two-fifths of the people, while one-third of +the married people have been brought up together in the same village, +and only one-fourth, not being relations, have come from different +villages. + +When we examined the relative fecundity of these divisions the result +was not a little startling-- + +133 concubitant couples have had 438 children, or 3.30 children per +family. + +55 families of relations have had 168 children, or 3.06 children per +family. + +144 families of fellow-villagers have had 390 children, or 2.71 children +per family. + +116 families of natives of different villages have had 321 children, or +2.77 children per family. + +It will thus be seen that as regards fecundity, concubitant marriages +are greatly superior to any of the other classes. + +But since fecundity does not necessarily mean vitality, the question is, +how many of the children born to these respective divisions have +survived? and we find the unexpected result that whereas the other +classes have changed places, the concubitants again show themselves to +be superior. + +Of 133 families of concubitants, there were 438 children, of whom 232 +survive, and 206 are dead. + +Of 55 families of relations, not concubitants, there were 168 children, +of whom 72 survive, and 96 are dead. + +Of 144 families of townspeople, there were 390 children, of whom 212 +survive, and 178 are dead. + +Of 116 families of natives of different villages, there were 321 +children, of whom 163 survive, and 158 are dead. + +[Pageheader: VITALITY OF INBRED CHILDREN] + +The concubitants with an average surviving family of 1.74 show, +therefore, not only a higher birth-rate, but far the highest vitality of +offspring. + +The relations other than concubitants show, it is true, the highest +fecundity next to the concubitants, but their rate of vitality is the +lowest of the four classes, since more of their children have died than +are now living. + +Second in point of vitality come the fellow-villagers, but they are far +behind the concubitants. + +From our preconceived ideas of the advantages of out-breeding we should +expect to find that the offspring of natives of different villages would +have shown, if not the highest fecundity, at least the highest vitality, +for this is the class in which the parents are not related. On the +contrary, we find that the families of these unrelated people are only +third in point of vitality. + +In view of the unfavourable position which the "relations other than +concubitants" hold in this analysis, it is well to divide the group into +two sub-classes. Of the fifty-five families of "relations," thirty-three +are stated to be _kawa vata_ (_i.e._ of the same stock, but not +necessarily of the same family or generation). The remaining twenty-two +families, on the other hand, consist of such unions (incestuous from the +Fijian point of view) of _vei-nganeni_ or _vei-tathini_, that is to say, +brother and sister, or cousins not concubitant; _vei-vungoni_, uncle +and niece, or aunt and nephew; _vei-tamani_, father and daughter, or +paternal uncle and niece; and _vei-luveni_ or _vei-tinani_, maternal +aunt and nephew, or mother and son. We have therefore, for purposes of +identification, divided the group into--first, relations distant; +second, relations specified. + + ----------------------+------------+---------------------------------- + | | + Divisions. | Number of | Children of the Marriage. + | Families. +---------------------------------- + | | Alive. | Dead. | Total. + ----------------------+------------+-------------+---------+---------- + Relations (distant) | 33 | 49 | 61 | 110 + Average per family | -- | 1.48 | 1.85 | 3.33 + | | | | + Relations (specified) | 22 | 23 | 35 | 58 + Average per family | -- | 1.05 | 1.59 | 2.64 + ----------------------+------------+-------------+---------+---------- + Total | 55 | 72 | 96 | 168 + ----------------------+------------+-------------+---------+---------- + Average per family | 1.31 | 1.75 | 3.6 + ----------------------+------------+-------------+---------+---------- + +The fecundity of these distant relations thus appears to be much higher +than that of the specified relations, and a little higher even than that +of the concubitants--the highest of the four groups. The comparative +figures are as follows-- + + ------------------------------------+---------------------------------- + | Average Family. + ------------------------------------+-----------+---------+------------ + | Alive. | Dead. | Total. + ------------------------------------+-----------+---------+------------ + _Vei-ndavolani_ (concubitants) | 1.74 | 1.56 | 3.30 + Relations (distant) | 1.48 | 1.85 | 3.33 + ------------------------------------+-----------+---------+------------ + +The vitality therefore is much less in the case of relations distant +than among the children of the concubitants. + +The fecundity of the division, "relations specified," is lower than that +of any of the four groups, and the vitality of their progeny is greatly +inferior to any of the other classes. + +For the last twenty years the Fijians have been either stationary, +slightly increasing, or decreasing, according to the prevalence of +foreign epidemics, the balance being in favour always of decrease. The +different figures show that no class of the population replaces itself +by surviving children of the marriage. But the deficiency is made up by +the children of former marriages, and illegitimate children, who form a +large portion of the population, but whose case it was not necessary to +consider for the purposes of this chapter. But we find the startling +fact that the class that most nearly succeeds in replacing itself is +that of the concubitants, which, consisting of 133 families, or 266 +individuals, have, out of a total number of children born to them of +438, a surviving progeny of 232. If we add the surviving step-children +of these individuals, their total surviving progeny becomes 317, thus +replacing the heads of existing families, and leaving 51 children to +replace the parents of the step-children. In every respect the +concubitants appear to be the most satisfactory marriage class. They +amount to only 29.7 per cent. of the population, but they bear 33.3 per +cent. of the children born, and they rear 34.2 of the children reared; +and, including step-children, they rear 34.7 of the children who +survive. + +[Pageheader: CONCUBITANCY JUSTIFIED BY RESULTS] + +It is not a little remarkable that the two extremes of vitality should +occur in the two classes in which in-breeding prevails. The larger class +of the concubitants (in which class also is found the highest fecundity) +shows the highest vitality of the four groups. The smaller class, the +relations other than concubitants, second in point of fecundity, +discloses the lowest vitality, and yet the proportion of these marriages +which would be regarded as incestuous by our system is small. It is not +to be forgotten, however, that in marriages which are regarded by the +people as socially right and proper, more care may be bestowed upon the +offspring both by the relations of the parents who nurse the mother and +child and by the parents themselves. By the same reasoning it is +probable that the offspring of marriages regarded as incestuous are +neglected by the relations of the parents, and, as a consequence, that +less pride is taken in them by the parents themselves. + +It has not been found that concubitants marry either earlier or later in +life than the members of the other classes, and it is to be remembered +that concubitants are very often natives of different villages, which +may tend to prevent the relations attending upon the mother in her +confinement. One of our native witnesses assured us, moreover, that the +union of concubitants was seldom a happy one. Quarrels between husband +and wife would certainly outweigh any advantages in favour of +child-bearing which the social propriety or fitness might be held to +create. But even supposing that the influences at work to make +concubitancy so satisfactory a procreative element in the population are +of a moral nature, the difference is so marked that there is a balance +over to be accounted for by some other explanation. That they rear a +larger proportion of their children may be partly or wholly due to the +fact that their relationship to each other gives them a higher sense of +responsibility, but that they bear more children capable of being reared +argues a superior physical fitness for procreation. I am aware that the +figures are far too small to allow of any generalization from them, but +at the same time it is to be remembered that the inhabitants of these +twelve villages represent a fair sample of the population, and also that +we found the relative positions of the married classes to be generally +the same in each village taken individually. + +We have here a phenomenon probably unique in the whole range of +anthropology--a people who for generations have married their first +cousins and still continue to do so, and among whom the offspring of +first cousins were not only more numerous but have greater vitality than +the children of persons unrelated. Nay more, the children of +concubitants--of first cousins whose parents were brother and +sister--have immense advantages over the children of first cousins who +were the children of two brothers or two sisters respectively. In no +other part of the world does there exist so favourable material for +investigating the phenomena of in-breeding among human beings. Is it +possible that we have stumbled upon an important truth in our physical +nature? Throughout Europe there is a widespread prejudice against the +union of first cousins, a prejudice that must have arisen from the +observation of chance unions. Two French scientists, MM. Lagneau and +Gueniot, have lately attempted to combat this prejudice that marriage of +first cousins is in itself productive of evil in the offspring. By +classifying the people of Batz, who, they affirm, are the offspring of +generations of consanguineous marriages, they found the population to be +comparatively free from the morbid characteristics usually attributed to +consanguinity, and they traced the cases of scrofula and similar morbid +taints back to its origin in the parents and grandparents. From this +they argued, that if scrofulous or rickety children are born of parents +nearly related, it is due to the fact that hereditary taint of disease +on one or both of them has not been diluted by marriage with a person +unrelated to them. It is a pity that in their investigations they did +not trace the exact tie of consanguinity between the parents. It might +have been seen, whether in Europe as in Fiji, the union of the children +respectively of a brother and sister is innocuous, while that of the +children of two brothers or two sisters respectively produces evil +effects upon the offspring. + +[Pageheader: COUSIN MARRIAGE POSSIBLY BENEFICIAL] + +The point at issue, therefore, is this. Is the classificatory system of +relationships after all more logical in an important respect than our +own? Is there really a wide physical difference between the relationship +of cousins who are offspring of a brother and sister respectively and +that of cousins whose parents respectively were two brothers or two +sisters? Ought marriage in the one case to be allowed or even +encouraged, and in the other case as rigidly forbidden as if it were +incestuous? More complete and detailed statistics than it is possible to +give within the limits of this chapter are at the service of any one who +will attempt to answer these questions by going more deeply into the +subject. + +Due allowance being made for local variations, the marriage customs of +Fijians of the middle class in heathen times may be thus summarized. + +The man's parents, having ascertained that their overtures would be +acceptable, sent betrothal gifts (_ai ndunguthi_) to the parents of the +girl. The token of acceptance was sometimes a miniature _liku_ (apron). +If _vei-ndavolani_ (concubitants), they were often betrothed in early +childhood; sometimes, however, a girl child was thus promised to a man +old enough to be her grandfather. In either case the girl's parents kept +strict watch over her, for any lapse on her part would cover them with +shame and dishonour. If the betrothed whom she thus dishonoured was a +man of rank her own relations would not scruple to put her to death, as +was done by the great chief Ritova in 1852, when his sister thus +disgraced him. While the girl is growing up her friends were supposed to +"nurse" (_vei-mei_) her, or they might take her to the bridegroom's +parents to be cared for till the marriage. When she reached puberty the +bridegroom's friends prepared a quantity of property, consisting of mats +and bark-cloth, and called the _yau-ni-kumu_, or the _solevu_, and +presented it formally to the parents of the girl, and marriages were +often delayed for years when the bridegroom's family were too poor to +acquire property commensurate with their pride. It was this pecuniary +element, and also the custom of _vasu_, which gave every Fijian a lien +over the property of his mother's family, that made each clan so jealous +in counting the interchange of wives. "_Veka!_" they would exclaim when +a fresh proposal was made, "they have had already five women from us, +and we but three from them, and now they ask us for a sixth!" + +The actual ceremony varied very much with the rank of the parties to the +marriage. There was no religious element, and the priests took no part +in it. But however humble the couple there were two indispensable +ceremonies--the wedding feast, provided by the bridegroom, and the +_vei-tasi_, or clipping of the bride's hair. I have failed to discover +the author of the fiction, quoted by so many anthropologists, that +marriage in Fiji was consummated in the bush. This was never the case. +On the night of the feast the bride was taken to her husband's house, +which had been either built specially for her, or was lent by the +groom's parents. There the marriage was consummated, without any +ceremony except in the case of high chiefs, when the announcement was +made by a great shouting. On the morrow was the feast of the clipping, +when the long tresses (_tombe_) grown behind each ear as a token of +virginity were cut off.[81] In the inland districts the girl's head was +shorn, and she entered forthwith upon her labour as a hewer of wood and +a drawer of water, ugly enough by this disfigurement to discourage any +admirer. The old women of the bridegroom's family had ascertained +meanwhile whether the bride had had a right to wear these love-locks, +and if the result of their inquiries was unsatisfactory, the feast was +made the occasion for putting her friends to shame. By a slash of a +knife the carcasses of the pigs, which were presented whole to the +visitors in the village square, were so mutilated as to intimate in the +grossest imagery that the bride had had a history. The Fijians, +however, always preserved a delicacy in these matters which was +strangely wanting in the Samoans and Tongans. In Samoa the innocence of +the bride was tested in the sight of the whole village by a sort of +surgical operation performed by a third person (_digito intruso_); in +Tonga the nuptial mat was paraded from house to house.[82] + +[Pageheader: FIJIAN LOVE LETTERS] + +There was, in some parts of the group, an occasional "marriage by +capture" that would have gladdened the heart of Maclennan, but it was +ceremonial, and I doubt whether it ever could be described as a custom. +The betrothal gifts having been accepted some time before, the girl was +waylaid and carried off. If she was unwilling she ran away to some one +who could protect her; if she was content the marriage feast was made on +the following morning. + +Though as a rule the wishes of the bride were not consulted, there were +certainly matches of _vei-ndomoni_ (mutual affection), and young people +sometimes eloped with one another to the bush. But the flame of passion +soon burnt itself out; the couple soon settled down into the comfortable +relations of mutual convenience; there was never a trace of idealizing +sentiment between lovers. + +The _ndunguthi-ni-alewa_ has now given place to the _vola-ni-alewa_, and +the former phrase is obsolete. _Vola-ni-alewa_ (writing to a woman) +includes both the betrothal gift and the letter which accompanies it. +Very artless and business-like are some of these proposals. "If you love +me I love you, but if you love me not, never mind, neither do I love +you; only let us have certainty." Sometimes the women write the letter. +One that came into my hands soared to a poetic height. "Be gentle like +the dove, and patient like the chicken," but concluded somewhat lamely +with, "When you have read this my letter, throw it down the drain." + +In September 1875, a few months after the cession of the group, the +Council of Chiefs recommended the prohibition of betrothal gifts on the +ground that they tended to infant betrothals, and consequently to the +compulsory marriage of ill-assorted couples, who separated immediately +without consummating it; that girls should be free to marry whom they +chose on attaining the age of sixteen; that the licence should be +granted by native magistrates after due inquiry; and that the ceremony +should be performed either by a European magistrate or by a minister of +religion. These recommendations, liberal enough when one considers how +recently those who framed them had been freed from the bonds of custom, +were embodied in a native regulation, to which was added three years +later the sensible provision that the bridegroom should first be +provided with a house of his own. But as the betrothal gifts, which were +of no great value, seemed on consideration to be less objectionable than +was at first supposed, a Regulation was afterwards passed to make them +legal. + +The real obstacle to marriage proved to be the _yau-ni-kumu_. While it +consisted only of native manufactures there were few men who could not +provide it with the help of their relations, but as soon as it became +fashionable to give knives, print, etc., for which money was required, +there were difficulties. The unhappy bridegroom, knowing how lightly a +Fijian girl may change her mind, had the ceremony performed on the +understanding that the marriage should not be consummated until he was +able to pay for his bride. While he was accumulating the property to +redeem her, the bride lived with her parents. Months passed, and in many +cases a prosecution for adultery took the place of the promised +festivities, though the marriage had never been consummated. This state +of things appeared to be more common on the north-east coast of Vitilevu +than elsewhere. + +[Pageheader: OBSTACLES TO MARRIAGE] + +In 1892, therefore, a Regulation was passed again prohibiting betrothal +gifts, and making it illegal to keep married people apart because the +_yau-ni-kumu_ had not been presented, and provided a penalty for +enticing married women from their husbands. There still remained the +magistrate's power to refuse a licence if the relations advanced +"reasonable objections," for by the law of custom objections to +intermarriage with a tribe of traditional enemies were reasonable. The +native chiefs, mindful of their own feelings if their daughters were to +make a _mesalliance_, clung to this power of veto, and without their +co-operation it was useless to attempt more legislation. And, since +there is probably no community in which poverty, or class distinctions, +are not obstacles to marriages of inclination, the Fijians have little +to complain of. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 74: The information in this chapter was collected by the +Commission on the Native Decrease (1891), of which the author was a +member.] + +[Footnote 75: Thus, John X. marries Mary O. They have two children, male +O. and female O. (belonging to the mother's group). These marry female +X. and male X. (father's group). Their children would be X.'s and O.'s +respectively, following their mothers, and, if of opposite sex, could +intermarry, although public opinion regards the union as improper in +consequence of the near relationship of the parents.] + +[Footnote 76: Du Chaillu, _Trans. Ethn. Soc._, N.S., Vol. I, p. 321.] + +[Footnote 77: _Smithsonian Report_, 1866, p. 315.] + +[Footnote 78: De Mor., Germ., XX., quoted by Sir John Lubbock.] + +[Footnote 79: We find it stated by Dr. Codrington that there is a +remarkable tendency throughout the islands of Melanesia towards the +substitution of a man's own children for his sister's children and +others of his kin in succession to his property; and this appears to +begin where the property is the produce of the man's own industry.] + +[Footnote 80: Quoted by Sir John Lubbock, _Origin of Civilization_.] + +[Footnote 81: In these degenerate days the _tombe_ are worn by many +unmarried girls who have no right to them.] + +[Footnote 82: I remember a high chief in Fiji, who had married a Tongan +girl, complaining bitterly of the invasion of his privacy by the bride's +aunt, who insisted upon officiating as a witness, and relating with glee +how, in the small hours, he had forcibly bundled the old lady out into +the night.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +CUSTOMS AT BIRTH + + +It has already been shown that the decay of the Fijian race is due, not +to a low birth-rate, but to an excessive mortality among infants. The +mean annual birth-rate for the ten years 1881-1891 was 38.48. This +compares very favourably with the mean annual rates of European +countries, which vary from 42.8 in Hungry to 25.9 in France. In England +the rate is 35.3. + +The excessive mortality among Fijian infants makes it necessary to +examine very closely the practices of the native midwives at the risk of +wearying the reader with somewhat technical details. + +Native midwives are generally the ordinary medical practitioners, and +are termed _Vu-ni-kalou_ (skilled in spirit-lore), or _Yalewa vuku_ +(wise woman), though that term belongs more properly to the wives of the +hereditary _matai sau_ (canoe-wrights and carpenters). These women keep +their craft secret, and as a consequence it often becomes family +property, being handed down from mother to daughter. The natives assert, +however, that so far from the craft being regarded as hereditary, any +person who thinks she has discovered a new remedy is at liberty to +follow the business when so inclined. This opens a wide field to +quackery, of which any woman with more cunning or self-assertion than +her neighbours can avail herself for the sake of credit or of gain. + +[Pageheader: MIDWIVES] + +None but a few of the female relations of a lying-in woman are admitted +to the house when she is in labour, the mixed attendance customary in +Tonga on such occasions not being tolerated. When the labour pains begin +the woman assumes a squatting posture, but during the throes of +childbirth she lies back in the arms of two friends sitting behind her, +who support her shoulders while the midwife stations herself in front. +From a physiological point of view this is a disadvantageous position, +but it appears to be adopted by chance rather than design, it being a +natural posture for a people who both sleep and sit on a matted floor. +The midwife makes a digital examination for the purpose of ascertaining +the presentation, which is generally normal. The membranes are not +tampered with, and nothing else is done until after the natural birth of +the child. Then the midwife clears its mouth of mucus with her fingers +or with her lips. Midwives differ on the point of the moment at which +the umbilical cord should be severed. Some of them seem to know that the +cord pulsates, but they do not understand the reason, for the Fijians +know nothing of the circulation of the blood. They generally wait until +the child breathes or cries out. If it emits no cry the general practice +is to compress the cord between the finger and thumb, and to squeeze the +blood onward towards the child. Sometimes they rattle a bunch of _kitu_ +(gourds) near its ear in the hope of awakening it. Neither artificial +respiration nor a dash of cold water is ever resorted to, though cold +water is used in Tonga in extreme cases, and the natives mention cases +in which children must have perished through the neglect of this +precaution. The cord is then measured from the navel to the knee, and +cut square across with a mussel-shell, or a bamboo knife. Now-a-days +scissors are sometimes used. It is never severed by biting as is done by +some natural races, nor is it ever tied or knotted. Native opinions vary +as to whether bleeding occurs in consequence of the cord not being tied. +The midwives deny that it does, but some women declare that it is a good +thing for the "bad blood" to drain out of the cord. Severance of the +umbilical cord without ligature is not so unsafe as might appear, for +the experience of obstetricians goes to show that there is less risk of +haemorrhage when the cord is left long, though, of course, bleeding is +more likely to occur from a clean transverse cut than from an oblique +cut, or a laceration. After division the foetal end is wrapped in a +shred of bark-cloth, and coiled down on the abdomen. The blood that +oozes from it is absorbed by the cloth, which is changed occasionally. + +As soon as the child cries and the cord has been severed an attendant +washes it in cold water. A drink of cold water is given to the mother +with the view of stimulating the uterus to contract and expel the +afterbirth. Retention of the placenta is the one contingency dreaded by +native women, but the midwives say that it is as rare as it is +dangerous. Among the inland tribes the midwives often introduce the hand +to extract the placenta, but among the coast people they believe it to +be an experiment which is better left alone. In cases where the drink of +cold water fails in its intended effect, herbal infusions are +administered, and poultices are sometimes applied externally, but the +safe expedient of compressing the uterus by placing the hand on the +abdomen is unknown to Fijian midwives--a surprising fact in a nation of +masseuses. It seems clear that Fijian mothers sometimes die from +retained placenta, and that the blame is laid at the door of the midwife +if she has ventured upon any manual interference. One woman stated that +some of her friends went through life in dread of pregnancy through the +popular fear of retained placenta. + +The occasional retention of portions of the membranes appears to puzzle +Fijian midwives. They lay particular stress upon the impropriety of +removing such fragments--_ai kumbekumbe_ (cleavings), they call +them--even when they have been extruded spontaneously, but, on the +contrary, are careful to tie them down _in loco_ under a bandage of +bark-cloth, trusting the rest to nature. They admit, however, that women +to whom this happens are usually feverish for some time, and they +evidently think the situation dangerous. + +[Pageheader: FORTITUDE OF FIJIAN MOTHERS] + +After the conclusion of the third stage of labour some midwives of the +inland tribes introduce the hand as far as the _bai ni yate_ (_lit._, +fence of the liver) or the _tuvu ni ngone_ (foetal source, _i.e. +Fornix vaginae_), and, bending the fingers, clear out all the clots they +can find. Others adopt the better practice of raising the mother to a +sitting posture to facilitate their discharge by gravitation. + +An infusion called _wai-ni-lutu-vata_ (medicine for simultaneous birth) +is sometimes taken during the later months of pregnancy, to induce an +easy labour and the descent of the placenta at the proper moment. + +Among the hill tribes of Vitilevu labour seems to be more easy and +expeditious than on the coast, and yet, notwithstanding their less +varied experience, the midwives of those tribes enjoy a higher +reputation for skill, and also follow more orthodox methods than their +sisters among the more enlightened tribes. Both, however, display the +same ignorance of the rudiments of physiology, and are as empirical in +their midwifery as in their treatment of ordinary sickness. + +The infant mortality is attributed by many Europeans to the hard work +done by the women during pregnancy, and immediately after childbirth. +The native belief is that a woman should do no heavy work up to the time +of quickening, but that thenceforward the more she works the easier will +her confinement be. Though this maxim is universal, the practice during +pregnancy varies with the individual and the locality. Among the hill +tribes women leave their house as early as the day after their +confinement; they generally do so about the fifth day. Cases are +recorded in which a woman has gone out in the morning in an advanced +stage of pregnancy, and has returned in the evening with a load of +firewood on her back and a new-born child in her arms. But at Mbau, and +among the higher classes generally, women are kept to the house for a +full month, and among the high chiefs the _bongi ndrau_ (hundred days) +are observed, the mother abstaining from all but purely domestic +occupations for that period. + +Accidents of childbirth seem to be rare with Fijian women. All the +midwives that have been questioned agree that mal-presentations are +uncommon, and that only one case of an arm-presentation had occurred +within their experience. When abnormal presentations do occur they are +regarded as being the fruit of an adulterous connection, and when the +child dies, as it invariably does, the death is put down to this cause +instead of to want of skill on the part of the midwife. The Vital +Statistics put the still births at 6 per cent., and in a few provinces +at 10 per cent., but it has been ascertained that many of these +represent cases of foetal death before delivery. + +In western Vitilevu, the centre of belief in witchcraft, confinements +used to take place out of doors. A temporary hut is run up near the +yam-garden, often at a considerable distance from the village, and the +pregnant woman takes up her quarters there for the event. No preparation +is made beyond taking a rough creel, padded with dried grass, for the +reception of the new-born infant. The people use neither mat nor +bark-cloth for the purpose, being loath to destroy it afterwards, and +saying, "How will you get rid of the blood with which it will be +stained?" The hut, too, is floored only with grass. As a rule there is +no midwife, and the woman does all that is necessary for herself. The +key to these primitive customs is the belief in witchcraft. The most +effective tools of the wizard are the excretae of the intended victim. If +the woman was attended during her confinement a grass-blade, stained +with blood, might be secreted by a malicious person, and used to compass +her death. She uses no mats because mats are too precious to be wantonly +burned, and every mat she had used would be a weapon in the hands of her +enemies. So she brings her child into the world unaided, and burns the +hut and all it contains before she sets out for the village. Now, mark +how superstition works for sanitation. Whereas the child of the coast is +brought into the world in a stuffy hut, and swaddled in dirty +bark-cloth, reeking with impurities, the inland baby and its mother are +guarded against infection by a law of cleanliness more rigid than any +that the Mosaic code enjoined. + +[Pageheader: PRACTICES OF THE GILBERT ISLANDS] + +As the Gilbert Islanders are credited with being excessively prolific, +and are said to be the only race in the South Seas that would increase +if artificial means were not used to prevent the population exceeding +the capacity of the islands, it will be well to compare their methods of +midwifery as described by Tearabugu, a professional midwife. On her +island--Tamana--much attention is paid to pregnant women. They do no +work during the first two months of pregnancy. At the seventh month they +are anointed with oil; about the eighth their limbs are given passive +exercise, and they go to a separate house to be shampooed by expert +masseuses, in order to train their muscles to bear the labour pains. The +umbilical cord is measured to the middle of the child's forehead, and +cut, but not tied. The placenta is extracted by hand if it does not come +away naturally. In cases of mal-presentation the midwives know how to +give assistance. The mother does no work during suckling, and, if it is +necessary to wean the child prematurely, a substitute for the mother's +milk is found in a butter made from the fresh fruit of the pandanus. The +midwives are reputed to be exceptionally clever, and the labours easy +and safe. Tearabugu could not remember a single case which had +terminated fatally for the mother. She said that four or five children +are considered enough, and any above that number are not allowed to come +to maturity. All the women practise abortion because they are so +prolific. If they did not they would have from ten to twenty children +apiece. But neither medicine nor instruments are used. The common method +is to pound the abdomen with a billet of wood, and this is not fatal to +the mother. Now, however, the practice is being abandoned, because the +missionaries have persuaded the people that it is dangerous. + + +Lactation + +The Fijian child begins life with a dose of medicine. As soon as it has +been washed in cold water a little of the juice of the candle-nut-tree +(_Aleurites triloba_) is put into its mouth to make it vomit. Then a +ripe cocoanut, or in some places a plantain, is roasted and chewed into +a pulp, which is dropped into a cocoanut-shell cup. A piece of +bark-cloth, shaped like a nipple, is dipped into this, and given to the +child to suck. The mother's first milk, being considered unwholesome, +is drawn off, and for the first day, or, in the case of a chief's child, +for the first three days, the baby is put to the breasts of a wet nurse, +if its rank is sufficient to command her services. The wet nurse is +strictly forbidden to bathe or fish in salt water, and there must not be +too great a disparity of age between her own and her foster child. When +the mother's breasts are full, her child is given to her to suckle, but +now, as in the old days, the children of chiefs are suckled by more than +one woman. In Tonga the mother suckles her child as soon as the milk +comes. + +In one respect only have the ancient customs relating to suckling +children begun to break down; the missionaries have tried to discourage +the employment of a wet nurse, probably because her own child is likely +to suffer from neglect. + +Among the common people it has always been the custom for two girls from +the wife's and two from the husband's family to feed and tend the new +mother, unless her rank is too lowly to entitle her to the services of +more than one. The two grandmothers of the child, if living, also help +to tend the mother. But at the tenth day they all leave her to the care +of her husband. This custom fits into the waning practice of concubitous +marriage, (_q. v._ ante), for if the husband and wife belong to +different islands the wife's relations are unable to contribute their +services to her support. During the first ten days the mother is +confined to a vegetable diet. She is forbidden to eat what the native +call _ka ndamu_ (red things, _i.e._ fish, crabs, pork, or broths made +therefrom), and is fed upon taro or bread-fruit puddings (_vakalolo_), +yams, taro, or spinach. At the end of ten days she goes about her +house-work, and if she cannot command the services of her relations to +enable her to lay up for the _bongi ndrau_ (hundred days), she resumes +all her ordinary outdoor work except sea-fishing, for, as the natives +say, "there is _dambe_ in the sea, and if the mother wets her leg above +the calf in salt water, her milk will be spoiled." + +[Illustration: Women Fishing with the Seine.] + +[Pageheader: REMARKABLE CASE] + +It is perhaps owing to their hard work and low diet that Fijian mothers +so often suffer from a deficiency of breast milk, and that so many +children die from _matha na mena suthu_ (drying up of the milk) and +_londo i suthu_ (privation of milk), _i.e._ from the death, absence, or +neglect of the mother. When the mother's milk fails her breasts are +oiled and steamed and painted with turmeric, and are kept warm by +bandages of bark-cloth, while she eats spinach, _mba vakoro_ (a mixture +of spinach with shell-fish), and drinks fish soup and spinach water. +Kava, which was absolutely forbidden to women of the last generation, is +now drunk by both pregnant and nursing women under the belief that it +induces easy labour and promotes a flow of milk when all other means +fail. But if the flow of milk is re-established, the more nutritious +diet is at once discontinued, for quantity is all that is aimed at. + +When the milk fails or the mother dies the child's chances of surviving +are slender indeed. Its grandmother will carry it from house to house +imploring nursing mothers to give it suck. With one accord they all +begin to make excuses. They have not milk enough for their own children; +there are many other women more able to than they. In Thakaundrove a +woman who is not nursing sometimes takes the place of the mother. She is +fed on spinach, and is oiled and tended like the real mother, and in +course of time, if the child continues to suck her breasts, the milk +comes, and the child is reared. There is a well-attested case--and it is +said to be by no means a solitary instance--in which the grandmother +suckled the children during the mother's frequent absences from home. +They were the children of her youngest daughter, and yet she contrived +to induce a flow of milk for each of the four children in succession. It +is not surprising that all the children died in infancy, for such milk +could have little nutritive value. + +Statistics show that, even counting the children that are fortunate +enough to find a wet nurse to adopt them, in at least three cases out of +four the death of the mother means the death of the child also, and that +the mortality is only a shade lower in cases where the mother is +deficient in breast milk. The father's absence from home is also a fatal +condition, for the mother is then obliged to take her baby with her to +the plantation, where it is left under a tree while its mother works in +the sun. Among the Motu tribes in New Guinea a sort of creche is +improvised in the corner of the field; every nursing mother goes to work +with her child slung in a net bag. These bags are slung from the +branches of a tree, and are guarded by one of the women told off for the +duty in rotation. I remember coming suddenly upon one of these trees at +a turn in the path. Its dead branches bore a round dozen of this strange +fruit--fat brown babies fast asleep with their knees doubled up to their +chins and their flesh oozing from the meshes of the net bags. Near the +same village I saw a woman, who had probably lost her baby, doing her +maternal duty to a sucking-pig and a puppy. + +The only substitute for milk known to the Fijians is _mba_ water, _i.e._ +water in which the stalks of the taro (_Calladium esculentum_) have been +boiled. It contains a large proportion of glucose, a little starch, a +trace of albumen, some malic acid, a pinkish or pale violet colouring +matter intensified by acids, water and cellulose, but no tannic or +gallic acids. The microscope showed it to be free from oxalate of lime +or other raphides. In the uncooked stalks and leaves there is a highly +acrid oily matter, which, however, is completely dissipated by heat even +below 200 deg. Fahrenheit. _Mba_ is not unlike boiled beet stalks, and the +sweet and mucilaginous liquor must be a palatable and not unsatisfying +food for a child in ordinary health, though it is far from being as +nutritive as mother's milk. It is strange that the Fijians have never +thought of adding to it the strainings of grated cocoanuts which abound +in every village, though even so the food would still be deficient in +proteids. + +In Tonga, on the other hand, children are generally reared safely by +hand upon a diet of cooked breadfruit made into a liquid with +cocoanut-milk. I have heard of one instance of a child that was reared +on sugar-cane. The Gilbert Islanders use a butter made of the fruit of +the pandanus made fresh every day, and they also give their children +young cocoanuts to suck through a hollow rush. + +[Pageheader: INSANITARY HABITS] + + +Weaning + +If all goes well the child is weaned when three or four of both the +upper and lower incisors appear. For a month or two before this the +mother has been in the habit of giving it a slushy mess of yam to +prepare it for solid food. While weaning it she gives it chewed yam or +taro in addition to _mba_, and there is something to be said both for +and against this practice. The saliva is rich in ptyalin, which does not +act upon proteids or fats, and is therefore not secreted in any +appreciable quantity during the first year of infant life. As the starch +that is so plentiful in yam and taro is insoluble, it must be converted +into something more digestible before it can be assimilated. The acid of +the gastric juice would retard this conversion, but the ptyalin of the +saliva, like the diastase of malt, has the property of converting +moistened starch, when kept at a warm and even temperature such as that +of the body, into dextrin and glucose, which are easily assimilated. +Thus, while the mother feeds her child upon a diet which it is not yet +prepared to deal with, she supplies from her own mouth the necessary +moisture, warmth and ptyalin for making it digestible. Without the +chewing the mashed yam would produce diarrhoea. + +On the other hand, the human mouth is the hotbed of bacteria, which, +though innocuous to the adult, may well be hurtful to an infant. The +Fijian uses no toothbrush but his index finger, which is seldom as clean +as the mouth it is intended to cleanse. It is therefore possible that +the fermentative action that causes diarrhoea in children may be set +up by the chewing, and the germs of specific constitutional disease may +be sometimes introduced. Tuberculosis and leprosy, so far as our present +knowledge of them goes, appear likely to be transmissible in this way, +and the Fijians are largely affected by both tubercle and leprosy. Most +Fijian mothers are heavy smokers, and the residuum of tobacco may well +impart a poisonous property to the food. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CIRCUMCISION AND TATTOOING + + +Like the Arabs, the Fijians circumcised their boys when just entering +upon puberty, about the twelfth year. In heathen times the age seems to +have been somewhat earlier, for Williams gives the age at from seven to +twelve, which corresponds with the custom of the ancient Egyptians, from +whom the Jews probably derived the custom. It does not appear to have +been strictly a religious rite, though, like all ceremonial acts of the +Fijians, it was invested with a religious observance of the tabu. The +operation was generally performed in the village _mbure_, upon ten or +twenty youths at a time, by one of the old men, who used a piece of +split bamboo. The blood was caught on a strip of bark-cloth, called +_kula_ (red), which in some places was suspended from the roof of the +temple or the house of the chief. Food, consisting of a mess of greens, +was taken to the boys by women, who, in some places, as they carried it, +chanted the following words:-- + + "Memu wai onkori ka kula, + Au solia mai loaloa, + Au solia na ndrau ni thevunga, + Memu wai onkori ka kula." + + "Your broth, you, the circumcised, + From the darkness I give it, + I give you _thevunga_ leaves, + Your broth, you, the circumcised." + +[Pageheader: CIRCUMCISION A RELIGIOUS RITE] + +The word for circumcision, _teve_, may not be uttered before women; in +their presence it must be called _kula_. The proper time for performing +the rite is immediately after the death of a chief, and it is +accompanied by rude games--wrestling, sham fights, mimic sieges, which +vary according to the locality. Uncircumcised youths were regarded as +unclean, and were not permitted to carry food for the chiefs. The +ceremony was generally followed by the assumption of the _malo_, or +perineal bandage, for children of both sexes went naked to the tenth +year, or even later if of high rank; but this was not invariable, for +the _malo_ was worn sometimes many months before, and sometimes not +assumed till some time after the ceremony. The assumption of the _malo_, +or of the _liku_ (grass petticoat) by the child of a chief was the +occasion of a great feast, and the postponement of this feast sometimes +condemned the child to go naked until long after puberty. The daughter +of the late chief of Sambeto was thus still unclad till past eighteen, +and the unfortunate girl was compelled, through modesty, to keep the +house until after nightfall. + +The custom of circumcision still persists despite the abandonment of the +ceremonial that attended it. The instrument is now usually a trade +knife, and the operation is performed in the privacy of the boy's +family, who may, or may not, give a feast to his near relations. I have +tried unsuccessfully to obtain any traditions that would give a clue to +its origin. The most that a Fijian can say is that to be uncircumcised +is a reproach, though to a people who cover the pudenda with the hand +even while bathing, and probably never expose their nakedness even to +their own sex throughout their lives, this can have but little weight. +No doubt the Fijians brought the custom with them in remote times, and +its origin is probably the same in their case as in that of the Nacua of +Central America, the Egyptians, and the Bantu races of Africa--namely, +the idea of a blood sacrifice to the mysterious spirit of reproduction. + +Shortly before puberty every Fijian girl was tattooed. This was not for +ornament, for the marks were limited to a broad horizontal band covering +those parts that were concealed by the _liku_, beginning about an inch +below the cleft of the buttocks and ending on the thighs about an inch +below the fork of the legs. The pattern covered the Mons Veneris and +extended right up to the vulva. There is not much art in the patterns, +which are, as a rule, mere interlacing of parallel line and lozenges, +the object being apparently to cover every portion of the skin with +pigment. The operation is performed by three old women, two to hold the +patient, and the third to use the fleam. It is done in the daytime, when +the men are absent in their plantations. The girl is laid stripped upon +the mats opposite the open door, where the light is best. + +With an instrument called a _mbati_, or tooth, and a cocoanut shell +filled with a mixture of charcoal and candle-nut oil, the operator first +paints on the lines with a twig, and then drives them home with the +_mbati_, which consists of two or more bone teeth embedded in a wooden +handle about six inches long, dipping it in the pigment between each +stroke of the mallet, and wiping away the blood with bark-cloth, while +the other two control the struggles of the patient. The operation is +continued until the patient can bear no more, for in the tender parts +between the thighs it is excessively painful. There is usually some +inflammation, but the wounds heal quickly. A ceremonial feast is +generally given by the girl's parents. + +In addition to this tattooing, barbed lines and dots were marked upon +the fingers of young girls to display them to advantage when handing +food to the chiefs, and after childbirth a semicircular patch was +tattooed at each corner of the mouth. In the hill districts of Vitilevu +these patches are sometimes joined by narrow lines following the curve +of both lips. The motive for this practice, which even Fijians admit to +be a disfigurement, is to display publicly a badge of matronly staidness +and respectability. The wife who has borne children has fulfilled her +mission, and she pleases her husband best by ceasing for the remainder +of her life to please other men. + +The tattooing of the buttocks has undoubtedly some hidden sexual +significance which is difficult to arrive at. It is said to have been +instituted by the god Ndengei, and in the last journey of the Shades an +untattooed woman was subjected to various indignities. + +[Pageheader: REASON FOR TATTOOING WOMEN] + +The motive of the girl in submitting to so painful an operation was the +same as that which underlies all subservience to grotesque decrees of +Fashion--the fear of ridicule. If untattooed, her peculiarity would be +whispered with derision among the gallants of the district, and she +would have difficulty in finding a husband. But the reason for the +fashion itself must be sought for in some sexual superstition. When I +was endeavouring to obtain some of the ancient chants used in the Nanga +celebrations on the Ra coast, I was always assured that the solemn vows +of secrecy which bound the initiated not to divulge the _mbaki_ +mysteries sealed the lips even of their Christian descendants. I was +persuaded either that they had forgotten the chants, or that they +considered them unfit for my ears, for it was impossible to believe that +the reward I was able to offer would fail to tempt a Fijian to risk +offending deities in whom it was evident that he no longer believed. +After infinite persuasion the son of a _Vere_ was induced to dictate one +of the chants, and it proved to be an extremely lascivious ode in praise +of buttock tattooing--the only instance I am acquainted with in Fijian +chants in which lechery and not religious awe animated the composer. +Vaturemba, the chief of Nakasaleka in the Tholo hills, who was always +plain-spoken, chuckled wickedly when I questioned him upon the matter, +and declared that physically there was the greatest difference in the +world between mating with a tattooed and an untattooed woman (_Sa matha +vinaka nona ka vakayalewa, na alewa nkia_), and that the idea of +marriage with an untattooed woman filled him with disgust. He left me +with the impression that besides the other advantages he had mentioned, +tattooing was believed to stimulate the sexual passion in the woman +herself. + +The Mission teachers have long waged war against the practice as a +heathen custom, and in most of the coast districts it has fallen into +disuse, but in the upper reaches of the Singatoka river, though the +people have long been Christians, it still persists, though not +universally. Interference with it by a man, albeit a Mission teacher, +was evidently considered indecent in itself, for men cannot, without +impropriety, concern themselves with so essentially feminine a business. +More than one teacher was charged before my court with indecency for +having returned to the village to admonish the tattooers while the +operation was being performed. + +With the introduction of writing it has become common for young men and +women to tattoo their names on the forearm or thigh of the person to +whom they happen to be attached, and there are comparatively few who do +not carry some memento of their heart's history thus ineffaceably +recorded. The inconvenience of this custom in a people as fickle as the +Fijians does not seem to trouble them. + +The keloids, or raised cicatrices, that may still be seen (though the +custom is dying out) upon the arms and backs of the women are formed by +repeatedly burning the skin with a firebrand, so as to keep the sore +open for several weeks. The wart-like excrescences that result are +arranged in lines with intervals of about an inch, in half-moons or +curves, or in concentric circles. Sometimes they are formed by pinching +up the skin, and thrusting a fine splinter through the raised part. They +are intended only for ornament, and have no other significance. + +The only other interference with Nature is the distension of the +ear-lobes in the older men of the hill districts. The ear is first +pierced, and gradually distended by the insertion of pieces of wood of +increasing size, until the lobe forms a thin cord, like a stout elastic +band, and is large enough to receive a reel of cotton, or a circular tin +match-box, which are both in favour as ear ornaments. Sometimes the cord +breaks, and if the owner has not ceased to care about his personal +appearance he will excoriate the broken ends, and splice them with grass +fibre until they reunite. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE PRACTICE OF PROCURING ABORTION + + +Procuring abortion in the old days appears to have been limited to women +of high rank who, for reasons of policy, were not allowed to have +children. When it is remembered that every lady of rank who married into +another tribe might bear children who, as _vasu_, would have a lien upon +every kind of property belonging to their mother's tribe, it is not +surprising that means were taken to limit the number of her offspring. +In a polygamous society every wife had an interest in preventing her +rivals from bearing sons who might dispute the succession with her own +offspring, and the chief wife wielded an authority over the inferior +wives that enabled her to carry her wishes into effect. Waterhouse +mentions that professional abortionists were sent in the train of every +lady who married out of the tribe, with instructions to procure the +miscarriage of her mistress. The Rev. Walter Lawry, who visited Mbau in +1847, declares, on the authority of all the resident missionaries, that +the practice was reduced to a system. But these motives did not operate +with the common people, who were seldom in a position to pay the +practitioner's fee, although, no doubt, dislike of the long abstinence +enjoined during suckling and disinclination to bear children to a man +they hated were motives strong enough to induce a few women in every +class to rid themselves of their children. The abortionist's craft was +then in the hands of a few professional experts, who made too good a +thing of their trade to trust their secrets to any but their daughters +who were to succeed to their practice. + +All this is now changed. Both the motive and the means have spread far +and wide. The secrets of the trade are common property, and the act is +unskilfully attempted by the mother or older female relation of every +pregnant woman who cares to take the risk of an operation. By a strange +irony the rapid increase in the practice of abortion in recent years is +to some extent the doing of the missionaries. With the decay of the +custom of separating the sexes at night intrigues with unmarried women +increased, and to fight this growing vice the missionaries visited the +breach of the Seventh Commandment with expulsion from Church membership. +The girls have come to prize highly their _thurusinga_ (_lit._, entrance +into daylight), as communion with the Wesleyan Church is called, and, +when they find themselves pregnant, the dread of exposure, expulsion and +disgrace drive them to the usual expedients for destroying the evidence +of their frailty. Although by suppressing the usual feasts and +presentations in the case of illegitimate births, and by refusing the +sacrament of baptism to illegitimate children, the Mission authorities +may have given some impetus to the practice of abortion, there can be +little doubt that an illegitimate birth brought even more shame upon +families of every rank but the lowest in heathen times than at +present--unless the putative father was of high rank. There still exists +enough of the stern customary law that punished incontinency to cast a +social stigma upon the mother of an illegitimate child; there still +survives enough of the ethical code that refused to regard the +procurement of abortion as a criminal act to warrant women in choosing +what is to them the lesser of two evils. Moreover, the tendency to the +practice of abortion is cumulative. A girl induces miscarriage to escape +the shame of her first pregnancy. To the natural tendency of women who +have once miscarried to repeat the accident is added the temptation to +undergo, for the second time, an operation that has already been +successful. If Fijian women dislike the burden of tending children born +in wedlock, much more do they shrink from maternity coupled with the +disgrace of illegitimacy. The natives themselves quote instances of a +number of minor motives, such as the dread of the pains of childbirth, +and the determination of a wife not to bear children to a man she hates +or quarrels with--motives which have influenced women of every race from +the beginning of time, and which will continue to do so until the end. + +[Pageheader: METHODS VEILED IN SECRECY] + +A high birth-rate is not incompatible with the extensive practice of +abortion, where the proportion of stillbirth is also high, and the women +are so careful to conceal their practices that it is highly probable +that they conspire to represent to the native registrars as post-natal +deaths miscarriages that have been caused artificially. The natives of +Vanualevu are reputed to be the most adept in procuring abortion, and +the three provinces included in that island show the abnormal +stillbirth-rate of 10 per cent, of the total births, while their general +birth-rate is the lowest in the colony. It must be remembered that, +since procuring abortion is regarded as a criminal act, the practice is +now concealed, not from any sense of shame, but from fear of criminal +prosecution. The practice is veiled with so much secrecy that very few +prosecutions have taken place. + +The methods of the Fijians are, as in other countries, both toxic and +mechanical. Certain herbs, called collectively _wai ni yava_ (medicines +for causing barrenness), are taken with the intention of preventing +conception, but the belief in their efficacy is not general. Some +midwives, however, say that, when taken by nursing mothers with the view +of preventing a second conception, they result in the death of the +child. Another midwife--one of the class to which the professional +abortionists belong--assured us that miscarriage resulted more +frequently from distress of mind at the discovery of pregnancy than from +the drugs that were taken. The abortives vary with the district and the +practitioner, but they are all the leaves, bark or root of herbs, chewed +or grated, and infused in water, and there is no reason why some of them +should not be as effective as the medicines employed for the purpose by +civilized peoples, though the mode of preparation is naturally more +crude, and the doses more nauseous and copious than the extracts known +to modern pharmacy. The "wise women" appear to know that drugs which +irritate the bowel have an indirect effect upon the pelvic viscera. Andi +Ama of Namata stated that old women caution young married women against +drinking _wai vuso_ (frothy drinks), meaning a certain class of native +medicine made from the stems of climbing plants whose saps impart a +frothy or soapy quality to the infusion, which are taken under various +pretexts, but generally as cathartics. None of these drugs have yet been +collected and subjected to examination or experiment, and if any +reliance can be placed on the belief placed by old settlers in the +efficacy of native remedies, it is possible that some of them will find +an honourable place in the Pharmacopoeia. + +I do not think that many miscarriages are caused by the taking of +infusions alone, though there are undoubtedly cases in which a long +illness, or even death, has resulted from such attempts. Nevertheless, +even though it be extremely difficult to procure abortion by +administering herbs, as stated by one midwife, it is certain that every +determined interference with the course of nature must be attended with +danger. + +Foremost among mechanical means is the _sau_, which is a skewer made of +_losilosi_ wood, or a reed. It is used, of course, to pierce the +membranes, and in unskilful hands it must be a death-dealing weapon. +Indeed, it must more often be fatal to the mother than to the foetus; +for Taylor has pointed out that this mode of procuring abortion is only +likely to succeed in the hands of persons who have an anatomical +knowledge of the parts,[83] and even the "wise women" have shown +themselves to be guiltless of even the most elementary anatomical +knowledge. There are, however, well-attested cases of persons living who +bear the mark of the _sau_ on their heads. In 1893 there was a man +living in Taveuni who bore the scar of such a wound on his right temple, +and the fact that the right parietal bone would be the part wounded by +an instrument used shortly before the commencement of labour in normal +presentations gives a strong colour of truth to the story of Andi +Lusiana and other trustworthy natives who knew the young man and the +circumstances of his birth. + +[Pageheader: CRUDE OPERATIONS] + +The various methods of inducing miscarriage by violence, such as are +practised by the Gilbert Islanders, who pound the abdomen of a pregnant +women with stones, or force the foetus downwards by winding a cord +tightly about her body, are not resorted to by the Fijians, but the +practice of _vakasilima_ (_lit._, bathing), a manual operation which +midwives are in the habit of performing with the object of alleviating +the ailments of pregnancy, do, either by accident or design, sometimes +result in a radical cure by causing the expulsion of the foetus. The +patient is taken into the river or the sea, and squats waist-deep in the +water with the "wise women," who subjects her to a vaginal examination +to enable her to ascertain the condition of the _os uteri_, and, through +this digital diagnosis, to determine the particular herb to be used +locally or internally. Some women assert that the examination under +water is adopted for cleanliness only, but most seem to believe that +there is virtue in the operation by itself without any subsequent herbal +treatment. As there are many practitioners who devote themselves +exclusively to this branch of practice, it is more than likely that it +is often used as a pretext for an attempt to procure abortion, for a +rough manipulation of the _os uteri_ may excite uterine contraction, and +so bring about expulsion of the foetus. Treatment by _vakasilima_ is +used in every form of disease in the abdominal region to which women are +subject, and the manipulation of the fundus and vagina is so rough that +the patient cries out with the pain. + +_Bombo_ (massage) is sometimes practised upon pregnant women with the +result, if not the intention, of producing miscarriage. A few years ago +a notorious instance occurred at Rewa. A pregnant woman, who suffered +pain and discomfort, was received into the Colonial Hospital. After a +week's detention the surgeon advised her to go home, and await the term +of her gestation, since she was suffering from some functional +derangement common to her condition. She fell into the hands of a noted +amateur "wise woman," who diagnosed her complaint as possession by a +malignant spirit, and proceeded to exorcise it by the usual means of +forcible expulsion by massage. The pinching and kneading began at the +solid parts of the trunk, and when the evil spirit fled for refuge into +the limbs, they were continued towards the extremities, and the +apertures of the body, which are the natural avenues of escape for the +afflicting spirit. But the only spirit which the masseuse succeeded in +exorcising was the patient's own, for she died of the operation, and the +facts were concealed from the authorities for some weeks. The +magisterial inquiry did not elicit whether the object was abortion, or +merely the alleviation of pain. + +A census taken in 1893 of the families of twelve villages showed that +out of 448 mothers of existing families 55 had been subject to abortion +or miscarriage. If these villages were representative of the people at +large, 12.7 per cent, rather more than one-eighth, of the child-bearing +women of the Fijians have to contend with this adverse condition, and, +as has been said, the provinces that have abnormally low and decreasing +birth-rates--Mathuata, Mbua, and Thakaundrove--are the very parts where +the "wise women" are noted for their skill as abortionists. These facts +would almost suffice in themselves to account for the decrease of the +race. + +The Government has made half-hearted attempts to stamp out the practice +of abortion. The heavy penalty provided by Native Regulation No. 2 of +1887 having failed for want of prosecution, the native magistrates were +ordered to hold inquests in all cases of infant deaths, but when all the +witnesses are in league to conceal the truth, it would be surprising if +the intended effect of intimidating professional abortionists were +secured by such means. Post-mortem examinations of women dying in +premature confinement were thought of, but it was feared that the +repugnance which Fijians feel to these examinations would lead to the +concealment of death in such cases. + +[Pageheader: FAILURE OF PROSECUTIONS] + +It was hoped that the Travelling European Inspectors appointed in 1898 +to go from village to village enforcing the Native Regulations might +initiate a few prosecutions, and so frighten the professional +abortionist, who now practises with complete impunity, for as soon as +the people have an object-lesson of the risk she is running in her +nefarious occupation, a quarrel among the women of the village will +bring forward informers to denounce her. But, since no legal penalty has +ever succeeded in stamping out a practice that is secretly approved by +the popular conscience, all that can be hoped for is a slight decrease +in the stillbirth-rate. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 83: _Medical Jurisprudence._] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE INSOUCIANCE OF NATIVE RACES + + +If we were called upon to name the one invention that stands between +savagery and the growth of civilization we might fairly choose the +timepiece of sundial. Fixed routine in daily life is unknown to +primitive man, whose functions are controlled only by the impulse of the +moment. Even among civilized races the most stagnant are those who have +never learnt to put a value upon time, and who, like the Spanish, give +an honourable place in their vocabulary to the word _manana_, or its +equivalent. Few, if any, of the natural races have made any provision in +their vocabulary for any division of time less than the day; they have +no word for hour, minute, or second, nor would they have any for day, if +Nature had not divided the one from the other by intervals of darkness. +Only three divisions of time were known to the Fijians: the year +(_yambaki_), so named from the heathen harvest home (_mbaki_); the lunar +month (_vula_); and the day (_singa_). He identifies any greater +divisions of time by naming the reigning chief of the period, or by +saying, "When so-and-so was so high," indicating some aged man in the +party and marking his height at the time of the occurrence in the air +with the hand. He will indicate the time of an event in the immediate +past or future by the yam crop--"When the yams are ripe," or "At last +planting time"; about the remote future he never troubles himself. + +[Pageheader: FIJIANS ABHOR PUNCTUALITY] + +The Fijian eats when he is hungry, or when the sight of cooked food +whets his appetite; he bathes only when he would cool his body; he +sleeps when he is disinclined to work or when darkness has made work +impossible; regular hours for all these functions are quite unknown to +him. His nearest approach to regularity is his observance of the season +for yam planting, but this is because tradition has taught him that if +he fails to plant his yams when the _drala_-tree is in flower, he will +lack food in the following year. On one day he will work in his yam +patch from sunrise till evening, and bathe at five o'clock and sleep the +whole night through after a heavy meal. On another he will return from +work at noon, and slumber away the hot afternoon, spending the night in +feasting and dancing. He is improperly fed, not because food is scarce, +but because he is incapable of the routine of regular meals or of any +moderation. In times of plenty his diet is not improved, because he +wastes his surplus in prodigal feasting. In times of scarcity he suffers +because he will not husband his resources. System of any kind is +peculiarly irksome to him. The Rev. W. Slade, a Wesleyan missionary, +gives a good instance of this characteristic in the case of the mother +of a seven-months child born in the neighbourhood of his mission station +in 1893. "The woman herself cannot supply sufficient nourishment to the +child, and has been told to come to the house twice a day for fresh +cow's milk. She came for a few days and then ceased. Upon inquiry I +found that, although the child was dying of starvation, she found it +irksome to apply for the milk. Her maternal affection failed under the +strain of walking one hundred yards twice a day." In the few instances +in which a Fijian has attempted to keep cattle he has shown that he +would rather let his beasts die of thirst than be bound by the necessity +of giving them water at stated intervals. He cannot use dairy produce +because he would fail to milk his cows regularly and to wash the +utensils in which the milk was kept. The law of custom knew these +defects in his character and provided for them. In the days of +intertribal warfare if a village was to exist at all it must have food +stored against a siege. There was a season for planting yams, and the +soil would yield nothing to the slovenly planter. Public opinion took +care that no man in the community shirked his work. The pigs and poultry +thrived because they required neither feeding nor tending at regular +hours. The canoe was kept under shelter, and the matsail stripped from +the yard on the first threat of a downpour of rain, because their owner +knew that he would have to pay the carpenter for repairing them in food +planted by his own hand. But the law of custom has made no provision for +innovations. The sailing-boat, the one possession in which the Fijian +takes the greatest pride, is allowed to decay almost past repair before +he will think of refitting it, although he is well aware that a regular +supply of paint and rope would have made much of the expense +unnecessary. He is still passably energetic about his ancient pursuits +of planting and fishing, but this fishing, which might be turned to +profitable account in the supply of the daily market, is a mere +desultory sport pursued because it provides an ever-varying succession +of excitement. The desultory habit of mind which defers to the morrow +all that does not appeal to the impulse of the moment affects all his +surroundings, makes his house squalid, his diet irregular, and his +village insanitary. + +His insouciance, which was kept in check by the law of custom, had its +root, like most other evils, in selfishness--a quality which is quite as +much at home in a communal as it is in a civilized state of society, +where defrauding the commonwealth is looked upon as a venial offence +provided that it is not found out. In a communal state of society the +instinct of the individual is to do and to give as little as possible. +When the law of custom is breaking down, as among the Fijians, discovery +entails but little disgrace. In being selfish the Fijian is only being +what white men are. He has no patriotism and no nationality; he does not +regard Fiji as his country, for Fiji is the whole world as he knows it. +The pride that he once took in his own little tribal cosmos is dying out +now that he no longer has to fight for it, and he concerns himself less +about the natives of the twelve provinces besides his own than an +ordinary Englishman troubles about the Andaman Islanders. So that the +enjoyment of his lands in his own lifetime is not interfered with, the +Fijian does not feel called upon to avert the total extinction of his +race by any measures that demand from him the slightest exertion. + +[Pageheader: WEAKNESS OF THE MATERNAL INSTINCT] + +The want of the maternal instinct in the Fijian women is no new quality, +but the law of custom took it into account and provided against it. The +tribes that reared most male children had the most fighting men, and +they alone could hold their own. A tribe of habitually neglectful +parents was wiped out mercilessly, and within the limit of the tribe the +old men and women who had grown-up sons were the last to suffer from +want or insult. These incentives to the care of children may not have +been constantly before the minds of Fijian parents in the old days, but +they moulded the daily life of the community, and gave each member of it +an interest in the welfare of his fellows. Under the _Pax Britannica_ a +tribe has no longer any interest in being numerous except the fear of +losing possession of its communal land, and this fear is tempered by the +knowledge that if the land is leased to planters the rent money will go +further among few than among many. Parents no longer look to their +children to support them in old age. The law protects them from +aggression, and they have none of the fear, which besets members of +civilized communities, of destitution in their declining years. + +Instances of the absence of the maternal instinct in Fijian mothers +might be multiplied. They love their children in their own casual way; +so long as they are not called upon to make the slightest self-sacrifice +for them they are foolishly indulgent to them. One cannot spend a single +night in a native village without realizing how immeasurably inferior +the Fijians are in this respect to Indian coolies or even to the Line +Islanders. When questioned on this subject an old Line Island midwife +remarked, "We Tokelau love our children; the father loves them quite as +much as the mother." Therein lies the greater part of the difference; +the Fijian mother would look in vain to her husband for any sympathy or +assistance in the upbringing of her children. In the old days when the +safety of the tribe demanded as many boys and as few girls as possible, +female children were often destroyed, but it does not appear that any +protest or resistance was ever made by the mother. The case I am about +to relate is not to be taken as a fair example of Fijian women, because +instances quite as revolting have been recorded among women of civilized +communities. Some years ago, a woman in the Rewa province, noticing that +the dark corners of her house were much infested by mosquitoes, kept her +two-year-old child naked, and forced it to stand in the corner until its +body was covered with the insects, which she then killed by slapping it. +She set this awful mosquito trap so often that the poor child died of +its injuries. It is fair to say that natives speak of this revolting +story with disgust, for the sins of Fijian mothers are sins of omission +rather than of commission. A learned work has lately been written to +prove that the key to evolution is the development of maternal instinct, +which varies enormously in strength, not only in different species of +mammalia, but in individuals. Struggle for existence tends to develop +the instinct, since those who possess it will perpetuate their offspring +to the exclusion of those who do not. + +The Fijians are in a transition stage between two systems of struggle +for existence--the physical struggle of intertribal war, and the moral +struggle of modern competition. It is vain to hope that the maternal +instinct can be artificially implanted in them, but if they are ever +moved to take up the "black man's burden," and set themselves to compete +against the motley population that is pouring into their islands, +natural affection, which is now kept down by the savage's dislike of all +restraint and routine, may be born in them. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SEXUAL MORALITY + + +There is no point upon which primitive races differ more than in their +regard for chastity. Among civilized peoples there has been an ebb and +flow of sexual morality so marked that historians have had recourse to +the explanations of the example of the Court, or the fluctuations of +religious earnestness among the people, assuming that, but for +Christianity and education, mankind would be sunk in bestial licence. +Every traveller knows this to be a fallacy. In Africa, of two races in +the same stage of social development and in constant intercourse with +one another, the one may tolerate a system bordering on promiscuity, and +the other punish a single lapse with death. If it were possible to +generalize in the matter, one would say that the higher the civilization +and the greater the leisure and luxury, the looser is the sexual +morality; and the ruder the people and the harder the struggle against +nature for subsistence, the weaker is its sexual instinct and the more +rigid is its code. But there are more exceptions than will prove this +rule. The Chinese, who were civilized before our history began, are not +as a race addicted to lechery; the Fuegians, who have scarce learned to +clothe themselves against the bitterest climate in the world, do not +even seek privacy for their almost promiscuous intercourse. + +Respect for chastity, in fact, is a question of breed rather than of law +and religion. A full-blooded race may use law to curb its appetites, yet +may break out into periodic rebellion against its own laws; a +cold-blooded people, like the Australian blacks, may tolerate what +appears to us a brutish indulgence, and yet apply the most contemptuous +epithet in their language to the man addicted to sensual pleasure. + +There was nothing in the institutions of the two great races of the +Pacific Islands to account for the remarkable difference in their regard +for chastity. They were reared in the same climate, nourished with the +same food; the same degree of industry sufficed to provide them with all +that they required. The power of the aristocracy among the Polynesians +should have been more favourable to social restrictions than the +republican institutions of the Melanesians. If the influence of a strong +central government tended in either direction, which the fact that +sexual restrictions were the same in both the powerful confederations +and the village communes of Fiji effectively disproves, the Polynesians +should have been the more continent. And yet, with nothing save race +temperament to account for the difference, the Polynesians were as lax +as the Melanesians were strict in their social code. It was the licence +of the Tahitian and Hawaiian women which tempted seamen to desert their +ships, and so led to European settlements in the Polynesian groups while +the Melanesian remained almost unknown. The prostitution that sprang up +in the principal ports attracted whaleships, which sometimes took sides +in native quarrels. The stories of their excesses brought the +missionaries, and the destruction of such customary law as still +survived was greatly accelerated. + +The Melanesians, on the other hand, offered no such temptation to +passing ships. They practised no open-handed hospitality; their fickle +temper kept their visitors perpetually on their guard against attack; +they generally kept their women out of sight, and the women themselves +were not only ill-favoured, but also excessively shy of Europeans. +Though ships have frequented Fiji for nearly a century, and the group +has had a foreign population of several thousands for five-and-twenty +years, professional prostitution among Fijian women is so rare that it +may be said not to exist. Nevertheless, the decay of custom has by no +means left the morality of the Fijians untouched. Let us compare what +it was with what it is. + +[Pageheader: THE OLD CODE PUNISHED INCONTINENCE] + +In heathen times, as I have already said, there was a very limited form +of polygamy. The powerful chiefs had as many wives and concubines as +their wealth and influence would support, but the bulk of the people +were monogamists. The high chiefs were an exception to the general rule +of continence. They did not, it is true, often carry on intrigues with +girls of their own station, but they could send for any woman of humble +birth, particularly in the villages of their _vasus_ or of their +dependants by conquest. In this, as in other things, the chiefs were +above the law, and many of them made a practice of asserting the +privileges of their station. A low-born woman, whether maid or wife, +received the summons as if it had been a divine command, however +distasteful it might be to her. If she hesitated, and the chief +condescended so far as to entreat her, sealing his entreaty by sniffing +at her hand (_rengu_), refusal was impossible. This kiss of entreaty +from a chief is, even now, so much dreaded by unwilling girls that they +will use violence to prevent the nose of their wooer from touching their +hand, for the Fijian kiss, like that of all oriental races, is a sharp +inhalation of breath through the nostrils. + +Considerable licence was tolerated at every high chief's court between +the chief's retainers and the female servants of his wives. These were +women taken in war, or good-looking girls from the vassal villages who +had enjoyed the short-lived honour of concubinage. They did the rough +work of his kitchen, and were lent to distinguished visitors who cared +for that kind of hospitality. But the wives and daughters and favourites +of the chief were inviolable, and the man who dared to meddle with them +played with his life. + +Boys and girls were allowed to associate freely during the day-time, and +to play such games as _veimbili_ and _sosovi_ together, but they were +kept apart during the night. The girls slept with their mother, and the +boys, as soon as they had attained puberty, were compelled to sleep in +the _mbure-ni-sa_, the village club-house, in which the unmarried men, +the village elders and strangers slept. The girls were so carefully +watched that they seem generally to have retained their chastity until +marriage, and the young men, fully occupied with the training proper to +their age, had neither the opportunity nor the inclination for sexual +intrigue. + +In every community sexual laws were of slow growth; they were not the +expression of a high ethical standard, for primitive races see no sin in +sexual intercourse _per se_, but rather of a growing sense of public +convenience; they were not the inspiration of a lawgiver, but the +expression of the tribal conscience. The Seventh Commandment was an +inscription upon tablets of a law that was already observed by the +Hebrews. The Fijians had evolved their law from considerations that were +purely practical. Women were chattels; a virgin was more marketable than +a girl who had had adventures; an illegitimate child was a burden upon +its mother's parents. And besides these primitive considerations, +incontinence was an infringement of the Fijian marriage law which +provided each individual woman with her proper partner, and maintained +the equilibrium of exchange of women with the intermarrying tribe and a +just interchange of marriage gifts. A people who can complain in such +terms as, "They have had four of our women already, and we but two of +theirs, and here they ask us for a fifth," was not likely to tolerate +clandestine love affairs among their daughters. That a high moral +standard was not the cause of their strict law was shown by the fact +that the married women in heathen times practised a laxity of morals +unknown to them before marriage. Adultery was punished by fine if the +parties were of equal rank, and by death if the offender was of lower +rank than the husband and the act could be interpreted into an insult. +But the women went about their amours discreetly, choosing the times +when their husbands were absent on war parties, and reflecting that +"what the eye does not see, the heart does not grieve for." + +[Pageheader: ILL EFFECTS OF EDUCATION] + +With the introduction of Christianity there came a change. Sexual +licence, formerly prevented, was now only forbidden. The missionaries' +endeavours to inculcate "family life" on the English plan produced a +surprising result. The _mbure-ni-sa_ was gradually deserted by all but +the old men; the youths went to sleep in their parents' houses, and, +when once the novel idea of unmarried men sleeping in the same house +with women had been digested, the other houses of the village were open +to them. Association of the sexes and emancipation from parental control +did the rest. There were other changes. Education begat in the young a +contempt for the opinions of their elders. Against the precepts of the +old men, who had formerly controlled every detail of the village life, +there were the opposing teachings of the missionary and the trader, both +startling the young with echoes of a wider world than their own. While +the elders stayed at home, the young made voyages to the European +settlements of Suva and Levuka and tasted vice with the loafers on the +beach; they served three years with the constabulary and the police, or +worked a year on the plantations, revelling in their new-found freedom, +aping the manners of half-castes and white men who talked evil of +dignities, and would pass the highest chiefs, even the governor of the +colony, without doffing their turbans. Their favourite topic of +conversation is their amours, and they have the Gallic indifference to +the good fame of the women who have yielded to them. Illicit relations +extend far beyond the limits of the village. When young men are together +in a strange village some one exclaims, "_Me-nda-kari_" (_lit._, "Let us +rasp," _i.e._ shape to our will by repeated solicitation); and the +inferiors in rank will immediately constitute themselves procurers to +their chief--a _role_ which suggests no taint of infamy in their minds. +Sometimes they work through an old woman, sometimes through a young man +of the place who is dazzled by the notice taken of him by such +distinguished guests. The women are beguiled to the trysting-place, and +yield rather from feebleness of will than from appetite for vice. It is +this frailty of will that makes it difficult to believe in the charges +of rape that are frequently tried in the courts. The Fijian woman seems +rarely to yield willingly to any but her chosen lover. She is, moreover, +so muscular that any real and sustained resistance would prevail against +violence, but whether from her habit of obedience or some psychological +reaction of the sexual instinct, she cannot resist ardent solicitation. +"He took me by the hand," a girl exclaimed to the court, when asked why +she did not cry out, as if the accusation of violence was by no means +weakened. If a woman cannot be brought to a tryst her lover resorts to +_vei-ndaravi_ (_lit._, crawling); that is to say, he will crawl into the +house where she is sleeping with her companions and lie down beside her +without awakening them, and profit by her frailty of will. I have known +of cases where a young chief, personally distasteful to the woman he +desired, has compelled her lover to do the wooing in a dark house, and +has then taken his place without her discovery of the fraud. The lack of +self-control seems to be more marked in low-born than in chief women. +When Andi Kuila, the daughter of King Thakombau, had been reproving two +of her women for levity of conduct, they replied, "It is all very well +for you great ladies to talk, but as for us common women we cannot +control ourselves" (_keimami sa senga ni vosoti keimami rawa_:" _lit._, +"endure ourselves"). This speech did not imply that the sexual impulse +was uncontrollable, for in the Fijian woman the contrary is the case, +but that their power of resistance was weak. + +Apud tribus quasdam quae regiones montanas habitant, dixit princeps +Vaturemba, non fit coitus in modo assueto, saltem a senioribus. Mas, +genibus nixus, crura feminae levat atque trahit donec nates in suis +femoribus jacent, et sic fit coitus. In judicio quum senex virginis +violatione accusatus est, testimonium puellae non fuit perspicuum utrum +animum verum ad deflorationem habuerit accusatus necne. Interro-gavit +ille princeps, qui judex fuit, "Crura tua levavit?" et quum negavit +puella "Ergo, quamquam animum libidinosum habuit, non te deflorare +voluit," dixit judex. + +[Pageheader: INFLUENCE OF CONCUBITANCY] + +There is a mass of evidence to show that in heathen times the majority +of girls were virgin until they married or entered into concubinage, +because the law of custom allowed them no opportunities for secret +amours; whereas, after fifty years of individual freedom, it is +extremely rare for a girl to preserve her virtue to the age of +eighteen. The commonest age for seduction seems to be from fourteen to +fifteen, and grown men are more often to blame than boys of the same +age. On the other hand, many young girls give themselves to their +_ndavola_ (_i.e._ concubitant cousin), who, by Fijian custom, has a +right to them, and their relations do not appear to resent this so far +as to prosecute the man for fornication. The birth-rate being high, +these early excesses cannot affect their prolificness, but it is quite +possible that it may injure the viability of the children born after +marriage. + +Though the girls do not appear to fear suspicion of their chastity, they +do fear the disgrace which follows the discovery of their pregnancy. It +is to avoid such exposures that they resort to means to procure +abortion, though habitual profligacy seems to be so seldom followed by +pregnancy that this fear does not act as a deterrent. Vitienses credunt +nullam feminam ex uno coitu gravidam fieri, ultroque hymenem ruptum +sarciri posse herbis quibusdam maceratis et immissis. Itaque virgines, +quum ad coitum solicitantur, facilius concedunt. Some Fijians also +believe that girls who have been deflowered before puberty retain their +youthful appearance long after the usual period. There is also a +widespread belief that when a woman has been cohabiting with more than +one man before conception the paternity of her child is shared equally +by all her paramours. + +When the morality of unmarried women is compared with that of the +married the position is reversed, for whereas in heathen times married +women were lax, they are now less accessible. This is due, no doubt, to +the state of espionage in which the married woman now lives. Formerly +the husband and his relations only were concerned with her behaviour, +and if they were indifferent, she was free to follow her inclinations; +but since the Missions have branded adultery as a crime, and the law has +made it a criminal offence, every person in the village makes it his or +her concern to bring the offenders to justice. Probably half the acts of +adultery that take place are committed by the wife to avenge herself +upon the husband for his infidelity or unkindness. + +The Fijian is not naturally a hot-blooded or lascivious race, in spite +of all that I have said. Its growing profligacy has been called in to +fill the place of the forms of excitement that formerly contented it. +Yet in certain directions the sexual appetite is easily aroused. The act +of _tokalulu_ (spying upon women bathing) is reprobated by the tribal +conscience, but is nevertheless exceedingly common among the young men, +and the women exhibit their contempt for it in a remarkable manner. +Slightly clad as they are, Fijian women are as particular about absolute +nudity as their European sisters. A Mbau girl of rank who was bathing in +the river discovered a young mountaineer spying upon her from behind a +clump of reeds. Instead of concealing herself, as her instinct prompted +her, she allowed him to see that he was observed, and came out of the +water before him _in puris naturalibus_. Having passed him proudly by, +she dressed herself leisurely and returned home to announce what she had +done. The man never held up his head again in that village, for he +caught the meaning of the action--that he was of no more account to her +than a pig who had strayed down to the bathing-place. To the Fijian mind +no explanation was necessary. + +Dancing in the _meke_ appears to be a strong stimulus to passion in the +women. At a big _meke_ on the Ra coast one young man surpassed all his +fellows in the war-dance, and as the torchlight gleamed on his oily +limbs a young woman, unable to contain herself, rushed into the middle +of the dancing ground, and clutching him, took his loin-cloth in her +teeth. This terrible breach of decorum became the gossip of the +district, and when she came to her senses she would have taken her own +life for shame if her friends had not prevented her. + +I must touch lightly on certain horrible forms of sexual exaltation +provoked by carnage. The corpses destined for the oven were received by +the women with indecent songs and dances which were only ceremonial in +part. At the sack of a fortress the corpses of young girls were subject +to outrage, vagina cadaveris fructu bananae cocto immisso calefacta. + +[Pageheader: FIJIANS ARE NEUROTIC] + +Some forms of sexual perversion exist, but are not common. They are held +to be contemptible rather than criminal and horrible. Offences against +nature seem to be confined to the inland tribes of Western Vitilevu, who +have been the least affected by intercourse with Europeans, and they +have there, no doubt, been occasionally practised from very remote +times, though, curiously enough, they are there called "white man's +doings" (_valavala vavalangi_). In one lamentable case of a European +addicted to such vice, Thakombau ordered him to leave the group, and he +was afterwards killed in the New Hebrides. + +The nervous system of the Fijian is curiously contradictory, and it is +at least probable that the premature excitement of the sexual instinct +in the women has an injurious effect upon their fecundity. In sexual +matters they are certainly neurotic. I have met with several cases of +what is called _ndongai_, which corresponds with what is called "broken +heart" in Europeans. Two young people who have come together once or +twice, and who have been suddenly separated, sicken and pine away, and +unless their intrigue can be resumed, they do not recover. It is not +regarded as a psychological or interesting malady, as love-sickness is +with us, but as a physical ailment for which but one remedy is known. + +The causes of the growing laxity of morals lie too deep for the efforts +of the Wesleyan missionaries to check it. They have prohibited tattooing +(_veinkia_), hair cutting and hair-dressing by persons of the opposite +sex, and the old swimming games. But, on the other hand, certain church +festivals have innocently tended in the opposite direction. All the +older natives are agreed in saying that the dances of school-children +(_meke ni kilovolt_), which bring together the young people of several +villages, are made the occasion for dissoluteness as soon as the native +teachers' backs are turned. The early missionaries failed to see that in +breaking down the _mbure_ system, and inculcating family life on the +English plan, they were leaving the native to follow his own +inclinations. Intertribal peace and the possession of boats to make +travel easy did the rest. Nevertheless, the Fijians as a race practise +less sexual licence than many races which are not decreasing, and if it +were not for the frequent attempts to procure abortion on the part of +unmarried girls in order to conceal their shame, it would have but +little influence upon the vital statistics of the race. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +EPIDEMIC DISEASES + + +While the great island groups of Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, New Zealand, +Tonga, and the Solomons had been known to Europe for many years--some of +them for nearly two centuries--the Fijians lived their lives unconscious +that there was another world beyond the reefs that encircled their +islands. They planted food sufficient for their needs, they obeyed the +rigid code of laws with which custom had bound them, they intermarried +with their friends and fought their enemies, but without the carnage +that followed the introduction of fire-arms. It is still unknown who was +the first European to enter the group.[84] + +For the evils innocently produced by the first visitors we must turn to +native traditions, those irresponsible records that can lay claim to +historical value in respect of their irresponsibility, recording what +the historian would have forgotten, and omitting nearly everything to +which written histories attach value. + +The Rev John Hunt,[85] writing in 1843, says:-- + + "The first white people with whom the Fijians had any intercourse + were four or five shipwrecked mariners, one or two of whom were + dressed something like ministers of religion: probably the master + and a passenger. The vessel was wrecked on a reef near Oneata + called Mbukatatanoa, and the party referred to were either killed + at Oneata or Lakemba, and, I fear, eaten also. Shortly after their + death a dreadful distemper scourged the natives. It appears, from + the description given of it, to have been a very acute dysentery, + or a form of cholera. Its progress through the group was fearfully + rapid and destructive; in many places it was with the greatest + difficulty that persons could be found to bury the dead. Those who + were seized died in the most excruciating agonies." + +The native version, given nearly fifty years later, one was that +morning after a great gale from the eastward the men of Oneata, looking +towards the islet Loa on the great reef Mbukatatanoa, saw red streamers +waving in the wind; strange beings, too, moved about among them. It +chanced that some men of the Levuka tribe in Lakemba, off-shoots from +distant Mbau, holding special privileges as ambassadors, who linked the +eastern and the western islands, were visitors in Oneata. Two of these, +bolder than the natives of the place, launched a light canoe and paddled +near to Loa. The report they brought back ran, "Though they resemble +men, yet must they be spirits, for their ears are bound about with +scarlet and they chew burning sticks." After anxious discussion the +double canoe _Tai-walata_ was launched, and when they drew near Loa the +spirits beckoned to them, and persuaded them to draw near and carry them +to the main island. One of these they proved to be mortal as themselves +for he was buried on Loa, being dead of violence, exposure, or disease. +Here the tradition becomes confused. Muskets and ammunition were taken +from the wrecked ship, but the men of Oneata knew nothing of their uses, +else perhaps the native history of Fiji had been different. The powder +they kept to be used as a pigment for their faces, and the ramrods to be +ornaments for the hair. One warrior, relates the tradition, smeared the +wet pigment over hair and all, and when it would not dry, but lay cold +and heavy on the scalp, he stooped his head to the fire to dry the +matted locks. There was a sudden flash, very bright and hot, and a +tongue of flame leaped from the head and licked the wall, and the +warrior sprang into the square with a head more naked than when he was +born. + +[Pageheader: A TERRIBLE EPIDEMIC] + +The red-capped sailors had scarce landed when a pestilence broke out +among the people. Here is a literal translation of the poem that +describes it:-- + + The great sickness sits aloft, + Their voices sound hoarsely, + They fall and lie helpless and pitiable, + Our god Ndengei is put to shame, + Our own sicknesses have been thrust aside, + The strangling-cord is a noble thing,[86] + They fall prone; they fall with the sap still in them. + + * * * * * + + A lethargy has seized upon the chiefs, + How terrible is the sickness! + We do not live, we do not die, + Our bodies ache; our heads ache, + Many die, a few live on, + The strangling-cord brings death to many, + The _malo_ round their bellies rots away, + Our women groan in their despair, + The _liku_ knotted round them they do not loose, + Hark to the creak of the strangling-cords, + The spirits flow away like running water, _ra tau e_. + +The strangers never left Oneata alive. One tradition ascribes their +death to the pestilence, another to the vengeance of the men of Levuka, +and as the natives believed them to have brought the scourge, we may +accept the more tragic of the two. At any rate, though various strange +plunder from the wreck was carried westward to Mbau, there is no record +of any foreigner accompanying them. + +It is not certain that this was the only visitation of the epidemic +called _lila_. The traditions are so confused, and the versions so +different in detail, that there is some reason to believe either that +there were two visitations or that infection travelled so slowly that +the disease only reached the western portion of the group some years +after it had decimated the islands to the eastward. The traditional +poetry of every district records the disease, and there are several data +that enable us to fix the visitation within the limits of a few years. + +Most accounts refer to the appearance of a large comet with three tails, +the centre tail coloured red and the outer white, that it rose just +before dawn and was visible for thirty-seven nights in succession. Here +is the native account of it:-- + + Sleeping in the night I suddenly awake, + The voice of the pestilence is borne to me, uetau, + I go out and wander abroad, _uetau_, + It is near the breaking of the dawn, _uetau_, + Behold a forked star, _uetau_, + We whistle with astonishment as we gaze at it, _uetau_, + What can it portend? _uetau_, + Does it presage the doom of the chiefs? _e e_. + +Now, as I have already said, the great chief of Mbau, Mbanuve, died of +the _lila_, and was thereafter known as Mbale-i-vavalangi--the victim of +the foreign disease. When the comet of 1882 appeared, the old men +declared that it presaged the death of Thakombau, for that a larger +comet had foretold the death of King Mbanuve, and a smaller one the +destruction of Suva in 1843. We know that the successor of Mbanuve, +Na-uli-vou, or Ra Mate-ni-kutu, was reigning in 1809, when Charles +Savage, the Swede, arrived in the group. The only comet recorded about +the beginning of the century--Donati's, which appeared in 1811, was too +late for Mbanuve's death--was the comet of 1803, and this date +corresponds exactly with the other traditions we have of Na-uli-vou's +reign, which we know lasted until 1829. + +It is perhaps worth noting that on the day of the installation of +Na-uli-vou, while the sickness was still raging, there was a total +eclipse of the sun. "The birds went to roost at high noon, thinking from +the darkness that night had fallen." In the same year, says the +tradition, there was a hailstorm that broke down the yam-vines, followed +by a great hurricane which flooded the valley of the Rewa, swept +hundreds of the sick out to sea, and purged the land of the pestilence. +I have already given reasons for identifying this eclipse with that of +February 1803. There seems to be evidence enough for the belief that a +great epidemic was introduced by a vessel wrecked on the Argo +(Mbukatatanoa) reef in 1802-3. + +And now for the symptoms. Mbanuve, it seems clear, died of acute +dysentery, but tradition also speaks of a lingering disease with +headache, intense thirst, loss of appetite, stuffiness of the nose, and +oppression of the chest. The second visitation, if indeed the two were +not raging together, seems to have been a very acute form of dysentery. + +[Pageheader: CONTACT PRODUCES EPIDEMICS] + +"Before white men came," says the oldest of the natives, "no one died of +acute diseases; the people who died were emaciated by lingering +infirmities. Coughs came with white men; so did dysentery, for Ratu +Mbanuve died of a foreign disease resembling dysentery soon after it was +brought here. This we have always heard from our elders." In attributing +the diminution of their race to infectious diseases introduced by +foreign ships, the Fijians do not limit their meaning to such illnesses +as measles, whooping-cough, or other zymotic epidemics, but they include +diseases now endemic among them, such as dysentery and influenza--not a +specific influenza which has overspread the world since 1889, but the +annual recurrent febrile catarrh or severe cold in the head and chest +which is now one of the commonest ailments in the country, and which +often terminates fatally in the case of the aged, infants, and those +already affected by pulmonary disease. + +Fijians are not the only islanders who assert that dysentery and +influenza have been introduced among them by foreigners. The late Dr. +Turner[87] of Samoa says that this is the general belief of the natives +of Tanna and most other Pacific islands. Writing of Tanna in the New +Hebrides fifty years ago, he says:-- + + "Coughs, influenza, dysentery, and some skin diseases, the Tannese + attribute to their intercourse with white men, and call them + 'foreign things.' When a person is said to be ill, the next + question is, 'What is the matter? Is it Nahac (witchcraft), or a + foreign thing?' The opinion there is universal that they have had + tenfold more diseases and death since they had intercourse with + ships than they had before. We thought at first that it was + prejudice and fault-finding, but the reply of the more honest and + thoughtful of the natives invariably was, 'It is quite true; + formerly here people never died until they were old, but now-a-days + there is no end of this influenza, coughing, and death.'" + +Turner himself, with every member of his Mission, was obliged to flee +from Tanna because an epidemic of dysentery was ascribed to his +presence. A worse fate befell the missionary family of Samoans living on +the neighbouring island of Futuna for the same reason; others were +killed at the Isle of Pines and at Niue and the Mission teachers on +Aneiteum were threatened with death. + +On May 20, 1861, the Rev. G. N. Gordon and his wife were murdered by +the natives of Eromanga in consequence of an outbreak of measles which +had been introduced by a trading vessel. + +Referring to Samoa, Dr. Turner writes that:-- + + "Influenza is a new disease to the natives. They say that the first + attack of it ever known in Samoa was during the Aana War in 1830, + just as the missionaries Williams and Barth with Tahitian teachers + first reached their shores. The natives at once traced the disease + to the foreigners and the new religion; the same opinion spread + through these seas, and especially among the islands of the New + Hebrides, has proved a serious hindrance to the labours of + missionaries and native teachers. Ever since, there have been + returns of the disease almost annually ... in many cases it is + fatal to old people and those who have been previously weakened by + pulmonary diseases." + +At Niue, the natives, whose demeanour earned for them from Cook the +designation of Savage Islanders, persistently repelled strangers who +attempted to land among them. Captain Cook[88] says: "The endeavours we +used to bring them to a parley were to no purpose; for they came with +the ferocity of wild boars and threw their darts." + +Dr. Turner, who visited Niue in 1848 and again in 1859, says:-- + + "Natives of other islands who drifted there in distress, whether + from Tonga, Samoa, or elsewhere, were invariably killed. Any of + their own people who went away in a ship and came back were killed; + and all this was occasioned by a dread of disease. For years after + they began to venture out to our ships, they would not immediately + use anything obtained, but hung it up in the bush in quarantine for + weeks." + +He had great difficulty in landing a teacher. A native of Niue, whom he +had found and trained in Samoa, could not be left, as armed crowds +rushed upon him to kill him. The natives tried to send back his canoe +and sea-chest to the Mission ship, saying that the foreign wood would +cause disease among them. John Williams, a missionary, during his +memorable voyage in 1830, recruited two Niue lads and subsequently +brought them back to their island; but influenza breaking out a short +time after their return the two men were accused of bringing it from +Tahiti: one of them was killed, together with his father, and the other +escaped on board a whaler with a man who returned to the island in 1848. + +[Pageheader: MURDEROUS QUARANTINE] + +Dr. Turner states that in 1846 an epidemic broke out in the island of +Lifu in the Loyalty Group. Towards the end of 1846, the teachers who had +just arrived were accused of having brought it. "Kill them," said their +enemies, "and there will be an end to the sickness." + +In New Caledonia, as elsewhere, the natives believed white men to be +spirits of the dead and to bring sickness; and they gave this as a +reason for killing them. + +The Tahitians accused the Spaniards of introducing a disease like +influenza during the visit of a Peruvian ship in 1774-5. In Tonga there +is a tradition of a destructive epidemic breaking out shortly after +Cook's first visit in 1773. The only symptom now recorded was a severe +headache resulting in death after a few days' illness, and the native +name for the disease, _ngangau_, is the word used for headache. It does +not appear, however, that the Tongans associated this visitation with +the arrival of Captain Cook's ships. + +The crew of the brig _Chatham_, wrecked on Penrhyn Island in 1853, were +the first Europeans to land on the island. Some three months after their +arrival an epidemic, accompanied by high fever and intense headache and +generally ending fatally, broke out among the natives. Mr. Roser, one of +the survivors, has assured me that none of the crew were suffering from +the disease when they arrived, but that some of them caught it in a +milder form from the natives afterwards. Besides this fever an epidemic +of sores had previously broken out among the natives shortly after the +wreck, but this the Europeans attributed to the unaccustomed animal food +which they had obtained from the ship. Speeches were made against the +visitors. "Why had we come to their land? They had never any sickness +like this before we came, and if we remained we should be bringing them +other complaints to carry them off. Better for us to leave. They would +furnish us with canoes and we must return to our own land."[89] + +The islanders of the Kau Atolls, named on the charts the Mortlock or +Marqueen Group (lat. 4 deg. 45'S., long. 156 deg.30'E.), when the epidemic was +prevalent on shore disinfected, or disenchanted, the crew of the +barquentine _Lord of the Isles_ while parleying with them at sea. One +man in each canoe had a handful of ashes done up in leaves, which he +scattered in the air when closing the interview.[90] + +In October 1888, when the present writer was with the Administrator of +British New Guinea in his exploration of Normanby Island in the +D'Entrecasteaux Group, the natives in one of the bays would not consent +to hold intercourse with the party until the old men had chewed a +scented bark and spat it over each of the visitors and his own +following. + +The people of the island of St. Kilda charge visitors from Scotland with +bringing disease, and call their ailment the "stranger's cold" or "boat +cough." + +Instances might be multiplied of the intercourse between different races +resulting in mysterious epidemic disease from which neither were +suffering before the meeting. The Pacific Islanders, believing that all +disease is due to the malevolence of an enemy, often resorted to the one +effective method of quarantine, and murdered their visitors; and it is +probably to this instinct of self-preservation that many of the hostile +receptions of visitors, for which they have been from time to time +severely punished, was due. In the matter of skin diseases we know as a +fact that European ships introduced _tinea desquamans_ into Fiji from +the Tokalau Islands in the persons of native passengers, and that yaws +was carried to these islands from Fiji and Samoa about the year 1864, +within the recollection of Europeans still living there. + +[Pageheader: DYSENTERY PROVED CONTAGIOUS] + +The Fijians recognize the infectious nature of some diseases, though +they have hardly learned as yet to separate the idea of physical +contagion from that of supernatural agency--the _mana_, or occult +influence of the disease. If it be true that dysentery, colds and coughs +were unknown until foreign ships visited the islands, their opinion that +these diseases were imported by Europeans would have a strong +probability to support it. Modern bacteriological research tends to show +that almost every acute disease results from infection. This law may +apply to fluxes and catarrhs. Dysentery is well known to be capable of +spreading by contagion, varying, of course, with the conditions of the +place and people, but still sufficiently catching to be sometimes a +distinct epidemic traceable to contagion derived from persons or +excreta. "Dysentery," says Gliezgra[91] "is an inflammatory infection of +the large intestine, due to specific virus. The exact nature of the +virus is unknown, but it is probably bacterial. The infection is +epidemic, endemic, or sporadic in its occurrence." In quite recent times +a bacterium of dysentery has actually been isolated, and we have +evidence enough both in Fiji and in Futuna (New Hebrides), where in +February, 1893, the _Empreza_, a labour ship from Queensland, landed a +child suffering from dysentery, and caused the death of nearly a third +of the population by dysentery during the following six months,[92] to +show that dysentery is highly contagious. + +To those who may contend that tropical dysentery is a malarial disease, +and therefore unlikely to be conveyed across the wide stretch of ocean +which ships must traverse to reach these islands, the case of Mauritius +may be cited. Malarial fever was there unknown until the year 1867, when +an epidemic of that nature ravaged the island to such an extent that the +price of quinine rose from 21s. to L40 per ounce. Malarial fever has +remained endemic there ever since. + +Besides the great epidemics of dysentery and _lila_ there is a tradition +of a less serious disease about the year 1820, called by the natives +_vundi-thoro_, from the fancied resemblance between the skin of the +patient and a scalded banana. This visitation does not appear to have +caused many deaths. There have been several smaller epidemics in various +parts of the group since 1820, but none of these approached in +importance the terrible visitation of measles in 1875.[93] The measles +were introduced by H.M.S. _Dido_ in the persons of Rata Timothe, the +Vunivalu's son, and his servant returning from Sydney, and was +communicated to the members of a great native meeting that had assembled +in Lavuka to welcome the _Dido_. They scattered to their own homes with +the seeds of the disease upon them and spread it broadcast through the +country. The people at that time numbered about 150,000, and it is +recorded, probably with fair exactitude, that 40,000 persons died from +measles, and the famine and dysentery that followed, within the space of +four months. The great mortality was due partly to the suddenness with +which the infection spread. Unprotected by any previous attack, every +person was susceptible to infection; whole communities were stricken +down at the same time, there was no one left to procure food and water, +to attend to the necessities of the sick, or even in many cases to bury +the dead. Many, therefore, died of starvation and neglect, of disregard +of the simplest nursing precautions, of apathy and despair. They became +what is so well expressed by their own word "_tankaya_" overwhelmed, +dismayed, cowed--incapable of any effort to save even their own lives. +So deep an impression did the measles leave upon the race that it has +become their principal date mark; whether it left behind it physical +effects in lowering the stamina of the survivors is a matter for +conjecture. + +Since the measles the principal foreign epidemics to which the natives +have been exposed are whooping-cough in 1884, 1890, 1891; dengue, 1885; +cerebro-spinal meningitis, 1885; influenza, 1891-2. + +Of these whooping-cough has proved the most fatal, being now permanently +domiciled in the colony. It appeared in Samoa in 1849, but eventually +died out there.[94] It is worth recording that in 1893 the measles +reached Samoa and Tonga from New Zealand, and destroyed nearly +one-twentieth of the Tongan population; but although the disease was +raging in every port from which steamers sailed for Fiji, the Government +succeeded in preventing it from being communicated to those on shore by +a rigid system of quarantine. + +[Pageheader: BLIGHTING INFLUENCE OF FOREIGNERS] + +Many Fijians believe that the white race always brings death to coloured +people, saying that they have heard it from Europeans. When the +Commission on the native decrease was sitting in August, 1893, I +received from a native of Thithia the following letter, accompanied by a +rude sketch of a Fijian grasping a Bible and retreating before a +European from whose body were drawn a series of radiations to indicate +his pernicious influence. + + _Translation._ + + "The decrease of the natives. + + "I wish, sir, to make a few remarks. There has been much + consideration and discussion on this matter. There appears to me to + be only one reason for the decrease of the natives: it is the white + chiefs living among us. It is this:-- + + "(1) They blight us--they are blighting us, the natives, and we are + withering away. It is not possible for a chief to live with his + inferiors, to wear the same clothes, to use the same mat or the + same pillow. In a few days the neck or the belly of the low-born + man will swell up and he will die; his chief has blighted him. It + is so with the white chiefs and us the natives. If we live near + them for long, we, the natives, will be completely swept away. + + "(2) They are great and we are insignificant. A plant cannot grow + up under the great Ivi tree, for the great Ivi overshadows it, and + the grass or plant beneath withers away. It is thus with the chiefs + from the great lands who live among us. This is the reason why we + Fijians are decreasing. 'Let us move gently: we stand in the glare + of the light' (Fijian proverb): let us practice religion." + + "Josefa Sokovangone." + +Such a belief must naturally be accompanied by bitter feelings, and for +Europeans to foster this belief is cruel, and not devoid of danger for +the future. There is proof enough that the first contact of voyagers +with indigenous people or peoples who have been isolated for generations +is fraught with danger for the latter, and it is natural enough that +even without such promptings the Fijians should blame the Europeans of +the present day for the harm that has resulted from the introduction of +foreign epidemics; but to remind them of this, as some Europeans are +fond of doing, is not only to afford them an excuse for neglecting all +efforts of sanitary reform, but to give them justification for feeling a +resentment that may some day take the form of reprisals. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 84: See Chapter II.] + +[Footnote 85: Memoir of Rev. William Cross, missionary to the Fiji +Islands, by Rev. John Hunt. London.] + +[Footnote 86: An allusion to the custom of strangling the sick.] + +[Footnote 87: _Nineteen Years in Polynesia_, by Rev. George Turner. +London, 1861.] + +[Footnote 88: _A Voyage towards the South Pole and round the World_, by +James Cook, Book iii, chapter i. London, 1779.] + +[Footnote 89: _Wild Life in the Pacific Islands_, by H. E. Lamont.] + +[Footnote 90: Official Journal of Government Agent on _Lord of the +Isles_, 1882.] + +[Footnote 91: _Text-book of Pathological Anatomy and Pathogenesis_ +(English edition). London, 1885.] + +[Footnote 92: Letter from Dr. William Gunn, Presbyterian missionary at +Futuna, dated September 14, 1893.] + +[Footnote 93: Parliamentary Paper C. 634, and _Transactions of the +Epidemiological Society of London_, N.S., Vol. iii, 1884.] + +[Footnote 94: _Nineteen Years in Polynesia._] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LEPROSY (_Vukavuka_ or _Sakuka_)[95] + + +No less than one per cent. of the native population of Fiji are lepers, +and, if native tradition is to be believed, the decay of customary law +has not affected the people in this respect either for better or for +worse. All the old men are familiar with the disease; they can diagnose +it with surprising accuracy; and they generally concur in stating that +it has neither spread nor decreased since heathen times. + +The history of leprosy in the Pacific is remarkable. The Maoris have had +the disease ever since their arrival in New Zealand--certainly not less +than four centuries ago;[96] with the Fijians it is ancient enough to +have taken its place in their mythology. In Hawaii, on the other hand, +it seems to have been unknown before 1848, in New Caledonia before 1865, +and in the Loyalty Group before 1882.[97] It is impossible to speak with +certainty about the other groups, because the early voyagers did not +stay long enough to make accurate observations, and were prone to +mistake the disfigurements of scrofula and syphilis for the symptoms of +leprosy; the naval surgeons of the last century were generally men of +inferior attainments; and the missionaries, traders, and runaway sailors +who had the opportunity for leaving valuable information regarding +native diseases did not possess the necessary medical knowledge. +Moerenhout, who wrote in 1837, is the first to make undeniable reference +to it. In enumerating the diseases of the Society Islanders, he gives +an excellent description of the symptoms of leprosy under the native +name _Hobi_, which is identical with _Supe_[98] (H and B being +interchangeable with S and P), the Samoan term for leprosy, without a +suspicion of the real nature of the disease he was describing. It may, +therefore, be assumed that leprosy was endemic in Tahiti and the +adjacent islands long before the arrival of Europeans. Native tradition +seems to indicate that it was so in Tonga, and its history in islands +into which it has been recently introduced suggests that it was not a +recent arrival in any of the Polynesian groups except Hawaii. For, +whereas in Tahiti, New Zealand and Fiji it is no commoner now than it +was a century ago, in Hawaii it has increased so rapidly that in forty +years after its introduction it had infected one in every thirty of the +native population; in New Caledonia in twenty years it had infected +4000; and in the Loyalty Islands six years of the disease in Mare alone +had produced seventy lepers. If the other Polynesian groups had been +virgin soil the crop of lepers should have been no less fruitful. + +Among the Maoris, with whom it was formerly common, it has now died out. +Their traditions relate that among the immigrants who arrived from +Hawaiki in the canoe _Tuwhenua_ there was a leper who infected all his +companions. They landed at Te Waka Tuwhenua (Cape Rodney), a little to +the south of Whangarei, and scattered among the immigrants of the Tainui +and Ngapuhi parties. Leprosy is still called Tuwhenua in the Whangarei +district, but whether the disease was called after the canoe, or the +canoe after the disease, it is difficult now to determine. In other +districts it is called Puhipuhi and Ngerengere. + +[Pageheader: LEPROSY IN ANCIENT TIMES] + +The fact that leprosy was endemic among some branches of the +Malayo-Polynesian stock would be another argument, if any other were +needed, for tracing it to a Western rather than an American origin, for +we may infer from the silence of the Spanish historians, that leprosy +was unknown among the aborigines of the American continent. The +primitive home of the disease was Asia and North Africa, and there is +negative evidence that it was introduced into Europe somewhere between +400 and 345 b.c., in the fact that Hippocrates barely mentions the +subject, and that Aristotle is the first to give an unequivocal +description of the disease. On the other hand, the frequent allusions in +the oldest Chinese, Syrian and Egyptian writings to a disease bearing +all the marked characteristics of leprosy, seem to show that it was as +common in the East in times of remote antiquity as it is at the present +day. The Roman conquests carried it far and wide through Europe, until +it became so terrible a scourge that nearly all the European states of +the Middle Ages were driven to enact stringent laws for the segregation +of lepers, which so far fulfilled their object that after the fourteenth +century, when leprosy had touched its culminating point, it began to +decline. The last British leper died in Shetland in 1798, and, though +indigenous lepers are still occasionally met with in most of the +countries of Southern Europe, the disease is extinct in all the northern +states except Norway, where there were still 11,000 known lepers in +1890. + +Though there are lepers in Iceland, in the Aleutian peninsula and in +Kamschkatka, leprosy may be said to be a disease of tropical and +subtropical countries. With the exception of a few insignificant +islands, no country in the tropic zone seems to be entirely free from +it. In India--the only large country in which accurate statistics have +been taken--the proportion of lepers to the total population is +estimated at 5 to 10,000, though errors of diagnosis and concealment +have doubtless combined to make the estimate merely approximate. In +China, judging from the numbers observed in the southern treaty ports, +the proportion is probably higher, but both fall far short of the Fijian +figure of one per cent., and the Hawaiian of one in thirty. + +Nothing was known of the specific cause of leprosy until 1874, when +Armauer Hansen isolated the _Bacillus leprae_, a discovery which has +cleared the way for formulating precise ideas on the subjects of +heredity and contagion, and the proper treatment of the leper as a +public danger. + +It is, of course, impossible for any organism, however small, to create +itself _de novo_. It must come from some pre-existing germ whose habitat +may be earth, air, water, beast or man, and since leprosy has never been +found in any animal except man, nor in any virgin country to which a +human leper has not had access, and since the arrival of a leper in such +a country is followed by an outbreak of leprosy among those who have +associated with him, there is little room for doubt that man acquires +the germ of the _Bacillus leprae_ from man, and not from other animals, +nor from local or climatic conditions. The most ancient, and, as it now +turns out, the most correct belief, was that leprosy is contagious; the +leper was unclean. Driven out from the society of men, he was compelled +under heavy penalties to warn wayfarers of his approach by voice or +bell. In comparatively recent times the belief arose that leprosy was +hereditary, and even that it could be acquired from the soil of certain +countries. The latter belief has been disproved absolutely by the +behaviour of leprosy when introduced into virgin countries. The +hereditary theory is also on the wane, although the Indian Commission on +leprosy in the early nineties did not absolutely disprove it. If leprosy +be hereditary, how explain the striking fact brought out by Hansen, the +discoverer of the bacillus, that of the numerous offspring of 160 +Norwegian lepers who emigrated to America none have developed the +disease, or again the equally well-attested fact that children sometimes +become lepers first, and their parents afterwards. Another strong +argument against heredity is to be found in the fact that lepers become +sterile at an early stage of the disease; unless, therefore, leprosy +finds recruits in some other way than by heredity, the disease would +inevitably die out in one or at the most in two generations. Moreover, +leprosy is often developed quite late in life, and if the germ had been +received into the system at birth, one would have to suppose that it had +remained latent for thirty, forty, or even seventy years, a circumstance +without parallel in pathology. In one respect, however, leprosy, like +tubercle, is hereditary; that is to say, it often shows a preference for +the members of a single family, whose constitutions have some +predisposing family characteristic, and who are living together, +breathing the same air, and eating the same food. + +[Pageheader: LEPROSY NOT HEREDITARY] + +The opinion of students of the disease is now almost universal--that +leprosy is communicated by contagion, and by contagion alone, though it +has not yet been determined how the contagion is communicated. Very few +of the nurses and doctors in leper asylums acquire the disease, and, +except in one doubtful instance, every attempt to inoculate man and the +lower animals with the _Bacillus leprae_ has failed. It may be that the +leper-germ is sterile except in certain phases of the disease, and that +only in favourable conditions in the recipient's health, combined with +intimate contact with the leper, can the disease take hold. + +Modern opinion, therefore, holds that leprosy is contagious, and, in a +sense, hereditary also in so far as it tends to cling about certain +families whose members show a constitutional readiness to receive it. I +have dwelt upon this opinion at some length in order to show that this +is precisely the view which the Fijians themselves take of the disease. +A man is said to come of a _kawa ni vukavuka_ (leprosy-stock), which +implies no disgrace except among the highest families, and if he +develops the disease his misfortune is regarded as one of the family +traits as inevitable as the shape of his nose. At the same time he is +believed to have the power of infecting others (not necessarily by +actual contagion), and he was generally made to live alone or with other +lepers, at a distance from the village. In Tonga the contagious nature +of leprosy was fully recognized, and the lepers were isolated on +separate islets or uninhabited parts of the larger islands. It is there +a grave breach of good manners to apply the word leprosy (_kilia_) to +any one in polite society, and many ingenious shifts are resorted to in +order to express the meaning without using the word. In the session of +the native parliament of 1891, when a member of the upper house was +discovered to be suffering from the disease, and a resolution to assign +an island to him as asylum was passed, I covered myself with shame by +unwittingly pronouncing the forbidden word after other speakers had been +skirmishing round it for fully half-an-hour after this fashion--"Havea's +friends were pining for him at home, and therefore it was but right that +he should be excused further attendance at the house; nay, more, to the +westward lay many delightful little islands which Havea was longing to +visit, where his every wish would be gratified, and where--well--the +prevailing wind would blow pleasantly from them to him, and he would be +supremely happy." + +The Fijians are no exception to other primitive races in believing that +neither death nor disease can overtake a man naturally. Their first +reflection on seeing the condition of the patient is, "An enemy hath +done this!" their second, that the enemy must be discovered and +punished, and his malignity neutralized by counterspells. It is not a +logical theory of infection, because in their simple creed it is +generally not necessary that the infecting agent should himself be +suffering from the disease. But in the case of leprosy, as in their laws +for the sexual abstinence of parents and for securing the sanitation of +villages, they arrive at right conclusions from wrong premises. Leprosy, +they argue, is inherent in certain families, therefore the evil spirit +of leprosy, which is their equivalent for contagion, is a sort of family +retainer, ever obsequious to the commands of his hereditary masters. +And, since a living spirit must live somewhere, certain stones in +various parts of the country are pointed out as his shrines, and are +hedged about with a tabu that is never in danger of infraction, inasmuch +as to touch them is to meet Gehazi's fate. The existence of these stones +was discovered by Dr. Bolton Glanvill Corney, C.M.G., the Chief Medical +Officer of Fiji, who is not only the principal authority on all medical +questions in the Pacific Islands, but has a very accurate knowledge of +the Fijian language and character. He has visited and described the +stones himself, and has elicited from their owners on the spot such +traditions concerning them as they still remembered or cared to tell. + +[Pageheader: STONES THAT IMPART LEPROSY] + +Until within the last few years there were three leper stones on the +river island of Tonga near the mouth of the Rewa river. One, called +Katalewe, was vested in a family called Navokai, now living at Navasa +village, but formerly of Nankavoka (the Skull), a deserted entrenchment +that lies back from the river-bank behind the present site of Mbulu +village. Two miles distant is a second stone, called Toralangi, who is +said to be still _in situ_, though Dr. Corney did not actually see him. +The third stone, known as Ratu, was missing from his former position, +the cleft between two buttresses of a _ndawa_ tree, and, although to the +consternation of the native bystanders Dr. Corney was bold enough to dig +up the ground in the hope of unearthing him, he was not to be found. +This is the less to be regretted since Ratu was a peculiarly active +little stone. When the Notho warriors were storming Nankavoka village, +one of them unwittingly dropped his _masi_, which lighted upon Ratu. It +is said that he became a leper in consequence. The leper woman Mereani, +wife of the chief of Navasa, who had her plantation within a few yards +of Ratu, is said to have acquired the disease by working in his +neighbourhood. + +Katalewe was described to Dr. Corney as having been (for he exists no +more) "about the size of a large orange or small shaddock, very round +and smooth, ash-coloured, homogeneous in substance, and unlike any other +stones in the neighbourhood," which, being soft alluvium deposited on +old mangrove swamps, is singularly free from stones. So potent was he +that the creeping stems of plants withered or turned aside as soon as +they came within the radius of his poison, and a patch of ground +surrounding him, about the size of a sponge-bath, was always destitute +of vegetation. None knew whence he came. As long as tradition ran he had +been vested in the Navokai family, now extinct but for Karolaini, a +married woman about forty years of age, living at Lukia. This woman told +Dr. Corney that her father, Totokea, long since dead, was a leper, and +that she developed the disease in childhood. She had lost all the +phalanges of three of the toes of her left foot, and had besides an +extensive patch of anaesthetic skin on the right thigh. A "wise woman" of +Bureitu had treated her for leprosy, and she had observed tabus on and +off for some years. By the time she was old enough to marry the disease +had ceased to make any advance; the stumps of the toes were healed; she +could walk without lameness; and the patch on the thigh had begun to +regain its natural colour. After marriage there was no return of the +disease. Dr. Corney examined her, and found sensation to be perfect all +over the patch, and the left foot perfectly sound except for the loss of +the toes. She was quite convinced that her leprosy was hereditary, and +did not result from contagion, and that she would have died of it but +for the ministrations of the "wise woman" of Bureitu. She had two +children (the eldest about nine when Dr. Corney saw them), and both were +healthy. + +[Pageheader: THE CURSE OF KATALEWE] + +Katalewe's owner (_taukei ni vatu_), that is to say, the senior member +of the Navokai family, could harness the power of the stone to his own +needs if he had an enemy to injure, or to his own profit if other people +had enemies and were willing to pay for his services. It was not +necessary that the doomed person should himself be made to touch +Katalewe; it was enough if the victim's clothing, or hair, or scraps of +food he had been eating were laid against the stone with suitable +prayers by the _taukei ni vatu_. The victim would then develop leprosy, +but the mode of operation was not the same with all the leprosy stones, +as will presently appear. It remains to relate the fate of Katalewe, who +has now lost all power to harm. There came to Mbulu a pious enthusiast +to represent the Wesleyan Church, a certain Sayasi, a native of another +village. "Hors de l'eglise; point de salut," was his motto, and, +Katalewe's natural protectors having died out in the direct line, he +laid violent hands upon the unprotected stone, and carried him home in +derision for his wife to use like a paper-weight for keeping down the +mats she was plaiting. When not in use he was thrown with the other +weights into the fire hearth, where he fell a prey to the consuming +element and crumbled away to powder among the yam-pots. He did not leave +the indignity unpunished. The poor iconoclast not long afterwards had +his mind racked by the indiscretions of his wife, divorced her, and +found himself ostracized by his fellow-pastors in consequence, and +finally, a broken man, he relinquished his cure, and returned to his +native village, where death soon afterwards put an end to his +sufferings. From this tragic story one fact is patent--that Katalewe was +made of limestone, and since there are but two kinds of limestone in +Fiji, coral and dolomite, and coral would have been immediately +recognized by the people of Tonga village, it is evident that Katalewe +must have been a fragment of dolomite washed down from the head-waters +of the Rewa river, and polished smooth by the action of the water. A +stone so unusual in the delta would naturally be an object of remark; it +might be taken to decorate the grave of a dead leper, and, when time had +obliterated all other traces of the grave, tradition would still cling +about the stone--the one feature of the forgotten grave that would +survive to catch the eye of successive generations. As the graves of +ancestors are the vested property of their descendants, so the leper +stone, and together with the Djinn that was believed to inhabit it, +would belong to the seed of the original leper for ever. + +In Noikoro, near the chief village of Korolevu, almost in the centre of +the great island of Vitilevu, Dr. Corney found another leprosy stone, +called simply Na Vatu-ni-Sakuka (the Leper-stone), a large basaltic rock +having upon it natural markings in which the natives see a resemblance +to the leprous _maculae_ on the human skin. Among the Vunavunga people to +whom it belonged, and who formerly lived near to it, there are several +bad cases of leprosy. The stone was vested formerly in one Mbativusi +(Cat-tooth), a leper, but on his death it passed into the hands of +Rasambasamba, his _vasu_, _e.g._ a man whose mother belonged to +Mbativusi's family, and to his children. Their family is called +Nakavindi, and the elder of the Nakavindi family, being _ex officio_ +proprietor of the stone, is held to have the power of conferring leprosy +upon whom he wishes. His dreadful powers are, of course, invoked +secretly: the offended person comes to him with a root of _yankona_, +whale's teeth, bark-cloth, or mats, praying him to impart the disease to +his enemy. The leper-priest lays them on the stone with incantations +(_veivatonaki_) for a successful issue. Then, returning home, he drinks +_yankona_, and in blowing the dregs from his lips and moustache, cries +as his toast--"_Phya! Uthu i au!_" which, being interpreted, is "Phya! +May his face be as mine!" _i.e._ leprous; and speculation would run high +as to who was the object of the curse. When the curse failed there was, +as in all similar public impositions, an easy way out. No doubt Elijah +slew the priests of Baal because he knew that in five minutes they would +have been ready with a plausible excuse for their failure to call down +fire from heaven. The leper-priest could always plead the inadequacy of +the offering (which, of course, became his perquisite), and ask for +more, or decline to make a second trial. All the leading men of the +Nakavindi family, which, be it remembered, is only a collateral branch +of the original proprietors of the stone, have leprosy in its most +terrible form. + +Dr. Corney found another leper stone lying in the silt of a small +stream, Nasova creek, about a mile and a half from the village of +Nankia, in the Sawakasa district. Part of its surface was rough, and the +smooth portion was interrupted with three ripplings or corrugations +which the natives called _vakalawarikoso_. The village where the family +to which the stone belonged was living proved to be a leprous centre +from which the disease appeared to be radiating to the other villages in +the neighbourhood. As this stone appears to have neither history nor +malign influence, it is possible that it owes its name to its macular +markings and its situation near a leprous centre. + +[Pageheader: A GRISLY STORY] + +Near Wala, a village about three miles from Fort Carnarvon on the +opposite bank of the Singatoka river, is another stone, or rather +collection of stones, for they are described as forming a miniature +cairn of red stones like jade. As the cairn stands within the +burial-ground of part of the Wala village, it may be actually a grave. +The natives are very reticent about it; I lived for more than a year in +almost daily intercourse with the Wala without hearing of it, and Dr. +Corney, who went to see it after hearing of it from the Mbuli of the +district, was adroitly put off the scent by his native guides. He +learned its history under somewhat dramatic circumstances. Being called +one day to examine a number of native prisoners recently admitted to the +prison in Suva, he found that one of four lepers among them gave Wala as +his native village. With the permission of the Superintendent of +Prisons, he took the young man to the hospital in order to question him +at leisure, and there, with the unknown terrors of prison discipline +before his eyes, his reticence gave way. The gist of his replies to Dr. +Corney's questions as taken down at the time was as follows:--"My name +is Namanka; I come from Wala, but my family belongs properly to Talatala +in Vaturu. They left Talatala in heathen times when Vaturu was burned +out by the enemy, and took refuge at Sambeto, but my father and mother +fled to the hills and settled at Wala, where we have lived ever since. I +have one brother older than myself, and he, my father, and my mother are +all lepers. My father was Kuruwankato; he died a few months ago at +Keyasi, whither he had gone for treatment for leprosy. His hands were +withered and contracted, there were ulcers and blisters upon them, he +had lost his fingers and toes, and had patches upon him that had lost +all feeling. He had no brothers; I have no uncles, and no leprous +relations except my father, mother and brother. My father was the first +to show symptoms. This was the way of it. On a certain day, several +years ago, we all went out into our plantation, and left the house +empty. Not even a child was left to keep the house. I was but a small +boy at the time, but I often accompanied my parents to the plantation. +When we returned in the evening we saw that the Sakuka (the Leprosy) had +crossed our threshold. He had entered by the end door, and had crawled +to the hearth, and there in the ashes of the hearth we saw the prints of +his hands and his feet, the prints of leper hands (_mains-en-griffe_) +and toeless feet like hoofs. Thus we knew that the Sakuka had put his +mark upon our house, and wondered which of us was to be the first. We +knew that we should be lepers, being thus marked for it by the Sakuka, +and my father was the first, my mother next, and I was last of all. The +Sakuka is a stone, red like a patch of leprosy, red like red paint. It +is in five or six pieces, heaped together. Sometimes a piece is missing +from its place at Navau. I have been at the burial-ground myself when a +piece was missing, and have seen that it was so. Vasukeyasi is +proprietor of the stone; he is not a leper, but Kaliova, who also has a +vested right in it, is. Vasukeyasi is priest of the stone, and he can +move it to infect a person with leprosy, and so compass his death. I do +not know what forms or ceremonies he uses when he would do this, but it +is a sort of _kaitha_ (witchcraft). When I said that the Sakuka marked +our hearth I meant the spirit of the stone which is obedient to +Vasukeyasi. The thing is true; there is no doubt about it. I do not know +the origin of the stone; it is an ancient institution. I have told you +all that I know about it." + +In this grisly story we have the essence of the belief in leper stones. +The cairn of strange red stones set up in a burial-ground can be none +other than a tomb, probably the tomb of a leper. The spirit of the dead +man haunts the site of the grave, and his eldest descendant is his +priest. His priest can conjure him forth in corporeal shape to crawl +into the house of a person whom he has foredoomed to leprosy. This, of +course, is no explanation of the _main-en-griffe_ in the ashes on the +hearth. That episode may have been a coincidence or it may have been a +lie; but that a family of healthy aliens came to live in the +neighbourhood of a leper stone, and were infected one after the other by +means which every native believed to be the malignant ministrations of +the priest, was indubitable fact. And if we smile at his theory of +infection, let us remember that it is logical reasoning as compared with +our own in his eyes, and that he can point to more lepers in support of +his plan of infection by incantation than we can adduce as the result of +inoculation with the _bacillus leprae_. + +Dr. Corney heard of two other leper stones--one at Navitiviti in the +Mbure district, Ra province; the other near Mbukuya, fifteen miles north +of Fort Carnarvon. There may be others in Vanualevu and elsewhere. + +[Pageheader: DROPSY STONES] + +Two instances of stones sacred to other diseases have been met with by +Dr. Corney. One of these is situated near Narokovuaka, on the Wainimbuka +branch of the Rewa river, and the other in the Tonga district, the home +of Katalewe, the leper stone. They are both called _vatu-ni-bukete-vatu_ +(dropsy stones). Abdominal dropsy is generally termed _mbukete wai_ +(water pregnancy), but when very tense it becomes _mbukete vatu_ (stone +pregnancy). The latter term is also applied to abdominal tumour, which, +though a rare disease among the Fijians, is occasionally met with. In +neither case does the stone appear to take an active part in imparting +the disease to which it is sacred. Probably it was the menhir of some +chief who died of the disease, or some fancied similarity to the +symptoms of the disease was noticed in its shape. + +It must not be supposed that the natives as a whole have as matured a +theory to account for the dissemination of disease as might be gathered +from the foregoing account of the leper stones. Few of them have turned +their thoughts to the subject; even the youth who described the visit of +the "Sakuka" had not speculated upon what motive the proprietor of the +stone could have had in letting loose his horrible familiar upon the +unoffending family. His reasoning went no further than this: that they +had leprosy, and he supposed that it was the leper stone that did it. It +was only when Dr. Corney asked the question that the youth remembered +that the leper-priest had the power of conferring the disease, and that +he thought of connecting the fact with his own case. So with the doom +that overtook the iconoclast teacher; the natives related his +destruction of Katalewe and his subsequent fate as totally unconnected +episodes. The occult powers of Katalewe were so much a commonplace of +their lives that, when Dr. Corney translated his notes to them, they +were astonished that any one should think it worth while to collect the +scattered fragments of information they had given him into a connected +narrative. + +It is, therefore, scarcely correct to say that they hold decided views +upon the manner in which leprosy is transmitted. Most of them would say +that they had never thought about it, and if pressed for an opinion, +would point to its prevalence in certain families as a reason for +thinking it hereditary. Natives of places where there are leper stones +believe it to be the heirloom of the family connected with the stone, or +the work of the leper-priest when the disease appears in other families +for the first time. But among the coast tribes there seems to be a +strong suspicion that lepers breed contagion, since in many districts +lepers are compelled to live by themselves in the bush. This has long +been the belief of the Tongans, and it is possible that Tongan +immigrants have impressed their views upon Fijians, since it is more +marked in the Lau Islands, where the Tongan influence is strongest. + +A painful case came to my notice in 1887 at Lakemba. A leper had been +driven out into the bush, and his wife had been in the habit of taking +food to him daily. Her relations, having failed to dissuade her from +what they regarded as a practice dangerous to themselves, told her at +last that she must choose between their society and his, for that if she +persisted in visiting a leper, she would be debarred from ever returning +to the village, but must live thenceforth in the woods like a wild +animal. The poor woman refused to abandon her husband, and the relations +came to me to ask whether she could not be legally restrained from thus +cutting herself off from all that makes life worth living to a native. +She was brought before me, and as soon as I had satisfied myself that +she was acting of her own free-will I forbade any one to interfere with +her liberty of action. The husband was described as suffering from +nodular leprosy. He had been isolated, not from horror at his +appearance, for men afflicted with lupus in as revolting a form were +allowed to live in the village, but from fear of contagion. + +In places where isolation is usual lepers conceal their condition as +long as possible, and it is not uncommon to hear that so-and-so is +strongly suspected of leprosy because he will never take off his shirt +to work, and avoids bathing in company. + +[Pageheader: LEPERS IN ISOLATION] + +There are, as most people know, two kinds of leprosy, nerve and +nodular. Nerve leprosy is manifested by patches of discoloration on the +skin in which all sensation is destroyed, and the Fijians suffer so much +from scrofulous affections that this symptom may be easily passed over. +Nor is nerve leprosy, at any rate in its early stages, revolting in +appearance. Nodular leprosy, on the other hand, which often attacks the +face, and is far more horrible in appearance, is unmistakable, but it is +less common in Fiji than nerve leprosy or a mixture of the two. + +The isolation enforced by the Fijians appears to correspond with the +practice of the Hebrews and Philistines, who drove the pauper lepers +without the city gate, but let the high-born leper alone. Ratu Joseva, +Thakombau's son, like Naaman, still maintained a household of retainers. +The lot of the isolated leper in Fiji is not a very hard one while he +has strength to move about. A hut is built for him in the bush; firewood +is abundant; wild yams are to be had for the digging, wild fowls and +pigs for the trapping; he can pick the best land for his plantation. But +when the poor wretch loses the use of his legs an awful fate may await +him. A horrible story is told of a leper on the Tailevu coast who had +lost all sensation in his feet. Waking by his fire one morning he +noticed a smell of roasting flesh, and wondered for some moments whence +it came, until, when he moved himself to look out of the doorway, he +noticed that the logs in the fire-place stirred, and saw that his own +feet had been lying in the fire, and were burned to cinders. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 95: The greater part of this chapter is drawn from an able +paper contributed to the _Folklore Journal_, 1895, by Dr. Bolton G. +Corney, Chief Medical Officer of Fiji, who has made a special study of +the subject.] + +[Footnote 96: White.] + +[Footnote 97: Manson, _Tropical Diseases_.] + +[Footnote 98: _Voyage aux iles du Grand Ocean_, par. J. A. Moerenhout. +(Vol. ii, p. 156.) Paris, 1837.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +YAWS (_Thoko_) + + +While the decay of custom has been hastened by the introduction of new +diseases, it has not been accompanied by any attempt to eradicate the +old. + +Chief among indigenous diseases (if diseases introduced before contact +with foreigners may be called indigenous) is yaws, called by the Fijians +_thoko_, or by its Malayo-Polynesian name--_tona_, and by various +dialectic modifications of that word, which is also used in Tonga, +Samoa, Tahiti, and many other Polynesian islands. + +The disease is but little known to the medical profession in Europe, +either in practice or in medical literature. Its medical designation is +_Framboesia_, so called from the strawberry-like eruptions that +accompany it. By the French it is called "Le Pian." In Great Britain it +is now extinct, but in the Hebrides and in the south-west counties of +Scotland it was met with under the name of "sibbens," or "sivvens," as +late as the beginning of the nineteenth century. + +[Pageheader: THE SYMPTOMS] + +It is common throughout Africa, Malaysia and Polynesia. Being +contagious, it was carried by means of the slave traffic from Africa to +tropical America and the West Indian Islands. From the east coast of +Africa and Madagascar, about 340 years ago, the Dutch or Portuguese +traders carried it to Ceylon, where it still bears the name of "Parangi +Lede" or "Foreigners' evil." Hamilton noticed it in Timor in 1791, +saying "it seldom terminates fatally and only seizes them once in their +lives."[99] Crawfurd, who wrote in 1811-1817, noticed it in Java. Dr. +Martin, the able editor of _Mariner's Account of the Tonga Islands_, +writing in 1810, was the first to recognize the identity of _tona_ with +yaws, though he never saw the disease. But the existence of _tona_ was +recognized by Captain Cook and numerous other visitors to the South Seas +during the last and the beginning of the present century, though they +were not aware of its real nature. + +The premonitory symptoms of yaws are, as a rule, insignificant and +obscure; the appearance of one of the sores is generally the earliest +indication that a child is infected, but adults have noticed pains in +the limbs, fever, restlessness, or languor. The first sore, called the +_tina-ni-thoko_, or mother-yaw, is usually a large one about +half-an-inch to an inch in extent, and is often surrounded by a group of +smaller sores. It generally appears on the site of some wound or +scratch, more often about the lips. Those that follow are generally +developed upon some part of the body where the skin is delicate, such as +the neck, the groin, or the axillae, or in parts where the true skin +joins the mucous membrane. Doubtless the lips of children are first +infected owing to the child's habit of putting the hands to the mouth, +the hand being the part most likely to come in contact with the virus of +another child. + +After an uncertain interval a crop of pabules, or in some cases blebs, +begin to appear, the face and the parts already mentioned being their +favourite point of appearance. If the eruption begins with blebs the +case is spoken of as _thoko se ni niu_ (cocoanut flower _thoko_, from +the resemblance of the eruption to a spray of the unexpanded flowers of +the palm). + +In the next stage a soft warty excrescence, which is the matrix of the +sore, pushes its way through the true skin by forcing it aside rather +than breaking down its substance. On reaching the surface the +granulations which form this out-growth exude a fluid which is highly +contagious. It forms in time a crust or scab, the reddish appearance of +which is very characteristic of the yaws eruption. If this be removed by +means of oil or a poultice, the granulated surface of the sore beneath +it has that resemblance to a raspberry or mulberry which has given the +name of _Framboesia_ to the disease. In some cases the crust assumes +a curvilinear outline, recalling the appearance of the well-known +Pharaoh's serpent. These are especially seen about the corners of the +mouth, the neck and the axillae, and constitute the _thoko ndina_ or true +yaws. In other cases they retain a circular shape on all parts of the +body, and are then called _thoko mbulewa_ or button or limpet yaws. +During the healing process they become converted into annular or +horse-shoe patterns, the centre receding before the periphery. + +The sores may remain for two weeks or they may persist for fully two +years. Throughout the progress of the case they may number anything from +one to several hundred. The commonest number is from six to twenty or +thirty. Weakly and ill-nourished children take the disease more easily +than strong ones. While the active symptoms seldom last for more than +two months, the dormant features last much longer, and some of the +tertiary consequences may appear at almost any age. + +The chief ill effects from _thoko_ are dysentery, diarrhoea, and +marasmus; sometimes the joints are implicated, even the larger ones, +such as the wrists, knees and ankles, and partial paralysis may follow; +pot-belly is a frequent concomitant, and _tabes mesenterica_ are +believed to follow it. In a later period of life the feet of those who +have had yaws as children become affected by the disease, and on account +of the thick and horny skin by which the soles of shoeless races are +protected the extrusion of the growing yaw through the sole becomes an +acutely painful process. Not only do the typical granulations known as +_suthuvi_ and _soki_ force their way through the skin, but the sole is +also liable to a cracking and peeling form of excoriation called +_kakatha_, which is nearly as painful and is also said to be contagious. +The Fijians do not recognize the connection between any of the sequelae +of yaws and the original disease, and hence perhaps the indifference +with which they regard it. + +[Pageheader: MODE OF INOCULATION] + +An idea of the serious nature of yaws may be gathered from the cases in +which it has been contracted by adult Europeans. Such cases have been +numerous enough in Fiji to impress the European settlers with dread and +disgust. In most of these cases the disease has permanently shattered +the health of the person attacked, its tertiary effects simulating those +of neglected syphilis, for, while no less severe, they have proved quite +as ineradicable. They are shown in permanent impairment of the digestive +functions, emaciation, inflammation of the bones or joints, intractable +ulceration, and marked constitutional weakness, thus producing liability +to other diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery and pneumonia, and not +infrequently ending in death. From this it may be readily imagined that +the consequence of yaws to native children can be anything but trivial. +With Europeans as well as with natives an attack is more likely to pass +off easily when contracted in childhood than when taken in adult life. +The most favourable age for getting over it safely seems to be between +two and three years. + +Yaws is communicated by the inoculation of virus from one of its +characteristic raspberry-like sores to the abraded surface of the skin +of another person. But, though the natives have never discovered this +for themselves, they do not, as in other diseases, attempt to explain +yaws as the work of a malignant spirit. The fact is that they scarcely +believe yaws to be a disease at all. They think that if a child makes a +good recovery it becomes more plump and healthy than one who has never +had the disease. Mothers are pleased when the first symptoms make their +appearance, regarding it as the best thing that could happen to their +children to set them on the high road to a vigorous manhood, provided +that the disease is not contracted at too early an age. At Mbau, +however, the chief women appear always to have recognized the contagious +nature of yaws. They say that in former time the children of high rank +were not allowed to enter the houses of common people or play with their +children, and in consequence of this exclusiveness they seldom +contracted yaws until they were of an age to resist its ravages. Thus +some escaped it altogether, and the majority had it very mildly. Andi +Alisi and Andi Ana are cases in point, so were the late Andi Kuila and +Ratu Joseva. Now-a-days there is scarcely an exception to the rule that +every Fijian child contracts yaws. Whatever may have been the case +formerly, it is now quite common for children to contract the disease +while suckling and teething; not infrequently before they can crawl, and +even at as early an age as three or four months. When this happens the +eruption sometimes recedes prematurely; this is the only danger feared +by the natives, who usually attribute the recedence to _ndambe_, _i.e._ +incontinence on the part of the parents, or to _ramusu_ (internal +injury). When the eruption recedes, as it undoubtedly does in some +cases, the child becomes sickly and feverish and subject to diarrhoea, +and whether these symptoms be spontaneous or secondary, death is more +often the result in these cases than in others. The native treatment is +purely empirical: native drugs are administered in the expectation of +causing the eruption to reappear, but if the attack pursues its normal +course no attempt is made to heal the eruption; on the contrary, it is +intentionally abandoned to the chances of easy and plentiful +development. In very severe cases natives have occasionally made +application to the European medical officers; but, as a rule, it is only +when the eruption has almost disappeared, and only one or two of the +sores persist, that the Fijian mother will allow any interference with +it. The usual native treatment in such cases is to apply a poultice of +the leaves of the _lewe ni sau_, or some other native herb. The more +modern practice is to heat a piece of rusty hoop iron red hot and to rub +a cut lemon on it, and then to apply the rust-stained juice as a mild +escharotic. It is said that in West Africa the natives use a decoction +of iron filings in lemon juice, with the addition of ants and a portion +of the pepper plant for the same purpose. As the old Fijians had no +metals, it is possible that they have learnt the recipe from Europeans +who have read of it. + +[Pageheader: CHILDREN PURPOSELY INFECTED] + +The Fijians do not claim to have any positive remedy for the cure of +yaws, nor, indeed, do they desire any. They are satisfied that native +medicines suffice to "drive out" the eruption if it has prematurely +receded, and that if they do not succeed in such cases the child will +die. The great body of the people cannot be made to grasp the idea of +inoculation. While some admit that yaws can be caught from one person +by another, others assert that the cause is intrinsic and that every +Fijian child must, or ought to, develop it, and that it is solely a +Fijian disease about which white men are naturally ignorant. In Mathuata +the "wise women" administer medicines to bring on the disease in cases +where children do not readily contract it. They believe that the +occurrence of yaws in a child of a proper age--from two to six years--is +a good augury for the future physical strength and mental vigour of the +subject, and they think that persons who escape its contagion will grow +up stupid, clumsy, and dull (_dongandonga_), and useless mentally and +physically. The fear of contracting disease in adult life, when it +affects the patient far more severely than in childhood, disposes the +Fijian mother to look favourably on the acquisition of the disease in +infancy. They are, indeed, far more anxious that their children should +contract yaws than are the uneducated mothers of English factory towns +that theirs should contract measles. The desire of getting over +inevitable diseases during childhood is the same in both cases, but the +Fijians have less excuse, for yaws is not only a far more virulent +disease than measles, but it might be far more easily stamped out if the +Fijians could be disabused of the idea that it "grows out of the child." +In the days of slavery, from commercial considerations, the West Indian +planters insisted on segregation in yaws-houses, and were partly +successful in keeping the disease under control. But as soon as the West +Indian negro was emancipated and permitted to revert to his own careless +life, the disease began to gain ground very rapidly. + +It is impossible to estimate the mortality directly due to yaws. In the +yaws-hospitals of the West Indies the mortality amounted to less than +the annual death-rate of the islands. When it occurs during the first +year of childhood in Fiji it is almost invariably fatal. Indirectly, +there can be no doubt that it is sapping the vitality of the whole +native race. Some authorities--Hutchinson, for example--hold that it is +possibly syphilis modified by race and climate. Syphilis is practically +unknown among the Fijians, but although there are many points of +difference that prove the two diseases to be distinct, it is highly +probable that, from its close relationship to syphilis, yaws has an +enervating effect on the child-bearing functions of the native women. + +Though it would now be extremely difficult to stamp out the disease, +much might be done to keep it under if the natives could be convinced of +its contagious nature. In the mountain districts of Tholo _Tinea +desquamans_, or _Tinea imbricata_ (Tokelau ringworm), which infected +nearly 25 per cent. of the native population a few years ago, has now so +far yielded to the efforts of the people themselves that it has been +almost entirely stamped out in some of the provinces. As soon as they +were convinced of its contagion, and understood that the Government +would supply remedies to those who chose to pay for them, they buckled +to the work in earnest, and needed little driving by European +officials. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 99: A Voyage round the World in H.M.S. _Pandora_, by Mr. +George Hamilton, surgeon. Berwick-on-Tweed, 1792.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +TUBERCULOSIS[100] + + +The tubercular taint in the Fijians, though less marked than among some +of the Polynesian races to the eastward, is sufficient to influence the +vitality of the race by impairing its power of resistance to other +diseases, both in children and adults. It is seen in the form of +phthisis, strumous ulcerations, chronic bone diseases, and most commonly +as strumous ulcerations of the face, nose, pharynx, or throat, which is +named tubercular lupus. More rarely it appears as _tabes mesenterica_ in +infants, tubercular peritonitis, and tubercular disease of the internal +organs. + +All these forms of tuberculosis are more common in the windward parts of +the group, in Kandavu and in Thakaundrove, where the Tongan admixture is +strongest; they are less common in Western Vitilevu and in the mountain +districts, but even in these, where the Melanesian blood is purer, +tubercular disease is far from uncommon. Half-castes are especially +tainted with struma in all its forms, and from this it would appear that +the Fijian does not bear crossing with the European, for while the +negro-Fijian half-caste is usually healthy, the English Fijian cross is +peculiarly subject to phthisis, lupus, and chronic disease of the bones. + +Pulmonary tuberculosis occurs as haemorrhagic phthisis, as acute, rapidly +breaking-down pulmonary tubercle of young adults, or as chronic fibroid +phthisis in older men and women. Though the returns of the Colonial +Hospital do not show a large number of deaths from this disease, it is +probable that many die after returning home after a period of treatment, +and in the outlying districts may die without making any attempt to get +to the hospital. + +Lupus, though it may make its appearance at any age, is developed most +commonly at puberty, and is most destructive in its results from fifteen +to twenty-five or thirty. It attacks the face, nose and neck, and it +usually destroys the fauces, palate and pharynx; the soft palate is +entirely destroyed, and the only remains of the pillars of the fauces +are scars of cicatricial tissue. The mouth then appears as a vast cavern +instead of being filled with the usual structures, and the nose may be +entirely eaten away. The disease is commoner among women than among men. +I remember seeing a family of high rank in Lakemba, whose women were +remarkable for beauty. The sons were fine, sturdy fellows, to outward +seeming quite untainted, but of the three daughters the eldest had no +face, the second was marred by a depression at the root of the nose, +betokening the first ravages of the disease, and the third, a girl of +sixteen, was the most beautiful girl in the island. "She will soon be +like the others," they told me; "they were more beautiful than she is, +and look at them now!" It was comforting to notice that her impending +fate did not seem to damp her enjoyment of the hour. + +Strumous ulcerations of the limbs are the commonest diseases in Fiji. +Thus, out of 621 cases admitted to the hospital in 1892, including +people of many races and every kind of disease, there were 104 cases of +"ulcers" in Fijians alone--the total number of Fijians admitted being +only 246; that is to say, more than 40 per cent. of the Fijians were +admitted for ulcerations of strumous origin. This disease, which the +natives call _vindikoso_, takes the usual form of an indolent, excavated +ulceration, sometimes extending down to the bone. It generally runs a +slow course, and when of large size, the resulting _cachexia_ is +serious. It is generally left uncovered, or at most wrapped in a filthy +piece of native cloth, and unwashed for days together--a fruitful +breeding-ground for flies and parasites. + +[Pageheader: FIJIANS ARE TAINTED WITH STRUMA] + +To the same taint are due tubercular glandular enlargements, chronic +disease of the bones, with deformity and enlargements, necrosis of the +long bones, and the tuberculosis of abdominal glands, which is believed +to cause many deaths among children, and not improbably also tubercular +diarrhoea both in children and adults. + +Yaws (_thoko_) occurring in children of tubercular parents is probably +intensified, and children whose constitution has been weakened by a +prolonged attack of yaws are more prone to die of some form of +tuberculosis. It has also been noticed that adults who bear the scars of +severe yaws in childhood are more prone to contract some form of +tuberculosis in after-life. + +The possible identity in the origin of all these diseases offers a wide +and most interesting field for scientific investigation. It is but a +step, for instance, from yaws to syphilis, and from syphilis to strumous +diseases of bone and skin (especially those prevalent among the Pacific +Islanders), and from struma to pulmonary or general tuberculosis. If +such an investigation be too long delayed there is the danger that the +races who furnish the material may have ceased to exist. + +The undoubted facts are these:-- + +(1) That the Fijian race is tainted by various forms of tubercle, +acquired and inherited; + +(2) That the taint is more marked where there is an infusion of +Polynesian or European blood; + +(3) That females are more affected than males; + +(4) That the disease is on the increase; + +(5) That the inherent debility of the race is partly due to this taint. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 100: I am indebted to Dr. Lynch, who has made a special study +of the subject, for the medical portion of this chapter.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +TRADE + + +The necessity for bartering commodities, which is one of the earliest +needs of primitive society, was met by the Fijians in an original +manner. Nomad tribes, who are perpetually at war with their neighbours, +and are not self-supporting, satisfy their wants by raiding and plunder; +settled agricultural tribes in the same condition invent some artificial +condition under which combatants may exchange their goods to their +mutual advantage. Thus, in south-eastern New Guinea there are settled +markets on the tribal frontier fitted with counters of saplings on which +the women of either side may lay their goods and barter them without +fear of molestation by the warriors, for the ground is strictly tabu, +and neither side would dare to commit the sacrilege of striking a blow +within its precincts. + +In Fiji the natural productions of the country led to localizing of +industries. No tribe, however wide its territory, was entirely +self-supporting. Salt came only from the salt-pans in the mangrove +swamps; cooking-pots from the clay-pits on outlying islands; the +painting of _gnatu_ was an art peculiar to a few; the carving of bowls +and the building of canoes were the craft of the carpenter clans and no +other. The comfort, if not the existence, of a tribe depended upon +barter, and the form of barter devised by the Fijians accorded exactly +with their passion for formal ceremonial. + + +The Solevu (_So-levu_, _i.e._ Great Presentation) + +[Pageheader: CEREMONIAL FORM OF BARTER] + +The _solevu_ is the formal presentation of property by one clan or sept +to another. The ceremonial was much the same whenever merchandise had +to pass, whether as tribute, reward, or free exchange between equals. +There were formerly many reasons for _solevu_. Help given by allies in +war time entitled them to a _solevu_ from the succoured; quarter given +by a conquering army in the moment of victory placed the vanquished +under a like obligation; the death of a high chief gave his relatives a +claim upon the subject tribes; a marriage entitled the relations of the +bride to a _solevu_ from the bridegroom's people. _Solevu_ celebrated +under these circumstances, being in the nature of payment for services +rendered, did not call for any return, though they brought about the +circulation of property. But between tribes of equal rank that had no +such excuse for demanding presentations from each other there was a form +of _solevu_ that was trading pure and simple. A tribe that owned +salt-pans such as those at Nandi Bay wanted mats. It would send a formal +messenger to one of the islands of Yasawa, asking permission to bring +them a _solevu_ of salt. Yasawa accepted. The _solevu_ took place, both +donors and recipients preserving a very accurate remembrance of the +value of the present. After some months, or even years, Yasawa, having +plaited a store of mats equivalent to their estimate of the value of the +salt, would propose to return the _solevu_, and the score would be wiped +off. If they seemed to hang fire, deft hints would be conveyed to them +by the gossip-mongers, that they were fast becoming a by-word on the +Nandi coast. If their offering fell short of the value due from them the +formal gratitude of their entertainers would lose nothing of its +correctness at the time. The speeches would be as complimentary as +usual, the hand-clapping as hearty, but none the less would they be made +to hang their heads with shame when they had returned to their own +island, and heard from the gossip-mongers some of the caustic epigrams +current in Nandi at their expense. + +Technically, the merchandise of a _solevu_ was presented to the chief, +but the greater part of it reached the people whose labour had provided +its purchase-equivalent. A good chief divided it out upon the spot among +the septs composing the clan, who in turn assigned it to the individual +heads of houses; a selfish chief stored it away, and doled it out to +such of his dependants or subject chiefs as chose to ask for it by +_kere-kere_, but he applied it to his own use at the cost of his +popularity, and, therefore, of his power. So long as a chief felt that +his position depended on the suffrages of his subjects he did not dare +to indulge his greed, and the trade balance was preserved. He might, +however, apply it to the common advantage of the tribe, to pay off +allies, or to purchase a new alliance, in which case the consent of his +advisers carried with it the consent of the whole tribe. A European, +staying with a great chief such as the Vunivalu of Mbau, is astonished +at the number of minor presentations. Several times, perhaps, during the +course of the day the _tama_ is shouted from without the house. The +chief's _mata_ looks out, and announces the arrival of some subject clan +with an offering--a roll of sinnet, a bale of cloth, a turtle, and the +inevitable root of kava. A few of the household step out to listen to +the speech of presentation and clap their hands in the prescribed form, +but the chief himself scarcely deigns to check his conversation to +listen. The merchandise is carried to a storehouse, where in due course +it will be doled out to some chief desiring it, for the use of his +numerous dependants, or used in the tangled political negotiations on +which the safety of the federation depends. These minor presentations +are in reality public revenue, and their equivalent in England would be +found if every landowner brought his income-or land-tax in kind to +Windsor and laid it with due ceremony at the gate of the castle. + +[Pageheader: THE RITUAL] + +The ceremonial varied slightly according to the local custom and the +cause for which the _solevu_ was presented. The details of a +marriage-gift differed from those of the obsequies of a dead chief; the +ordinary trade _solevu_ between equals followed a simpler ritual than +that of an offering of a vanquished tribe to its victors. But the +general form was the same. Upon the appointed day the donors carried +their wares to the village of the recipients, and halted upon the +outskirts while their herald approached the chief's house and _tama_-ed, +asking permission for his people to enter. The notables of the village +being assembled in the square, the donors approached in procession, and +were dismissed to the empty houses prepared for them, or, if the party +was a large one, to the temporary shelters erected for their +accommodation. To these they carried their merchandise, and they were +scarcely settled when their entertainers filed in procession to the +door, bearing the feast (_mangiti_) of cooked and raw yams, fish, hogs +half-roasted and the ceremonial root of _yankona_. This having been +presented and accepted according to the usual formula, the visitors were +left to their own devices. In the evening individuals might visit their +acquaintances in the village; the young men or women of the village, +perhaps, entertained their guests with a night dance by the light of +bonfires, but there was no general intercourse between the entertainers +and the entertained. On the morrow, after the morning meal, the visitors +removed their merchandise to the cover of the forest or the outskirts, +and made ready their ceremonial entrance. There, the leaders wound many +fathoms of native cloth about their bodies. The leading chief wore so +cumbersome a cincture of it that his arms stuck out horizontally, and a +man had to walk beside him on either side supporting its weight. The +grown men blackened their faces and festooned the cloth about them until +their bodies were entirely hidden, and they resembled turkey cocks with +tails outspread. Armed with spears and clubs, bearing enormous turbans +on their heads, they were ready for the great ballet that was to follow. +The rest shouldered the salt or mats or pots, and the procession was +formed. A warrior with blackened face led the way. With his spear poised +he crept forward step by step as if about to launch it at his hosts, +pausing every few yards with a sharp jerk of the elbow that set the +point quivering. The chief and his elders followed, bending under the +weight of their huge girdles. Then came others with a litter of boughs +supporting a great bale of white bark-cloth, and many more followed with +the rest of the merchandise, their hosts greeting them with shouts of +"_Vinaka! Vinaka!_" (Well done! Well done!). In the centre of the square +they halted, and laid down their burdens on a fast-increasing pile, +each retiring when his task was done. The chiefs unwound their girdles, +a process that occupied many minutes, and stepped out at last, naked to +their waist-cloths, leaving the cloth as a stiff rampart about the spot +where they had halted. Meanwhile some twenty of the bearers had seated +themselves apart. They set up a chant, marking the time with a small +wooden drum, and the boom of hollow bamboos struck endwise upon the +earth. Then from behind the houses came the ballet, five or six deep, +with a few paces' interval between each. With their black faces, their +enormous turbans, their strange dress and their arms they were a +terrifying spectacle. No ballet is so well drilled as this. Every +gesture of the hands, the heads and the eyes is timed with a precision +that months of practice would not achieve were there not an inborn +dexterity to build upon. Little boys of four or five may be seen on the +outskirts of the practice-ground swaying their limbs and bodies in +elaborate contortions which Europeans after a prolonged gymnastic +training would execute very clumsily. The words chanted by the band may +either be traditional poems whose meaning is obscure, or the composition +of the leader of the dance, for nearly every district has its poet, who +retires to the forest for free access of the muse, and surpasses the +mediaeval troubadours in that he sets his words, not only to music, but +to action, and is poet, composer and ballet-master in one. + +[Pageheader: A GREAT WAR DANCE] + +A description of one of these dances given by the mountaineers of Bemana +at the Great Council of Chiefs held in Nandronga in 1887 will serve for +all. The dancers marched into the great square in twenty ranks of ten, +and squatted down with spears poised. In their crouching posture the +festoons of their draperies took on the symmetry of haycocks, each +surmounted with a heavy knob for ornament, for their enormous turbans +almost hid the blackened faces. Their sloping spears swayed like a +thicket of bamboos swept by a breeze. And now the chant quickened to a +sinister rhythm, and there was a menace in the stillness of the dancers. +One huge fellow, detached from the rest, began to mark the exciting +drum-beat by fluttering the enormous war-fan he carried in his left +hand; the rest seemed motionless unless you looked into the shadow of +the turbans, where their restless eyes gleamed unnaturally white from +the soot that besmeared their faces. As the chant grew in shrillness and +the drums beat a devil's tattoo that set the muscles of the vast +concourse of spectators twitching with excitement, the dancers became +unnaturally still, not a spear wavered in its slope. + +The spell was broken by a shout, deep-toned and mighty, from a hundred +warriors' throats. A third of the band leaps up, and, with spears poised +aloft, marches straight and compact to the further end, turns about and +retreats to its place. But ere the foremost are within touch of their +companions another third springs up and joins them, and together they +repeat the manoeuvre. Another shout and the whole body is in motion. +The earth trembles with its tramp; the rattle of its stiff trappings +drowns the whine of the singers. This time they do not return. The first +rank is within a pace of the line of spectators when the leader--he of +the war-fan--gives the signal. They are down now, with bodies bent low, +and spears poised for stabbing or hurling. Their legs are like bent +springs, so lightly they leap as they take open order. The leader flirts +his huge fan, and runs swiftly up and down, shouting orders that need +never have been shouted. For every movement, of body, head, arm or foot, +is executed as if one wire moved the whole two hundred. They pursue, +they flee, they stab a fallen enemy, they dodge his blows by a sideways +jerk of the head, they run at topmost speed, and the earth shakes at the +tramp of their running, though they do not advance an inch, and their +running feet strike always in the same spot. Their eyes blaze and their +teeth grin with fury, the sooty sweat courses down their skin, the loops +of stiff drapery clash about them. In other dances some luckless dancer +commits a fault not to be detected by European eyes, and excites the +loud derision of the spectators, but here all the dancers are perfect in +their parts and the crowd is awed by the verisimilitude of the piece. At +the outset a few ribald spirits of the coast tribes applauded the +terrific appearance and gestures of the warriors in obvious irony, but +presently, when the play seemed to settle to sober earnest, a fearful +silence fell upon them all. The evolutions of the dancers gave occasion. +Retiring step by step before an imaginary foe to the further end of the +square, they would dash forward in compact phalanx upon the bank of +spectators, checking their onset with a suddenness that seemed to defy +the laws of momentum. If this was but the image of war, surely the +reality must be less terrible. To sit still unarmed while two hundred +untamed devils charge over one with their stabbing-spears is not +courage, but foolhardiness--so, at least, thought the men of Mbua who +faced the dance. And so, when the grass was strewn with the fragments of +the trappings, and the dancers were struck to stone in the midst of +their most furious onslaught, the solid bank of spectators broke and +fled. Only when the warriors had walked tamely off to add their finery +to the heap of presents did they begin to slink back one by one, looking +the more foolish for their heroic efforts to join in the laugh against +themselves. + + +The Solevu in Decay + +[Illustration: A War Dance.] + +[Pageheader: ABUSE OF THE _SOLEVU_] + +With the arrival of the trader who, all unconsciously, was set to teach +the natives an entirely new system of trade based on currency, all need +for the _solevu_ vanished, and each native product immediately acquired +a recognized place in the scale of values, either in money or calico. +Nothing shows the extraordinary conservatism of the Fijians better than +the fact that they did not at once abandon the _solevu_ in favour of an +informal sale of native products to one another. The two systems +continued to flourish side by side, the native carried his produce to +the trader and took cash or groceries in exchange on the spot, but he +continued to manufacture large quantities of goods intended for +ceremonial presentations to his neighbours and to trust to receiving the +equivalent at some time in the uncertain future. For a time the _solevu_ +was encouraged by the Government upon the ground that it would form a +substitute for commerce until the natives should become accustomed to +money as a medium of exchange, and that it was inseparable from the +native social system, which for political reasons it was convenient +to retain. It was felt that without the _solevu_ the manufacture of +mats, pottery, salt, bark-cloth, sinnet, wooden bowls, etc., would fall +into disuse, and that the material comfort of the people would be +affected for the worse. Therefore it became usual for the _solevu_ to +take place at every half-yearly Provincial Council at which each +district became in rotation the entertainers of the others. Upon the +entertainers fell the burden of building new houses, a very salutary +provision, of providing food for a vast concourse of people for several +days, and of manufacturing an immense quantity of mats of native cloth +to be presented to the visitors. In return the entertainers would +theoretically be entitled to a share of the property presented by the +guests on their arrival, and of that given at other councils when the +part of playing host fell to others. This would have been well enough if +the presentation had been kept within bounds, and the spoil had been +properly divided, but the emulation of the chiefs to outdo one another +in hospitality led them to bring pressure to bear upon their people, and +the chief burden fell upon the women, whose principal duty was to +produce the things required for the _solevu_. Moreover, less of the +property reached the producers than formerly, the lion's share being +appropriated by the chiefs who attended the council. Being a distortion +of the real native custom, the _solevu_ began to lose much of its native +character. + +At Ndeumba, where the natives earn considerable incomes from growing +bananas, the property given consisted exclusively of European +commodities, such as kerosene, tins of biscuits and calico, purchased in +Suva, while at Rewa a cutter, filled to the hatches with tins of +kerosene, formed the contribution of the Tonga district. The _solevu_ +had thus grown to be an intolerable burden. They were far larger and +more frequent than in the old days, they were given and received by the +wrong people. As long as a single tribe or joint family was concerned, +every householder or head of family got his fair share according to his +rank. It was not custom that the group of tribes that form the modern +district should receive a presentation in common, and, as usual, the +native mind could devise no new law to meet the new emergency. +Accordingly, in June, 1892, the Government formally forbade the +interchange of property at Provincial Councils. By the people at large +the order was welcomed, and as a means of commerce the _solevu_ may now +be said to have ceased to exist. + +But one evil resulting from the mutilated custom still survives. In the +old days a single district or village was rarely called upon to feed +large assemblages of people; now, every Provincial Council is made the +excuse for immense profusion and waste. At some of them as many as one +hundred and sixty pigs and turtle and six thousand yams and taro are +consumed in two days, and at the Annual Meeting of the Chiefs the food +provided by the entertainers reaches more than ten times that amount. It +is not all eaten, of course. Several tons of cooked food are thrown to +rot on the seashore, but the Government is probably right in not +interfering to check this prodigality. The necessity of planting large +reserves of food secures the people against an unexpected famine, caused +by flood, hurricane or droughts; if they lost the fear of being +reproached for being niggardly it is more than probable that they would +cease to plant sufficient food for their bare needs. + +When the _solevu_ of the Provincial Councils was abolished the Governor +laid before the chiefs the proposal to establish a system of intertribal +barter in the local markets, which is a Melanesian and Papuan custom; +this ought not to have been repugnant to Fijian ideas, but the chiefs +could not be induced to take any interest in the proposal, which shows +that their attachment to the primitive _solevu_ was no longer due to the +necessity for barter, but rather to the elaborate ceremonial display +which is so dear to the native mind. + +[Pageheader: MARKETING AND _SOLEVU_] + +Yet the Fijians are by no means deficient in the mercantile instinct. In +some districts side by side with the _solevu_ a regular system of trade +by barter was practised. At Lekutu in Mbau the townspeople were in the +habit of bartering fish and salt with the hill people for vegetable +produce. There were regular market-places, and the barter took place at +fixed intervals. At Kandavu a single household or tribal sept having a +store of bark-cloth, or some other commodity, would invite the +possessors of some coveted article to trade with them, and on the +appointed day would visit their village and hand over their property in +exchange for cooked food as well as the wares they needed. Similar +practices prevailed in Western Vitilevu between the natives of the coast +and the mountaineers; these customs were called _tango_ or _veisa_. + +The growing use of money has been developed side by side with a system +of traffic in native produce, not only with European buyers, but among +the natives _inter se_. Natives of the coast districts of Tailevu, who +are required periodically to take contributions of food to Mbau on the +occasion of some ceremonial without expecting any remuneration, at the +same time carry on a regular trade with their chiefs at Mbau, hawking +vegetables or fowls from house to house for money or its equivalent in +European articles. Thus they draw a clear line of distinction between +_lala_ and barter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +NAVIGATION AND SEAMANSHIP + + +Whatever may have been the origin of seagoing ships, the evolution of +the outriggered canoe is not difficult to trace. We may imagine a savage +in remote antiquity standing on the banks of a river and watching logs +of wood from a mountain forest floating swiftly down the current. His +home lies down-stream. There is no path, for the banks are overgrown +with a tangled mass of thorny creepers. This log will pass his village +doors. He wades out and intercepts it. With one arm cast about it he is +borne by the current right to his door without an effort. The women +filling their jars at the water's edge applaud his originality. But when +he next tries the experiment an alligator comes unpleasantly near his +legs. He tries to haul himself astride of the log; it turns round with +him. A bamboo is floating close at hand; he seizes it, and finds that by +holding it athwart the log he can steady himself on his perch. But the +bamboo, being too narrow to offer resistance to the water, tends to sink +until he rests the end upon a floating branch. But on his next aquatic +journey, remembering that the bamboo tired the arms and kept slipping +off the branch, he takes a vine with him, and lashes the bamboo to log +and branch. This leaves his hands free to use another bamboo to keep the +head of his craft down-stream by poling on the bottom. He even punts it +laboriously to land at the village, and ties it up for use in crossing +the river on the morrow. He has taken the first step towards building a +craft of his own. The thin end of the log cleft the water better than +the other. He chips the end to a point. There are tribes that stop at +this point. The catamarans of Eastern New Guinea are merely three +shaped logs lashed together, and depend for their buoyancy upon the +displacement of the solid wood. A chance experiment shows that a hollow +log is more buoyant, besides having the advantage of providing a dry +resting-place for the feet. The discoverer of this phenomenon widens the +natural hollow with fire, lashes his cross-ties to a smaller log, also +sharpened at the ends, and he has made a Fijian canoe. The next steps +are easy. By trying to propel it up-stream with a bamboo too short to +reach the bottom he discards the pole for a slab of bark, and he has +invented the paddle. To use the wind in the estuary to the best +advantage he props a slab of bark on a stick and steadies it with a stay +of vine. On his next voyage he takes a mat with him, staying his mast to +the outrigger, the bow and the stern. Going about on the other tack the +pressure of the wind bearing on the outrigger sinks it and capsizes the +canoe, teaching him by painful experience that he must turn his sail +inside out, and keep the outrigger always to windward. He has now +devised the most complicated, the swiftest, and in many respects the +most beautiful sailing machine in existence--the sailing canoe. The +raising of the sides, and the decking of the bow and stern are +expedients that need no deductive process. + +[Illustration: The _Thamakau_.] + +[Pageheader: THE SAILING CANOE] + +Four kinds of canoe are used by the Fijians: (1) The _Takia_--an +undecked dug-out furnished with an outrigger, which is used on the +rivers and on the calm water inside the reef, and is propelled with +poles or with paddles. + +(2) The _Thamakau_--a seagoing canoe with sides raised by planking to +carry a deck; with solid outrigger and mast and sails. + +(3) The _Tambilai_--a dug-out with ends cut square, several feet at each +end being left solid. + +(4) The _Ndrua_, or twin canoe--which is, as its name implies, made of +twin hulls, the one smaller than the other, connected by a deck, on +which the mast is stepped. The smaller hull is the outrigger, and is +always kept to windward. These vessels being often too large to be made +from a single trunk, are put together in sections with a sort of scarf +joint, secured by lashings of cocoanut sinnet. The adze and the auger +were the only tools used, every plank being adzed from a solid trunk, +and, since every joint must fit true, and the planking be less than an +inch thick, and one false stroke of the adze might spoil many days of +labour, some idea of the skill and patience of the native carpenter may +be formed. These vessels were of great size. The _Rusa i vanua_ was 118 +feet over all. Her yards were 90 feet long, and she carried a crew of 50 +men. Maafu mounted cannon on two of his _ndrua_, which were capable of +making long ocean voyages, and with the wind on the quarter could run +from ten to fifteen knots in the hour. Though they could lie close to +the wind, being keel-less, they made much leeway, and were bad sea-boats +to windward or in a seaway, for the play of the twin hulls was apt to +work the lashings loose. There is, however, no sea sport so exciting and +exhilarating as sailing on a calm sea in a _ndrua_ or _thamakau_ with +the wind abeam. A clever sheet-man will contrive to lift the outrigger +out of the water until it barely skims the surface, and then the canoe +becomes a veritable flying-machine. + +The _ndrua_ is enormously expensive to keep up, and for this reason it +will be seen no more. The mat-sail, which costs far more than canvas, +rots quickly if it gets wet, and must be unbent and taken into shelter +after every trip. The sinnet lashings, both above and below water, soon +work loose and become rotten, and the whole structure has then to be +rebuilt. To manage the great sail in tacking a crew of from ten to +twenty men, all expert canoemen, is required. By the year 1890 the +_ndrua_ in the group could be counted on the fingers, and probably the +last has now fallen to pieces. + +Thomas Williams has given so admirable a description of the building and +management of these canoes[101] that it need not be again described. + +[Pageheader: THE PAY OF CANOE-BUILDERS] + +The handicraft of canoe-building was hereditary. Every considerable +chief had his _matai_, but those of Rewa, descended from Tongan +immigrants, were the most esteemed in the west and those of Kambara in +the east. In 1860, however, the Fijian _matai_ fell upon evil days, for +the chiefs preferred the Tongan craftsmen, who had begun to settle in +the group. Besides canoes the _matai_ made _lali_ (wooden drums), kava +and food bowls, all cut from the solid timber with the adze. Every stage +of canoe-building called for its special feast and presentation to the +_matai_, and in order to test the actual cost of these I once had a +canoe built by a Rewa _matai_ and his mate on the Fijian system of +remuneration. I was acting as Commissioner of Tholo West at the time, +and being in native eyes vested with the powers of a Roko Tui, I could +play the part of carpenter's patron with plausibility. The men who +hauled in the logs were given the appropriate feast, the _matai_ had his +feast at the completion of the hull, at the fixing of the upper works, +at the lashing of the deck. I obtained the mats for the sails from +Yasawa by _kerekere_ (begging), and sent their equivalent in kind; the +neighbouring villages performed the ceremony of _rova_ (and received +their reward) after the launching. When I came to reckon up the bill I +found that it came to L13--a little more than the contract rate for +building canoes at that time, which was L2 a fathom; or, to put it in +another way, as the canoe was two months in building, about L3 a month +for each man besides rations. But since my carpenters were on their +mettle, the canoe was better built than it would have been by a contract +builder. + +Forward and abaft the deck both in the _ndrua_ and the _thamakau_ are +open wells, in which a man stands baling with a wooden scoop, for the +joints and seams of the planking let in a good deal of water when under +sail. Beyond these wells some fluted work is left by the adze, and a +line of beading is left along the lee side both to afford footholds to +the men who carry over the foot of the yards in tacking and to carry +fixed blocks for the _tuku_ or mast-stay. A remarkable feature about +these carvings is that they never vary, though some of them have no +object but that of ornamentation, and they are sufficiently elaborate to +have been only arrived at after a long period of evolution. + +If the Fijian canoe is so carelessly handled as to bring the outrigger +to leeward she immediately capsizes, for the pressure of the wind +drives the outrigger under water. In order to keep the outrigger to +windward when tacking it is therefore necessary to make what was +formerly the bow become the stern, the sail must be turned inside out, +and the mast, yards and steer-oar must all be changed over. This +complicated manoeuvre is accomplished with extraordinary skill. +Instead of luffing up into the wind as in a cutter the steersman keeps +away until the wind is abeam, the sheetman slacking the sheet +simultaneously until the sail is flapping. Two or three men then run out +to the prow, seize the foot of the yards and carry them bodily +amidships. During this operation they have to bear the weight of the +mast, which is sloping forward at an angle of 45 degrees, and to relieve +them of some of this extra weight a man is hauling on the running stay, +which runs through a block astern. As they pass the mast with their +burden the lower yard is let go, the sheet is passed round their legs, +and the sail turns inside out. They tramp forward, and the mast again +begins to incline, throwing its weight upon them. A man now seizes the +other stay, and in obedience to their loud cries of "_Tuku!_" begins +cautiously to pay it out. If he is too quick the weight of the mast +precipitates the men and the sail into the water; if he is too slow he +holds them back. At last the foot of the yards is planted with a thud +into its nest in the carving and lashed secure, but before the sheet can +be hauled in the heavy steer-oar, which takes two men to lift, has to be +dragged inboard and carried aft. All this time the hull is heaving in +the trough of the sea, and the mat sail is thrashing itself to pieces. +Sometimes the yard-carriers slip on the wet deck, and tumble overboard, +sail and all, in inextricable ruin, but if all goes well the canoe is +gathering way on the new tack in less than sixty seconds, and though to +the spectator on board the moment is full of excitement and risk, to +those watching it on shore it is the most precise and beautiful +manoeuvre known to seamanship. + +[Pageheader: NEW MODELS OF SCULLING] + +And now we come to a remarkable paradox. The Tongans were the great +navigators of the Pacific; the Fijians are not known to have voyaged +beyond their own group. The Tongans were so expert with the adze that +they rapidly displaced the Fijian canoe-builder in his own country. And +yet the Tongan counterpart to the _ndrua_ was the _tongiaki_, a craft so +clumsy and ill-finished that it did not survive the eighteenth century, +when the Tongans learned the art of canoe-sailing from Fijians. The +_tongiaki_ was like the _ndrua_ in build, but its mast was immovable and +it tacked like a cutter. To make this possible the mast was stayed on +both sides from a clumsy transom which protruded many feet beyond the +deck. It could lie close to the wind on one tack, but on the other the +sail was broken up into pockets by the mast, which held the wind and +stopped all headway. Consequently it was the practice to wait for a fair +wind, and set the sail on what would be the lee of the mast, and if the +wind changed there was nothing for it but to change the course. It was, +no doubt, this fact that led to so many Tongans being cast away on +remote islands, and to the mixing of Polynesian with Melanesian blood. +From 1790 to 1810 it had become the custom for Tongan chiefs to voyage +to Fiji in their clumsy _tongiaki_, join in the native wars, and take as +their portion of the loot Fijian _ndrua_, in which they beat back to +Tonga, and in a very few years the _tongiaki_[102] was extinct. + +There were two ways of propelling a canoe in a dead calm--the _vothe_ +and the _sua_. The _vothe_ is a leaf-shaped paddle cut from one piece of +_vesi_ hardwood, five feet long and eighteen inches across the widest +part of the blade. Adapted for propelling light canoes on the rivers, it +is ineffective against the dead weight of the heavy _thamakau_. In shape +and size the _sua_ resembles the oar of a ship's cutter. Thrusting it +down perpendicularly into the water between the hull and the outrigger, +and using the cross-tie as a rowlock, the sculler describes short, +semicircular sweeps with the blade, throwing his weight against the +handle in front of him as he stands upon the deck. When two are sculling +they swing in time, but in opposite directions, and there is no exercise +that displays the grace of the human body in action to better advantage. +A speed of three miles an hour is the maximum that can be attained with +the _sua_, but the scullers can maintain this speed for a long time +without fatigue. The stroke is as difficult to acquire as that of the +gondolier, but when you have once acquired it you wonder wherein the +difficulty lay. + +The craft of seamanship was hereditary, and every considerable chief had +his fisher tribe to man his canoes. In war time they were his navy, +since many engagements were fought at sea. Manoeuvring to windward of +the enemy was even more important in a war-canoe than in a frigate, +because by getting within striking distance of his outrigger you had him +at your mercy. While he could not venture out upon his outrigger without +capsizing himself, one stroke of a hatchet at his mast-stay brought the +whole of his rigging down about his ears, and you could club his head as +it bobbed up under the sail. A body of etiquette grew up about the +canoe. The high chief's canoe was marked by a streamer or a fan floating +from the tip of the lower yard. It was an insult to cross her bows, or +to sail to windward of her. The custom which required the serf to stoop +in passing or approaching a chief was extended to canoes passing or +approaching chief villages such as Mbau. All had to lower their sails, +and toil past with the _sua_, however fair the breeze. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 101: _Fiji and the Fijians_, pp. 71-76, 88-89.] + +[Footnote 102: A full description and diagram of the _tongiaki_ is given +by Captain Cook.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +PHYSICAL POWERS + + +Though the contrary is asserted by European residents, I think that the +physical strength and endurance of a Fijian are greater rather than less +than that of the average Englishman. Native prisoners, used as porters, +will carry a box weighing from 50 to 60 lb., slung on a bamboo between +two men, over very hilly roads a distance of thirty miles in a hot sun +without distress, if they are allowed occasional halts, and will do this +for several days in succession. A letter-carrier will cover thirty-five +miles of hilly road as an ordinary day's march, and more if haste is +enjoined. On a fairly level road, such as the hard beach, a native will +walk ten miles easily in two hours and a quarter. It is probably true +that most Europeans in good training could do all these things equally +well in cool weather, if they were barefooted and could reduce their +clothing to a loin-cloth; for having once been shipwrecked at night, +with ten miles of sand in the darkness to cover, when I had given my wet +clothes and shoes to a native to carry, I found that I outpaced my men +easily. But this, of course, was no test, for the cool breeze which was +pleasant to me cut through them like a March east wind, and left them +shivering, starved and miserable. + +On the sugar plantations the overseers have a good opportunity of +comparing the strength and endurance of Fijians and East Indian coolies, +and they find that where steady hard work, such as thrashing cane, is +required the coolie is the best labourer, but that the Fijian excels in +work such as unloading punts, or hauling logs, in which great muscular +effort is required, with rests between. This is exactly what one would +expect. In India the man who cannot work steadily must starve; in Fiji +food is so easily come by that a few spurts of labour at planting and +harvest and war time are the normal conditions of life. + +A Fijian can hurl a spear and throw a reed into the air farther than a +white man can, and in those feats in which knack is in favour of the +white man, such as throwing the cricket ball, he is probably more than +his equal. + +His extraordinary powers of endurance in the water far surpass anything +recorded of Europeans. I have twice talked with people just rescued +after being 48 hours in the water, swimming without support, in both +cases from the capsizing of their canoes in mid-channel. They seemed +little the worse, though they had been without food or drink for two +days in a burning sun and in constant peril of sharks, which had eaten +several of their companions, and their faces were raw, owing to their +continually brushing the salt water out of their eyes. Men suffer more +acutely than women in these cases, because the long immersion in salt +water produces a horrible and painful affection of the male organs. + +On the other hand, Fijians seem to be more sensitive to cold and hunger +than Europeans. The average daily weight of roots consumed by a healthy +adult Fijian is from seven to ten pounds, and the stomach is probably +larger than that of a European, and feels hunger sooner. Cold and hunger +tell rapidly upon his buoyant spirits, and make him silent and +depressed. Fijians are heavy sleepers, and dislike being aroused. It is +difficult to induce a commoner to awake his chief at all, and if he +must, he does it by calling "_Iele!_" softly, or scratching at his +sleeping-mats, but never by touching him. He bears deprivation of sleep +less easily than a European, and for this reason he makes a bad sentry. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ATTITUDES AND MOVEMENTS + + +The Fijian generally sleeps upon his back, with his head turned a little +to one side, so that the part of the skull immediately behind the ear +may rest upon the wooden neck-pillow. His hair is wrapped in a turban of +bark-cloth to keep it well off the neck, and, if he has no blanket, his +_sulu_ is spread over head and all, like a winding-sheet over a corpse. +This is perhaps as much for keeping off mosquitoes as for warmth. When +not walking, he is either sitting cross-legged on the ground, or +squatting with his haunches resting upon his heels. Except among the +high chiefs, standing seems to be felt as a breach of good manners, for +to stand up when others are sitting, or to reach over their head for +something suspended above requires the apology, "_Tulou! Tulou!_" and a +clapping of hands after the sitting posture has been resumed. Sitting in +a chair is as irksome to the Fijian as sitting tailor-fashion is to us. +He will not only sit cross-legged for hours without fatigue, but will +even lay one foot upon the inner surface of the other thigh. But in the +presence of equals, when social restraint is removed, he prefers to lie +upon his stomach with his chin propped upon his hands. It is not +uncommon to find half-a-dozen men thus lying with their heads converging +upon the native newspaper, _Na Mata_, which is spread out uncut between +them, so that each is able to read a different page. When a visitor +enters they spring up, knotting their _sulus_ round the waist, and sidle +away cross-legged into the place proper to their respective ranks, the +chief nearest the bed-place, and the inferiors facing him at the lower +end of the house. During the brewing of the _yankona_ bowl, even in the +family circle no one would think of lolling until the cup has been +handed round; then tongues and attitudes are loosened, and every one may +loll as he pleases. + +Women never sit cross-legged. They sit with their knees together and +their feet drawn up under them on one side or the other, changing the +side at frequent intervals, by half-rising on the knees, and shifting +the feet to the other side. The attitude in micturition is the same for +both sexes, namely, squatting. + +In regionibus interioribus feminae in medio fluvio, mares in virgeto, +defaecare solent; apud tribus litorales feminae morem hominum obsequuntur; +igitur carnem porcorum, qui foedam sentinam comedunt, edere non fas +est. Feminae fragmento panni (tapa), mares calamo deflecto usi, se +detergent. Morem Europensem papyro se detergere contemnunt; igitur pueri +Vitienses comites mestizos derident, clamantes "Ngusi veva!" (Ecce puer +qui se papyro deterget!) + +There is so much difference between the carriage of the body in chiefs +and in commoners that in some districts on ceremonial occasions the +attitude is an indication of the rank. For the commoner, having always +to leave the path and squat down as a chief is passing, or at least +lower and avert the head, acquires a habit of stooping, while the chief, +accustomed to command, carries himself erect and dignified, every inch a +king. There is nothing remarkable about the gait of a Fijian, except the +freedom and swing which are common to all men unhampered with clothing. +The women do not walk as gracefully as the men, especially in the hill +districts, where they begin to carry burdens on their backs at a very +early age. They seldom carry anything upon their heads; everything is +packed in bales and baskets, which are slung on the back by cords +passing over the shoulders and under the armpits. In the old days the +men carried nothing but their weapons if they could help it. They now +carry all burdens slung to a pole or a bamboo. A single carrier will +make his load into two packages of equal weight at either end of the +pole, and balance them across his shoulder, but a heavy load is slung +midway between two carriers, who do not hold the pole in position while +walking, and touch it only when shifting it to the other shoulder for a +change. In moving any heavy object they seldom push, preferring to haul +upon it by rhythmical jerks delivered in time to a chant. They have +never taken kindly to an English saw, because it is against their +instinct to exert force in pushing, and their own tool, the adze, +delivers its blow towards them. + +[Pageheader: A QUARREL BETWEEN BROTHERS] + +They are the best tree-climbers in the world. While other races use a +rattan round the waist or round the ankles in climbing cocoanut palms, +the Fijians plant their soles against the trunk, grasp it with both +hands, and simply walk up it to a height of fifty feet or more. + +Though very voluble in speech, they do not gesticulate, and, as a rule, +use their hands only to indicate the size of an object they are +describing. They point with the open hand, and they beckon with a +downward sweep of the hand as if they were hooking the person towards +them with their fingers. They raise the head and the eyebrows +simultaneously in token of assent, and shake it as we do in negation. +They show astonishment by cracking the finger-joints, or by shaking the +fingers loosely from side to side from the wrist, with the hand raised +to the level of the shoulder, or, if the emotion is intense, by pouting +out the lips in trumpet shape, and crying "O--o--o," on a high note, +while patting the lips with the open fingers. Their gesture of defiance +is to cross the arms on the breast and slap the biceps with the fingers +of the other hand. In sudden anger the complexion grows darker and the +eyes flash, but they have their features so well under control that they +seldom betray anger, but nurse it and brood over it, while waiting for +an opportunity for revenge. Only once have I seen an open rupture, and +that was between two first cousins, who "slanged" one another across the +barrack square, hurling imputations against the virtue of the female +ancestors who were common to them both. Their companions spent the whole +day in trying to patch the quarrel, for, they said, "a quarrel between +brethren is the most difficult of all to heal," and towards evening they +were successful, for I saw the two enemies strolling up and down with +their little fingers linked, and dressed in one another's clothes. + +Their laughter is hearty, open-mouthed, and not unmusical, though I fear +that it is heartiest when the subject is of a kind of which the +missionary would not approve. + +Clever as they are in not betraying their emotions in their faces, they +are very apt at making secret signals with their eyes, and many an +assignation is made by question and answer with the eyes when the house +is full of people. + +They show shame or embarrassment by drooping the heads and picking at +the grass or the floor-mats. Their behaviour when in acute pain is much +the same as that of a European. When a native submits to have the +_soki_, or soft corn on the sole of the foot, to which many are subject, +touched with nitric acid, he grasps the foot with both hands, and rolls +about on the floor, sucking the air in through his teeth with a hissing +noise. When under the lash for serious offences their pride deserts +them; they dance and howl, and either implore the gaoler to have mercy, +or curse his ancestresses to the fourth generation. Yet three minutes +later the same man is laughing at the contortions of a fellow-sufferer +who has taken his place at the triangle. + +[Illustration: The Hair plastered with bleaching lime.] + +[Pageheader: SENSE OF SMELL] + +Though the enormous heads of hair worn by the warriors of olden times +have disappeared, being regarded as the badge of heathenism, the young +men still cultivate mops which, being dyed with lime, stand out like a +golden aureole. The lime is smeared over the head on Saturdays and +washed out on Sunday morning, more than an hour being spent in combing +and oiling it with cocoanut oil scented with grated sandalwood. The +arms, neck and breast are also plentifully besmeared. Young girls wear +the hair shorter, but dyed and clipped symmetrically like the men, and +many wear the long _tombe_ locks. In Mathuata (Vanualevu) and some other +places young unmarried men also wear a cluster of _tombe_. After middle +age the men cut their hair shorter, but continue to lime it for the sake +of cleanliness even after it is grey. Widows allow their hair to grow +without liming it for a year or more after their husband's death as a +symbol of mourning. Baldness is not very common. The natives say that +baldness and bad teeth have only been known since the introduction of +sugar and other foreign goods, but though there may be some truth in +this as regards their teeth, there can be no doubt that baldness has +always existed. They never brush or cleanse their teeth, which +nevertheless are, as a rule, beautifully white. Corpora sua non depilant +Vitienses; et feminam pilosam etiam diligunt. Morem Tongicum pubes et +alas depilare derident. + +Painting the face, which was inseparable from warfare, is now used for +ceremonial dances. Lampblack and vermilion are the favourite colours. +Soot is also smeared over the face as a protection from sunburn on a +journey. Girls sometimes decorate themselves with a patch of vermilion +for a dance. + +The Fijians are free from the peculiar smell which is exhaled by the +negro, and though one is always aware of his presence in a room, I am +not sure that his scent differs much from that of a European under the +same conditions of nudity, physical exertion in hot weather, and absence +of soap in washing; for though the Fijian has a bath every day, mere +immersion in cold water does not do much towards cleansing his skin. The +odour of perspiration is more marked in males than in females, and in +the hill people than the coast natives. Fijians have a keener sense of +smell than we have; in examining an unknown object they will generally +carry it to the nose, and I have heard one say that they detected a +peculiar smell in Europeans and disliked it, but the man who said this +was probably retaliating for some remark of a trader in disparagement of +his race. As with us, the intensity of odour varies much with the +individual, and it is more noticeable in old men than young. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +TRAITS OF CHARACTER + + +As the natural disposition with which a child enters this world, +restrained though it may be by caution or fear of public opinion from +expressing itself in acts, remains unaltered till he leaves it, so the +character of natural man is untouched, even superficially, by the decay +of his customary law. The surface of the lake is lashed into foam by the +passing squall; but a fathom beneath the water lies untroubled. + +Though the Fijian character has been described as full of +contradictions, when it is examined by the light of their moral code, +which differs vitally in some respect from ours, it will be found to be +as consistent as our own. How, it may be asked, can a people addicted to +cannibalism and to acts of ferocious cruelty be the most timid, polite +and hospitable of mankind? To any one intimately acquainted with the +people these facts are perfectly consistent, though it is a little +difficult to reconcile them in cold print. Timidity, as Williams stated +many years ago, is the key to the Fijian character. Beset by a myriad +perils from the cradle-mat to the burial-cave, he went in terror of his +life. On the one hand there were the Unseen Powers quick to avenge every +infringement of a tabu, however unwitting; on the other was his own +chief, quick to take offence, and beyond him the enemy, ever ready to +waylay the unwary in a lonely part of the road. In such an atmosphere +the cardinal virtues do not thrive, and it is not to be wondered at that +the Fijian was suspicious, and held craft and adroit lying in high +esteem. He was polite and hospitable, because, with so many enemies +already, his instinct was always to convert every new potential foe +into an ally, or at least not to give him an excuse for thinking himself +slighted. His cruelty also proceeded in part from timidity. "_Moku na +katikati_" (Slay the women and children) was, as a Christian native once +assured me, a sound maxim, for the object in war was to crush your enemy +beyond the power of retaliation, and women and children breed avengers +to harass your old age. The horrible cruelties inflicted on captives +were in part propitiations to the War-god, and in part the same +thoughtless love of mischief that moves English school-boys to tie a +kettle to a dog's tail, because its sufferings are amusing to watch, and +they do not understand. + +[Pageheader: CONTRADICTIONS IN CHARACTER] + +The sympathies of the Fijian reached to the limit of his tribe and no +further, but within that limit they were active enough. After torturing, +mutilating, and devouring his helpless captives, the warrior washed off +his war-paint, went home and played with his children, received his +visitors with stately politeness, and performed his part in the ornate +and elaborate ceremonial of social life. Both phases were custom, and to +his mind not in the least incongruous. + +In the matter of lying he drew a nice distinction. It was a crime to lie +to his chief; it was, if not a virtue, at least a title to public +admiration to display something cruder than the craft of Odysseus to an +enemy, or to a person not a member of his tribe. The maxim "All is fair +in love and war" was applied literally. To pretend alliance, and then +treacherously to smite the ally from behind, as Namosimalua did to the +people of Naingani, was more esteemed than barren courage. I have heard +a young chief boast of having gratified his passion by compelling the +lover of the girl he coveted to overcome her scruples while he hid in +the dark behind him, so that at the last he might push him aside and +personate him. In these days the European has dropped easily into the +place formerly occupied by the extra-tribal man. By an administrative +fiction the Governor of the colony is supreme chief over the natives, +and the natives have fallen easily into the habit of paying him all the +external marks of respect which are due to their own chiefs, even, +rather incongruously, greeting him with the _tama_, or shout of respect +which is due only to the chief in whom is enshrined the ancestral +spirit of the man who utters it. There have been governors who have been +deceived into the belief that they really enjoy _ex officio_ the +prestige of a supreme chief, and that the natives will not dare to lie +to them. In 1888 an European named Stewart was murdered on the Sambeto +coast. Another European was arrested and tried for the crime, but the +issue was confused by a number of native witnesses, who came forward +with two wholly incompatible stories, both designed to fasten the guilt +upon the accused man. One of these stories hung upon a letter said to +have been written by a petty chief who in heathen times would have held +an office akin to that of hereditary executioner. The governor +interrogated this man, and, convinced from his knowledge of native +character that the man would not dare to lie solemnly to his supreme +chief, accepted the story, and placed the matter in my hands as Acting +Head of the Native Office. Everything turned upon the question whether +the man had himself written the letter, and I knew that he could not +write, but since the Governor could not be convinced without proof, I +induced him to send for the chief, and put my statement to the test. I +could not help admiring the native's courage and persistence. Even when +writing materials were put before him in the Governor's presence, and he +was ordered to copy a verse from the Fijian Bible, he did not falter. +For a full ten minutes he plodded away with an implement that he had +never had between his fingers before, trailing a drunken zigzag across +the paper like the track of a fly rescued from drowning in an inkpot. He +took his unmasking with quiet dignity, however, and the murder remains a +mystery to this day. To his own chief he would not have lied: the +Governor of the colony was simply a foreigner to whom he owed no +allegiance. + +[Pageheader: DEFRAUDING WITH DIGNITY] + +Europeans hold opinions regarding the honesty of Fijians according to +their individual experience. There is no equivalent for the word in the +language, though there is a word for theft. In the ancient moral code +theft and cheating were virtues or vices according to whether they were +practised upon a stranger or a member of the tribe and inasmuch as the +white man falls into the former category, and is possessed of priceless +treasures to boot, it was not to be expected that the Fijian would +regard cheating him as an offence against morality. It was an injury, +and since to injure a man who had befriended you is a mean action, +public opinion would mildly condemn the robbing of a friendly white man. +Cheating and theft really date from the arrival of Europeans, for in the +small communities of the old time it was well-nigh impossible to rob a +fellow-tribesman without being found out, and to despoil an enemy was, +as it is with us, legitimate. + +In the matter of dishonesty it is, of course, the country storekeeper +who suffers most, and it is therefore he who gives the Fijian the worst +character. The native, from the highest to the lowest, will run into +debt under the most solemn promises, and would never pay unless induced +by cajolery, or compelled under the pressure of a refusal to give +further credit. Even so he will display great ingenuity. A few years ago +the Government, anxious to introduce copper coinage into a colony where +a silver threepenny piece was the lowest currency, tried the experiment +of paying a portion of the tax refund in copper. The natives showed a +great unwillingness to accept it, but the late Roko Tui Lau, an old +chief noted for his stately and dignified manners, won the gratitude of +his people by including all the copper coins in his own share. On the +following day, accompanied by his train carrying bags of money, he +presented himself at the German store, where his credit had long been +overstrained, and intimated that he had come to pay off his debts. The +heavy bags were clapped on the counter, and the unsuspecting trader, +believing the coins to be florins, pressed fresh supplies upon his +illustrious client, who loaded his men with goods and departed. The +trader's feelings (and, I suspect, his language) when he came to open +the bags and found not a florin among the lot, need not be dwelt upon. + +The commoner forms of dishonesty--putting white stones among the +_yankona_, and watering the tobacco and the copra to increase the +weight--are well-nigh universal, and there have been a few instances of +childish attempts at forgery among domestic servants, but when the +Fijians are compared with Indian coolies, it must be confessed that +pilfering is rare. I have myself lived for years in native districts +without a door to my house, which has stood open night and day even in +my absences, and I can only recall one theft of a few shillings. A +Fijian servant will sometimes secrete a thing which he covets to see +whether it is missed. If inquiries are made for it he will be most +active in the search, and will eventually discover it in some unlikely +place, hoping to acquire merit by his diligence, but deceiving nobody. + +On the other hand, money is a temptation which few natives can resist, +and it is to be feared that few native magistrates or scribes have not +at some time or other borrowed from the funds entrusted to them. They +might well plead the excuse that their wants and the calls of +hospitality have greatly increased, while their wretched salaries of +from L3 to L12 a year have not. It is much to say for them that bribery +is uncommon, and that though they may show partiality in the +administration of justice they are not corrupt. + +Considering what must appear to the Fijian as the fabulous wealth of the +white man, unprotected save by a wooden wall and a crazy door, and so +temptingly placed at the mercy of the village as is the native store, it +is surprising that house-breaking is not more frequent. It is the belief +of many Fijians that every white man has a chest of money in his house, +and occasionally some restless spirit organizes a burglary among his +chosen associates. I have related elsewhere[103] how Kaikai robbed a +store at Navua, set it on fire, and sank the safe in the bed of the +river, but in order to show the school-boy light-hearted inconsequence +of the burglars, I may repeat here the confession of one of them:-- + +[Pageheader: NATIVE BUSHRANGERS] + + "Sir, the root of the matter was Kaikai. He seduced us to do this + thing. We therefore are innocent. It happened thus: Kaikai came + into our house in the evening and said 'Eroni, let us have + prayers.' So we had prayers. Then Kaikai said, 'How would it be to + break open the white man's store?' And we said, 'It is well.' And + when we came near the store, Kaikai said, 'How would it be to set + the store on fire, and then perhaps the white man will come out?' + So we set the store on fire, and presently the white man did come + out. Then Kaikai said, 'Let us trample him.' And so we did, and + having put the chest of money in the river, we all went home." + + "And what did you do then?" asked the Court. + + "Kaikai said prayers." + +A similar case occurred in Vanualevu, while the Australian papers were +of full of the exploits of the Kelly gang of bushrangers. Fired by the +halting translation of the local storekeeper, three otherwise blameless +youths, church-goers every one, resolved to take to the bush and make +the world ring with the story of their crimes. They began tentatively by +setting fire to an empty house, and waxing bolder, they waylaid an +elderly German storekeeper in broad day, and by dint of yelling their +tribal war-cry into his ears, put sufficient heart into themselves to +cut him down with a hatchet. A couple of mission teachers, attracted by +their shouts, put them to flight, and thereafter they seem to have lost +heart, for a week later their dead bodies were discovered far up the +mountain. They had perished like the Fijian widows of old. Two of them +had strangled the third by hauling on the loose ends of a noose of +bark-cloth; the first had then strangled the second by tying one end of +the noose to a tree, and pulling on the other, and had then hanged +himself, English fashion, from a bough. + +Though naturally so timid, the Fijian has shown himself upon occasion to +be capable of extraordinary courage and self-devotion, generally, +however, when assailed by the forces of nature. There is no reason to +doubt the truth of the story that a Kandavu chief, whose canoe capsized +a mile from the Serua reef, when attacked by sharks, was protected by +his men, who formed a ring round him as he swam. As man after man was +dragged down, the rest closed in, until there were but three left to +reach the shore. I myself questioned two girls, the survivors of a party +of twelve, who had been picked up by a cutter off the mouth of the Rewa, +after all their companions had been devoured by sharks, and they had +been eight hours swimming in a rough sea. They described without a +shudder how a huge shark, glutted with the body of the last of their +playmates, had rubbed himself along their naked backs as they swam, and +had played about them until the moment of their rescue. Their fortitude +seemed, however, to be due to a lack of imagination. + +To the European the natives must always seem wanting in natural +affection. Parents are fond of their children until sickness calls for +sustained effort or self-sacrifice, but their love will not bear the +strain of these. As with all races such affection as there is tends +downward and not upward. The mother is fonder of her child than the +child of his mother. In the old days the young man obeyed his father, +because he was one of the elders, the repositories of tribal lore, not +because he was his father; but when the father grew infirm he helped to +bury him alive without a trace of emotion beyond the mourning which +customary law enjoined. In these days of schools and Government +employment the young man regards the opinion of his elders no more. A +few years ago the senior Wesleyan missionary appealed to one of +Thakombau's sons to mend his ways, saying, "What would the chief, your +father, have said?" The young man jerked his thumb contemptuously +towards the tomb on the hill above them, and replied, "My father? Why, +he's dead." While there is a certain comradeship between brothers and +the first cousins who are classed as brothers, the customary law that +forbids brothers and sisters to speak to one another is a bar to any +affection between these. On the other hand, there is loyalty and +fidelity between husbands and wives, though it is more perhaps the +mutual regard of partners in the same firm than warm attachment. The +only instance of demonstrative family affection that I can recall +occurred in Lomaloma when a prisoner sentenced by the Provincial Court +was being sent on board a vessel bound for Levuka. His aged mother +caught hold of him, to prevent him from entering the boat, wailing and +storming at the native policeman by turns. When they had been separated +by force, and he was fairly afloat, she cast herself down on the beach, +shrieking and throwing the sand over her head in utter abandonment of +grief. Though not more noisy, this was a very different exhibition from +the ceremonial wailing at a death. At the funeral of Tui Nandrau, one of +the last of the cannibal chiefs, I came upon two or three of the widows +howling with dry eyes, like dogs baying the moon. Seeing me, one of them +nudged her neighbour to point me out, and grinned knowingly, and then +drowned her sister wives in a howl of peculiar shrillness and poignancy. +During a cricket match at Lomaloma a canoe arrived carrying news of the +death of the father of one of the bowlers. At the end of the over his +aunt came over to the pitch to tell him, and I overheard the +conversation. + +[Pageheader: CEREMONIAL WAILING] + +"Here is a painful thing," she said; "Wiliame is dead. Pita has just +landed and brought the news." + +"O Veka!" exclaimed the boy. + +"How then? Shall we wail now, or after the game is finished?" + +They discussed the point for a few moments. There were, it seemed, only +three female relations on the ground, and if the others were sent for it +would make a braver show. The boy decided the point. "Send for them," he +said, "and let us finish the match first; then we can weep." + +As soon as the last wicket was down I was startled by a piercing shriek +from the scoring tent: the wailing had begun. The aunt and half-a-dozen +old crones were howling "_Oo-au-e-e_" with a peculiar long-drawn wail, +ending in a sob, while real tears coursed down their wrinkled cheeks. It +was difficult to believe that the grief was only simulated. + +The reasoning power of the Fijian is not easy to classify. He is +extraordinarily observant, and in respect of natural phenomena he shows +a high power of deduction. He is an acute weather-prophet; he knows the +name and the nature of every tree and almost every plant that grows in +his forest; he is a most skilful gardener. A broken twig, a fallen +berry, are enough for him to assert positively where a wild hog has its +lair; he knows by the look of the weather where the fish are to be +found. He will tell you correctly from a footprint in the sand which of +his fellow-villagers has passed that way and when, and whether he went +in haste or leisurely, for he knows the footprints of his people as he +knows their faces, and will swear to them in court. He will probe the +secret motive that lay behind every action of one of his own people, and +he is beginning to draw deductions even from the manner of Europeans. + +"Mr. ----," a Fijian once said to me of a colleague of blunt manners, +"is from Scotland. I suppose that Scotland is a 'bush' village!" + +When justice has to be defeated he is remarkably acute in the story he +will concoct. Assembling the false witnesses into a house by night, he +will cunningly dissect it, dictating to each witness the part he is to +tell, repeating it over and over until the man has it by heart, even +interpolating some trifling discrepancy, so as to render it more +life-like. It is only by showing in cross-examination that none of the +witnesses will budge an inch beyond his original narrative that the +fraud can be detected. + +Fijian boys, educated at an European school, are probably quite equal in +capacity and intelligence to European boys of the same age, but, though +there has hitherto been no case in which their education has been +continued beyond boyhood, there is no reason to think that this equality +would not be maintained through manhood. In early boyhood they show some +talent for arithmetic, and an extraordinary power of learning by rote. +Those who had been sent to school in Sydney speak English with but +little foreign accent. For drawing, for science, and for mechanics they +do not appear to have much aptitude. As might be expected from a people +to whom oratory comes easily, they write with ease, and their letters +and articles for the native newspaper, _Na Mata_, show close reasoning, +and sometimes scathing satire. One contributor, Ilai Moto-ni-thothoka, +displayed both imagination and literary talent. + +[Pageheader: PRODUCTS OF THE TRAINING SCHOOL] + +In education, however, the Fijian has never had a fair chance. The +Wesleyan and Roman Catholic Missions support native teachers in every +village in the colony, and every child learns something of reading and +writing. The teachers themselves are educated at training schools, where +more attention, naturally, is paid to fitting them for their duties as +local preachers than to giving them secular education. The two +Government enterprises, the technical school and the school for native +medical students, have not been a marked success. The boys leave the +technical school with a fair knowledge of carpentry and smithing, but as +soon as they return home the fecklessness of village life crushes all +the enterprise out of them. Either a powerful chief expects them to work +for him without pay, or relations swoop down upon them, borrow their +tools, and force them back into the daily round in the village community +to which they were born. Therein lies the secret: Custom again asserts +herself. The native hereditary _matai_ (carpenter), whose labour and +remuneration were alike prescribed by Custom, plies his adze with profit +to himself: Custom never contemplated a Government-taught carpenter; she +intended the boy to take his turn at yam-planting and hut-thatching, and +she revolts. She treats the native medical practitioner in the same +fashion. During his three years' training at Suva Hospital he may have +shown great aptitude; he may know by rote the uncouth Fijian version of +his Pharmacopoeia, in which tincture is _tinkatura_, and acid is +_asiti_; he may even have acquired some skill in diagnosis. But no +sooner is he turned adrift in his district with his medicine chest than +complaints begin to come in. He has demanded from the chief four porters +to carry his chest without payment; he is behaving like a chief, +demanding food wherever he goes, and interfering with the customs of the +people; and, at last, he is doing nothing for his pay, and his chest is +rotting in an outhouse. He has his own tale to tell: the porters dropped +his box and broke the bottles; the chief stole all his _masima Episomi_ +(Epsom salts), the most popular of his drugs, and what is a doctor to do +who has nothing but _belusitoni_ (blue-stone) with which to treat his +patients? It was not many months before Dr. Corney, the Chief Medical +Officer, who had trained them with so much care, was fain to confess +that the native medical practitioner was a failure. + +It is perhaps the strength of the Fijian race that education makes so +slight an impression upon his habits and character. The esteem of his +own people is more to him than that of strangers, and, if he has been +brought up by Europeans in English dress, he will revert to the national +costume as soon as he is back in his native village. Ratu Epeli, the +late Roko Tui Ndreketi, insisted on wearing the _sulu_ even in Calcutta, +and cared nothing for the notice he attracted. The Tongans, on the other +hand, and the other Melanesian races love nothing better than to dress +up as white men. Most of the chiefs will dine with you with perfect +decorum, and use a knife and fork as if they had been born to them, but +in their own houses they will sit upon the ground and eat with their +fingers as their fathers did. They have adopted such of our inventions +as are better than their own--our boats, our lamps and our +dishes--merely for convenience, but they care nothing for contrivances +that entail a change of habit. The native carpenter, whose only tool is +the adze, will buy a Sheffield blade, but he will mount it on the same +handle as his fathers used in the age of stone, and will explain, with +some reason, that the movable socket, which enables him to cut a surface +at right angles to the handle, is an invention that we should do well to +adopt. + +Though they have a considerable body of traditional poetry, the Fijians +cannot be said to have much literary taste. The _mekes_ are mythological +and historical, and in the latter the fiction of exaggeration is freely +mingled with fact. Without a native commentator they are difficult to +translate, being often cast in the form of a dialogue without any +indication of a change of speaker. In descriptions of the deaths of +heroes the dirge is put into the mouth of the dead hero himself. Boating +songs, lullabies, love songs and descriptions of scenery are not to be +found in the native poem. In their indifference to the beauty of nature +they are in sharp contrast to the Tongans, whose songs are full of +admiration for flowers, running water and lovely scenery. + +[Pageheader: HISTORICAL POETRY] + +They judge the merit of a poem by the uniformity of metre and the +regularity with which every line in a stanza ends with the same vowel or +diphthong. This is secured by a plentiful use of expletives, by +abbreviating or prolonging words, by omitting articles, and other +poetic licence, but in very few is this kind of rhyme carried out +consistently. Some bards profess to be inspired. Others make no such +pretensions, but set about their business in the prosaic manner of a +literary hack. They teach their compositions to bands of youths who +master every detail of the poem in a single evening. It is then as +permanent and unalterable as if it had been set up in type. I had a +curious instance of the remarkable verbal memory of Fijians in a long +poem taken down from the lips of an old woman in 1893. The poem had been +published by Waterhouse twenty-seven years earlier, and on comparison +only one verbal discrepancy between the two versions was found. Repeated +from mouth to mouth, a popular poem will travel far beyond the district +in which its dialect is spoken, and thus one may often hear mekes whose +meaning is not understood by the singers. English popular songs, heard +once or twice, will thus run through the group corrupted into Fijian +words that have the nearest sound to the English ones. The common +_yankona meke_ conveys no meaning whatever to the modern Fijian, but it +is not necessarily very ancient, for it may be the corruption of a poem +composed in a local dialect. + +The popularity of an historical _meke_ is not often more than sixty +years; those that are older survive only in fragments. The Mission +schools have enormously increased the output of trivial and ephemeral +poetry; at every annual school feast the children perform _mekes_, +celebrating petty incidents of village life, composed by their native +teacher, and the old tragic historical poetry has fallen upon evil days +and may soon be heard no more. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 103: _The Indiscretions of Lady Asenath._] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +SWIMMING + + +Swimming seems to come naturally to every Fijian. As soon as a child can +toddle, it is playing at the water's edge with older children, and +little by little it ventures out until its feet are off the bottom. +Being supposed to be a natural action like walking, no attempt is made +to teach it. Inability to swim is always a source of derisive amusement. +I remember a journey inland, where many swollen creeks had to be +crossed, and all bridges had been broken down. A servant who was with +us, a native of Malicolo, who could not swim, had to be ferried across +clinging to an impromptu raft of banana stumps. Though the wearied +carriers had to cut and make this raft anew at every crossing, the roars +of good-natured laughter seemed to be ample reward, and the joke never +grew stale. + +In long-distance swimming the natives adopt a sort of side-stroke, in +which nothing but the head is above water. They move smoothly and +rapidly through the water, the legs and the right arm giving the +propulsion, and the left hand striking downwards under the body. When a +quick spurt is required, they use the overhand action with both arms +alternately, with the cheek resting flat on the water as the arm on that +side is driven aft. With this action they can swim at greater speed than +all but the best European swimmers. They can swim immense distances, and +no swimming-board or float is ever used, as in the Eastern Pacific, in +surf swimming, except by children in their play. + +[Pageheader: METHOD OF DIVING] + +There are many swimming games, such as chasing a fugitive and wrestling +in the water. On a calm evening the water is black with the heads of +laughing men and women. I have joined in these sports, and though I am +at home in the water, as swimmers go in England, I confess that when I +was pulled down by the legs from below, and ducked from above when I +tried to come up, I was glad to escape from them with my life. In the +game of _ririka_ (leaping) a cocoanut log is laid slantwise from the +beach to an upright post in the water. The people run up this incline in +endless file, and their plunges whiten the surrounding water with foam. + +The Fijian is a good diver, though inferior to the Rotuman and the +native of the Line Islands. When diving he does not plunge head first +from the swimming position, but draws his head under, and reverses the +position of his body under water without creating a swirl. If the water +is not too deep, when he reaches the bottom he lies flat with his nose +touching the sand, his hands being behind the back, and propels himself +with incredible speed by digging his toes into the sand. English divers, +who can realize the difficulty of this manoeuvre, may be inclined to +doubt this statement, and for their benefit I will relate how I came to +have ocular demonstration. At Christmas-time in 1886 I organized +athletic sports at Fort Carnarvon, an isolated little quasi-military +post garrisoned by fifty men of the Armed Native Constabulary in the +heart of Vitilevu. The mountaineers of the neighbouring villages were +invited to compete with the soldiers, who were recruited from the coast. +In wrestling and running the soldiers held their own, but when it came +to swimming and diving they were nowhere. The course was a backwater of +the river about 8 feet deep, and I went down the bank 150 yards from the +starting-point to judge the winner. Our most expert diver was a Mathuata +coast man, and he came to the surface 20 yards short of me, after being +down 75 seconds. I had already written him down as winner, when a head +bobbed up fully 20 yards beyond me. It was a sooty-skinned, +insignificant little mountaineer, who did not seem much distressed, and +was so pleased with our applause that he offered to repeat the feat. I +sent for him next day, and took a lesson in 4 feet of clear water, where +I could plainly see his every movement. It amused him immensely to see +my futile efforts to keep my head on the bottom, for whenever I drove +myself forward with my toes, my head would rise to the surface. The art +seemed to be to arch the body so that the head and feet were lowest, and +to move the legs with the knees drawn straight up under the stomach. I +raced him, he using the ground and I swimming under water, and found +that he went more than twice as fast. The hill natives, who bathe only +in fresh water, are better swimmers than the coast people. + +Another water game is peculiar to the rivers. In flood-time, when the +river is running like a mill-race, you put to sea on a banana stump, +with the thinner end held firmly between the knees, and the butt under +your chest, using the hands to steer and keep yourself in mid-stream. In +shooting the rapids, you let the submerged end take the bump over the +stones, but sometimes you receive serious bruises. Woe betide you if you +get into a whirlpool and turn over, for you then have to part from your +craft, and are in danger of being sucked under and drowned. From Fort +Carnarvon the river sweeps round a bend of fifteen miles, and returns to +a point not very far from the place of departure. We used to set forth +in a flotilla of twenty, and cover the distance in little more than +half-an-hour, our native companions keeping up an incessant chorus of +laughter and song as we swept past the villages. + +In one place on the Singatoka, near Nakorovatu, the sunken rocks cause a +back current nearly as fast as the main stream, an elongated whirlpool +half-a-mile long. A few strokes at each end are enough to take you from +one stream into the other, and you may thus be carried up and down the +river without effort. + +[Pageheader: THE DEEP PLUNGE] + +Fijians never take headers. Under ordinary circumstances they bathe +without immersing the head, because their thick mat of hair is difficult +to dry. When they plunge from a height it is always feet first. I once +lost my ring in the deep pool at the mouth of the submarine cave at +Yasawa-i-lau, and I offered a sovereign to any one who would find it. +The water was over twenty feet deep, and the divers found that they +could not reach the bottom with breath enough to search for it without +plunging from a height. Even then they plunged in feet first, and turned +over when near the bottom. But the ring had evidently sunk into the soft +white ooze, which the divers churned into a thick cloud until further +search was useless. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +FISHING + + +Every Fijian is a fisherman by instinct. At ten years old, with a little +four-pronged spear, or with a bow and a four-pronged arrow, he is +scouring the pools left on the reef by the receding tide, and by the age +of eighteen his aim is unerring. He fishes for the pot, not for sport, +and seldom does he come home empty-handed. The spectacle of a big fish +swimming in the sea never fails to stir his emotion. A _sanka_ darting +across the bows of your boat will touch the most lethargic of your crew +to tense excitement; no spear being at hand he will poise and cast your +precious boat-hook at the monster, and fling himself into the sea to +recover it. Even among the tribes of hereditary professional fishermen +this emotion is never staled by use. + +Wherever the sea runs up into sandy or muddy inlets there stands a +fish-fence belonging to some village in the neighbourhood. The fence is +from 100 to 200 yards long, built of reedwork supported by stout stakes +driven deep into the mud, and shaped like the segment of a circle with +its axis on the shore, and about the middle there is a bag-shaped annex +with an intricate entrance so contrived that a fish making for the sea +as the tide recedes will nose his way through it into the annex and not +be able to make his way out again. There is a scene of wild excitement +and confusion when the spearmen enter the annex at low-tide. Mad with +terror, the great fish lash the water into foam as they dart hither and +thither and leap clear of the water to escape the spear-thrusts. + +[Illustration: The Chief's Turtle Fishers.] + +[Pageheader: THE ROYAL FISH] + +These fences do not survive tempestuous weather. The waves soon make a +breach in them, and the smallest hole renders them useless. When they +are rebuilt it is generally at a different place, and ruined fish-fences +may be seen at every inlet along the coast. But this is for another +reason; after some months of use the fish appear to know their danger +and to avoid the fence. Perhaps their range is very much restricted, and +when the fence has caught all the fish in its immediate neighbourhood +the sea at that point is depopulated for the time. At Nasova a superior +fence was built of wire-netting. Its daily catch for the first few weeks +was enormous--on some tides not less than 1500 fish of five pounds' +weight and over--but a few weeks later the catch failed quite suddenly, +and thereafter the trap was scarcely worth examining. + +In the larger rivers the natives build stone fish weirs constructed to +lead into a basket trap. A rope bristling with fibre streamers is +dragged by men on both banks to frighten the fish down-stream, and the +basket is filled. + +But these are mere amateur expedients compared with the methods of the +fisher tribes. These, as will be explained in another chapter, own no +planting lands, but barter their fish for vegetables, or live upon the +bounty of the great chiefs for whom they work. Their skill as seamen was +unsurpassed, and in the great confederations they manned the big +war-canoes. + +In Fiji the royal fish is the turtle. Every considerable chief had +turtle fishers attached to his establishment. He would allow them to +take service with other chiefs for ten expeditions. The hiring chief +paid them by results; for blank days they received nothing, but food and +property were given to them for every catch, and a considerable present +was made to them at the end of their engagement. The turtle men use nets +of sinnet from 60 to 200 yards long and 10 feet wide, with meshes 8 +inches square. The floats are of light wood 2 feet long and 5 feet +apart; the weights pebbles or large shells. A canoe takes the net into +deep water, and pays it out in a semicircle with both ends resting on +the reef. This intercepts the turtle on his way back from his +feeding-grounds in shallow water, and only a perfect knowledge of his +habits guides the fishermen to choose the proper time and place. If the +turtle takes fright at the net the men drive him forward by striking the +water with poles, and stamping of the canoe deck, and the dipping of a +float is the signal that he is entangled. The catch is announced by loud +blasts on the conch, and the canoes are received with the same noise of +triumph as when they brought back bodies for the cannibal ovens. The +women meet them with songs and dances, and sometimes they pelt the crew +with oranges and are chased from the beach with loud laughter. + +[Pageheader: A CRUEL DEATH] + +The hen turtle is taken when she crawls on shore to lay her eggs, and +the nest itself is robbed when eyes are sharp enough to detect the place +where she has so cunningly smoothed the sand over it. But in Kandavu the +turtle is actually taken in the sea without nets, and this is sport +indeed. Two men go out in a light canoe; the one paddles in the stern +while the other lies upon his stomach with his head projecting over the +bow, and with a heap of pebbles under him. With scarce a ripple from the +paddle the canoe is gently propelled to and fro over the bottom where +grows the green sea-grass which is the turtle's favourite pasture. The +watcher in the bow lifts his hand; the motion is checked; he takes a +pebble from the heap beneath him, and drops it gently into the water. +Down it goes pat upon the shell of the feeding turtle. Unsuspecting +danger, the beast crawls lazily out of range of such accidents and +begins to feed again. Steered by hand-signals from the watcher the canoe +swings her head over him again, and another stone taps rudely at his +shell. It may need a third or even a fourth to convince him that this +rain of solid bodies from the upper world is more than accidental, but +this unwonted exercise at meal times has bereft him of breath. Air he +must have, and he makes slantwise for the surface. Then the sport +begins; the watcher snatches off his _sulu_ and plunges down into the +depths to meet him. The art lies in seizing him by the edge of the +fore-flipper, and in turning him over before he reaches the surface. It +is a slippery handhold, but the hand that grasps the limb higher up will +be nipped between the flipper and the sharp edge of the shell, and to +seize a turtle by the hind-flipper is to be the tin can tied to the +puppy's tail. Having seized your flipper by its edge, you must turn the +beast over on his back (if he will let you) and propel him to the +surface, where your companion will help you to hoist him on board. The +turtle spends his few remaining days lying on his back, and throughout +Western Fiji he dies the horrible death which is prescribed by custom: +an incision is made at the junction of the hind limb with the under +shell, and through this the entrails are drawn out. After their removal, +and even during the process of dismemberment, he continues to live. I +have often reasoned with the natives against this cruelty, and they have +listened to me with amused surprise; "It was the way of our fathers," +they said; "if we cut off his head he would not die any sooner, and the +meat would be spoiled." When a great feast is in preparation +turtle-fishing begins several weeks in advance, and the beasts are kept +alive in a stone or wickerwork enclosure in shallow water, which is +called a _mbi_. They can thus be kept alive for several months. There +was a tragic note in the fate of one little turtle captured when he was +no bigger than a soup plate, and presented to an European as a pet. The +owner had moored him to a stake by a string fastened to his +hind-flipper, and for several days and nights he swam bravely but +fruitlessly towards the open sea. But when, in pity for this wasted +expenditure of energy, his owner built a wickerwork _mbi_ for him, and +cut him loose, and he had explored every inch of his cage for an +opening, he abandoned the hope that had buoyed his spirits, and died in +twenty-four hours--a victim, one may suppose, of a broken heart. + +The Fijian nets are so like our own that a newcomer may believe that +they have been imported. They are made of hybiscus fibre, and the mesh +and knot are identical with those of the European net-maker. Long seines +are used occasionally, but a commoner practice is to drag the _rau_--a +rope of twisted vines, bristling with cocoanut fronds, several hundred +yards long. The ends are brought together, and the fish are speared and +netted in the narrow space enclosed by the _rau_. + +The women do most of their fishing with two-handed nets mounted on +sticks six feet long. A line is formed with two women to each net, +standing to their waists in the sea. As the fish make for the sea in the +ebbing tide they are scooped up and held aloft; the ends are brought +together, and a bite in the head from one of the women kills the fish +before it is slipped into the basket hanging from her shoulder. The +_kanathe_, a kind of mackerel, and the garfish spring high out of the +water in their efforts to escape, and it needs very dexterous +manipulation of the net to intercept them; sometimes women receive ugly +wounds in the face from these fish. + +Eels grow to a great size in the rivers, and in the inland districts the +women mark their lairs in holes in the bank, and stupefy them with a +vegetable poison extracted from the stalk of a climbing plant, or with +tobacco. A sort of sponge made of bark-cloth is saturated with the +poison, and is quickly immersed and pushed into the mouth of the hole; +the poison distils into the surrounding water, and after a few minutes +it is safe to explore the recesses with the naked hand. The narcotic +effect of the poison is only temporary; left to itself in clear water +the fish would recover in about five minutes. + +[Pageheader: _MBALOLO_ FISHING] + +Strangest of all fishing is that of the _mbalolo_, which is still an +annual festival in the districts where it is taken. The _mbalolo_ is a +marine annelid about six inches long and of the thickness of vermicelli. +It is found on certain sea reefs in various parts of the Samoan, Tongan +and Fijian groups, and probably elsewhere in the Pacific. For ten months +in the year it is never seen at all. Somewhere deep in a reef cavern it +is growing to maturity, but on the night of the third quarter of the +October and the November moons it swarms in myriads to the surface and +dies, phoenix-like, in the propagation of its kind. So exact a +time-keeper is it that it gave names to two months in the native +almanac. October was called the _Little Mbalolo_, because the swarm in +that month was comparatively insignificant; the _Great Mbalolo_ was +November, and preparations for the fishing in that month were made +several weeks in advance. The fact--and it is a fact--that an annelid +should observe lunar time would not be very remarkable in itself, but +it seems that the _Mbalolo_ observes solar time as well. As Mr. Whitmee +has pointed out, the moon directs its choice of a day, and it follows +that the creature cannot maintain regular intervals of either twelve or +thirteen lunations without changing the calendar month of its +reappearance. For two years it rises after a lapse of twelve lunations, +and then it allows thirteen to pass, but since even this arrangement +will gradually sunder solar and lunar time it must intercalate one +lunation every twenty-eight years in order to keep to its dates. It has +now been under the observation of Europeans for more than sixty years, +and it has not once disappointed the natives who are on the watch for +it. What are the immediate impulses of tide or of season that impel it +to rise on its appointed day no one has attempted yet to show. + +Consider for a moment how many centuries must have passed before the +desultory native mind became impressed with its regularity. Even on the +night of the _Great Mbalolo_ it is not a conspicuous object on the sea. +Mere chance must have brought the fisherman into a _mbalolo_ shoal; +years must have passed before a second chance again revealed its habits; +decades before the unmethodical mind of natural man had realized its +annual recurrence and had noted the day and the hour. + +It is only at certain points in the sea reef fringing outlying islands +that there are _mbalolo_ holes. The canoes congregate there before +midnight. The behaviour of the fish is the first signal; they are there +in hundreds, dashing hither and thither in a criss-cross of +phosphorescence. Towards morning they lie, stupid from surfeit, flapping +their fins helplessly on the surface, and are speared in great numbers. +It is an orgie of rapacity and greed. _Salala_ gorge themselves on +_mbalolo_; _sanka_ devour the _salala_; rock-cod swallow the _sanka_; a +few sharks fill their bellies with rock-cod; and man, as usual, preys +upon all alike. + +As the night advances the surface of the sea is oily and viscid with the +interlaced bodies of millions of _mbalolo_ that feel slimy to the touch +as one stirs the water. There are breaks in the mass, and natives have +assured me that through these they have seen an oscillating stalk, +about the thickness of a man's thigh, coiling up from the depths--a +fountain of worms spouting from some chasm in the reef. The fishermen +scoop up the worms with cocoanut baskets and empty them into the canoe +until the hold is full. The masses of worms are boiled, cut into slabs, +and sent, like wedding-cake, all over the country, packed in banana +leaves. To the European taste these dark-green masses, though +unappetizing to look upon, are not unpalatable. They taste like caviare. + +Mr. Whitmee, who made a scientific examination of the _mbalolo_ in +Samoa, took a glass jar with him to the fishing, and watched the +behaviour of the worm in captivity. His catch included both brown and +green worms, the brown being the males and the green the females. They +varied in length, and as they swam incessantly round the jar with a +spiral motion he noticed that the shorter ones of six inches long had +two screw turns and the longer at the most three. Fished up by the +finger and thumb they broke spontaneously into short lengths at their +jointings. + +[Illustration: Slaughtering the Turtle.] + +[Pageheader: HOW THE EGGS ARE FERTILIZED] + +At eight o'clock the _mbalolo_ have disappeared. If they break up +earlier the natives believe that there will be a hurricane between +January and March. As the sun gains power the _mbalolo_ may be clearly +seen in dense patches with individual worms bridging the clear water +between. They are now more active than in the night, the closer masses +even churning the surface of the water. A little before eight they begin +to disintegrate and break up; the sea becomes turbid and milky, and when +it clears they are gone. Mr. Whitmee's captives in the glass jar behaved +like their fellows in the sea. After swimming more rapidly for a few +moments they gave a convulsive wriggle and broke into half-a-dozen +pieces each, which wriggled about near the surface, squirting out their +contents. The vase looked as if a teaspoonful of milk had been emptied +into it, and the little transparent envelopes of the fluid sank empty to +the bottom, just as the green worms discharging their cargo of eggs +began also to settle down. After a few minutes' immersion in the +fertilizing fluid the eggs themselves sank gently to the bottom, where +they lay among the husks that had given them birth and being. Under +the magnifying glass a faint whitish spot was detected on each of the +tiny green eggs. Thus by a voluntary act of self-immolation the worms +had handed on their lives to a new generation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +GAMES + + +While ceremonial dancing takes the place both of theatrical shows and of +sports with the Fijians, there are two national games that have held +their own, and a number of amusements which may be briefly enumerated. + +_Veiyama_ was a sham fight among children, in which serious injuries +sometimes resulted, and, as they have no longer the example of their +elders, it is now very rarely played. A swing consisting of a rope tied +to a high branch with a loop for the foot, formerly very popular, has +now also fallen into disuse. The children now play hide-and-seek, and a +few impromptu games, without prescribed rules, and with the warm water +on the beach to sport in, and the school dances to practise, they do not +feel the want of them. They have no toys except miniature canoes, which +they make for themselves as they want them. + +_Veimoli_, or pelting with oranges, is played both by children and young +men. The skill consists in dodging the orange, which is thrown at short +distance and with full force, and their activity in dodging is so +extraordinary that it has given rise to the myth that Fijians could +avoid a bullet by dodging at the flash of the gun. + +[Pageheader: A DANGEROUS ROMP] + +The _there_, or foot-race, was always run on some occasion such as the +first voyage of a canoe, or the digging of a plantation, for a prize +offered by the owner. In my first voyage in a canoe I had had built at +Fort Carnarvon we found a crowd of young men waiting for us on the +river-bank, decked in streamers, and shouting a sort of shrill war-cry. +My men declared it was a _there_, and a bale of _masi_ (at my expense) +was hastily unpacked, and a streamer of the cloth fastened to a stick. +With this one of the men landed, some two hundred yards lower down, and +ran at topmost speed with the whole rabble baying at his heels. The man +who caught him and tore the flag from him received the bale, which he +afterwards divided out among the others. + +The _veisanka_ was a sort of wrestling match between men and women, who +met at the top of a steep hill, and, having closed, a couple would roll +down the hill together. It was a rough sport, resulting often in a +sprain, and it has now been discouraged by the missionaries. + +There were also the _veitenki-vutu_ (throwing the vutu), a fruit, which +from its buoyancy is used as a float for fishing nets; the +_veikalawa-na-sari_, a sort of "hop, skip and jump"; and a kind of +skittles, played with stones. All these have been abandoned. + +The _veisolo_ is a custom rather than a game, and it is still +occasionally practised in Western Vitilevu. The last case I heard of +occurred in 1887, and some of my armed constables were the victims. They +put up in a small village in the Nandi district, and hardly had the food +been brought to them when the house was beset by a number of girls bent +on mischief. The traditional object of the besiegers is to disperse +their visitors and take away the food, but the real motive is to have a +romp. The men are expected to be gentle with their assailants, and +either to take them captive or lay them gently on the ground, but in +this instance they were greatly outnumbered, and all the men of the +village being absent, they were really in fear for their lives, for they +had heard stories of men dying from the violence of these Amazons. They +barricaded the door, and, having succeeded in wresting one of the +pointed sticks that were thrust at them through the grass walls, for a +time prevented any of the women from getting in. Their assailants then +became infuriated, and shrieked for a fire-stick with which to fire the +thatch, and one of the men holding the door thought it well to take a +hostage. So he drew back, and a strapping girl bounced into the hut. +Then followed a scene which suggests that there is a sexual +significance in the custom, for the girl was stripped and cruelly +assaulted in a manner not to be described. The women outside were +actually setting fire to the house, and would have burned their village +to the ground had not the men, alarmed by the uproar, returned from +their plantations in time to put a stop to it. The guests beat a hasty +retreat under cover of the darkness, and, curiously enough, no complaint +of their behaviour to the girl was made, probably because it was custom. + +The two national games that have held their own are _veitinka_ and +_lavo_. The _tinka_ or _ulutoa_ is a reed four feet long fitted into a +pointed head carved out of ironwood, and about four inches long. On the +outskirts of every village in Western Vitilevu is the _tinka_ ground, a +level stretch of bare earth over one hundred yards long by ten wide. The +_ulutoa_ is thrown thus: the thrower rests the end of the reed on the +ball of the middle finger of the right hand, and, with the arm extended +behind him and the point of the _ulutoa_ on the level of his armpit, he +takes a short run and discharges the weapon with the full force of the +right side of his body. It flies through the air for the first thirty +yards with a low trajectory, and touching the ground with its smooth +surface, skims along it, barely touching the earth until its force is +spent. The longest throw wins the game. The heavy head and the light +shaft make the _ulutoa_ an attractive missile, but the unpractised +European finds the knack of throwing straight very difficult to acquire. +Almost every fine evening finds the youths of the village at practice on +the _tinka_ ground, and on feast-days challenges are sent out to the +neighbouring villages and matches are played. Good players regard their +ironwood heads much as golfers do their favourite driver, but they cut +the reed shafts from the roadside as they want them. + +[Pageheader: THE GAME OF _LAFO_] + +_Lavo_ has a curious history. It was originally a Fijian game, and was +played with the _lavo_, the flat round seeds of the _walai_ creeper +(_Mimosa Scandens_), which from its shape has given its name to all +European coins, for the dollars recovered from the wrecked brig _Eliza_ +in 1809 were used for the game in preference to the seeds. The Tongan +immigrants learned the game and carried it back with them to Tonga, +under the name of _lafo_, where, the seeds being scarce, they +substituted discs of cocoanut-shell, which were a great improvement. In +Tonga it flourished exceedingly; the rules were improved, special sheds +were erected for it, and valuable property changed hands in the stakes. + +Meanwhile it had died out in Fiji, and when it revived through the +influence of the Tongans domiciled in the group, it was in its Tongan +form with cocoanut-shells. + +I have described it elsewhere in detail,[104] and I will here only +indicate the rules. A board is made with mats about fifteen feet long, +slightly raised at the sides so as to form a sloping cushion. The four +players sit, two at each end, so arranged that the partners are divided +by the length of the board, and each is sitting beside an adversary. +Each player throws five discs alternately with his opponent, and the +object is to skim the disc so as to be nearest the extreme edge, and to +knock off an adversary's disc that may be nearer. + +The under edge of the disc is oiled with a rag, and a very nice judgment +is required to impart a "break" from the cushion so as to topple off an +opponent's disc and leave your own in its place. In scoring it is not +unlike tennis. You begin at six and count to ten, and the best out of +five makes the set. I have taken part in many a match, and can testify +to the excellence of the game and the skill that may be acquired with +practice. + +The men amuse themselves sometimes with a game of guessing. One flings +out his hand suddenly, and the other guesses the position of his +fingers. + +The chiefs sometimes play practical jokes by punning +(_vakarimbamalamala_). Thus as the word _ulaula_ means both to thatch a +house and to throw short clubs at one another, the Mbau chiefs send to +their vassals to come and _ulaula_. They come expecting to thatch a +house, and find themselves received with a volley of throwing clubs. + +Story-telling is the principal amusement on long evenings, and the best +story-tellers are professionals. The most successful are tales full of +exaggeration of the Munchausen order, and these, especially when unfit +for polite ears, provoke roars of laughter. The story-tellers have now +begun to draw upon European literature for their inspiration, and the +result throws a very instructive light upon the Fijian's sense of +humour. + +I once gave a Fijian the outline of Mr. Rider Haggard's _She_, and a few +nights later I chanced to hear his version of it delivered to a +spellbound native audience. The author would not have enjoyed it, for +the central figure was the native servant of the travellers, who, it +will be remembered, was incidentally "hot-potted" by an unfriendly +tribe. This servant had become an Indian coolie, talking such broken +Fijian as coolies talk in a sort of nasal whine. The narrator enlarged +upon his skinniness, his absence of calf, his cowardice, and many other +qualities in the coolie which the Fijians hold in contempt. There were +endless interpolated dialogues, and the coolie argued at great length +against the fate decreed for him, but when the red-hot pot was finally +on his head the story was drowned in shouts of appreciative laughter. +"She," being but a love-sick white woman, of course talked in "pidgin" +Fijian, but she had little more than a walking part. The professional +story-tellers are promised _nambu_, or fees in kind, by the audience as +an inducement. + +Wherever a ground is within reach, and Europeans are at hand to organize +the game, the Fijians have taken keenly to cricket, though not to the +same extent as the Tongans. They have a natural aptitude for fielding +and throwing up, but their idea of batting and bowling are still in the +elementary stage, where force is thought better than skill. It was, +however, possible to send a native team on tour through the Australian +colonies, under the captaincy of Ratu Kandavulevu, King Thakombau's +grandson. + +[Pageheader: TRIBAL FEELING IN SPORTS] + +The native constabulary took keenly to Rugby football for a time, but as +they wore no boots the sick-list after every match was unduly swelled +with men suffering from injured toes, and the game was not encouraged. +In a temperature of 80 degrees in the shade, where passions are apt to +rise with the thermometer, football is unlikely to become a national +game. + +English athletic sports are held occasionally at native meetings, but so +strong does tribal feeling still run, that it is unsafe to encourage +wrestling matches and tugs-of-war between rival tribes, such contests +being apt to degenerate into free fights. The instinct of the weaker +side is to run for a club with which to wipe out the disgrace. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 104: _The Indiscretions of Lady Asenath._] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +FOOD + + +Famine, in the European sense of the word, is unknown in Fiji. Even in +times of scarcity every native can find sufficient food to satisfy his +hunger, but, though the quantity is sufficient, the quality is not. +Ample in amount and in variety, it is lacking in nitrogenous +constituents, and it is unsuitable for young children and for women +during the periods of gestation and suckling. + +The staple foods of the Fijians are Yams, Taro (_Arum esculentum_), +Plantains and Bread-fruit. Next to these in point of order are Kumala, +or Sweet Potatoes (_Ipomaea batatas_), Kawai (_Dioscorea aculeata_), +Kaile (_Dioscorea bulbifera_), Tivoli (_Dioscorea nummularia_), +Arrowroot, Kassava, Via (_Alocasia Indica_ and _Cyrtosperma edulis_), +China Bananas, Cocoanuts, Ivi Nuts (_Inocarpus edulis_), Sugar-cane, and +a number of other vegetables and fruits. Meat and fish are not reckoned +as "real food" (_kakana ndina_). They are eaten rather as a luxury or +zest (_thoi_). + +[Pageheader: METHOD OF PRESERVING FOOD] + +All these vegetables contain a large proportion of starch and water, and +are deficient in proteids. Moreover, the supply of the principal staples +is irregular, being greatly affected by variable seasons, and the +attacks of insects and vermin. Very few of them will bear keeping, and +almost all of them must be eaten when ripe. As the food is of low +nutritive value, a native always eats to repletion. In times of plenty a +full-grown man will eat as much as ten pounds' weight of vegetables in +the day; he will seldom be satisfied with less than five. A great +quantity, therefore, is required to feed a very few people, and as +everything is transported by hand, a disproportionate amount of time is +spent in transporting food from the plantation to the consumer. The time +spent in growing native food is also out of all proportion to its value. +The most valuable of all the staples is _ndalo_, or taro (_Arum +esculentum_), which can only be grown successfully in the wet districts +of the islands, or in places where there is running water. The only way +of preserving perishable foods known to the natives is the _mandrai_ +pit. Bread-fruit and plantains are packed in leaves and buried in a deep +hole weighted with stones and earth. Fermentation, of course, sets in, +and when the pit is uncovered at the end of several months the stench is +appalling. The fruit is found reduced to a viscous pulp, and though it +turns the best regulated European stomach, it certainly tastes better +than it smells. It has never occurred to the Fijians to dry any of these +fruits in the sun, and grind them into flour, as is done in Africa. The +yam crop is precarious, and, at its best, only yields about seven-fold, +and then after immense expenditure of time and labour. In places in +which taro and bread-fruit are not plentiful the natives have become +accustomed to a season of scarcity from the month of November, when the +yam crop has been consumed, till February, when the new crop is ripe, +and in some districts this scarcity has been increased by the ravages of +the banana disease, which destroys the plantains. At these seasons, if +bananas are not obtainable, the natives subsist upon _ivi_ nuts, and +unwholesome and indigestible fruits and roots, such as _yaka_ +(_Pachyrrhizus angulatus_) or _kaile nganga_, or upon such wild yams as +are obtainable. But even at such times every able-bodied man or woman +seems to be able to find enough to eat. + +The staple animal food of the Fijian is fish, which is fairly abundant +in the coast villages, especially in those parts where fish-fences can +be erected, except in very stormy weather. Even in times of reported +famine it is found that the natives can always procure enough fish to +satisfy their hunger. On one occasion, when the province of Lau was +reported to be starving from the damage done by the disastrous hurricane +of January, 1886, the Government dispatched a relief steamer from +island to island to distribute rice and biscuits, but it was found that +the natives consumed the whole of their dole in one prodigal feast, +having quite sufficient fish and pumpkins for everyday use. The +regularity of the supply is proved by the fact that, though in Mathuata +and one or two other provinces the natives are acquainted with a method +of smoking or drying fish, they resort to it but seldom, preferring to +waste or throw away their superfluity to the trouble of curing it. In +Rewa, after a good haul, fish is preserved for a few days in leaves by +repeated cooking, and is thus often eaten tainted. At Mbau mullet is +eaten raw with a sauce of sea-water as a delicacy--a practice introduced +from Tonga. + +Pigs and fowls are to be found in every native village, but they are +reserved for feasts or the entertainment of strangers, and are seldom +eaten by the owners as part of their diet. Except on such occasions +fowls are rarely killed, even for the use of a sick person. It is not +that any complicated system of joint ownership limits the use of these +animals to communal purposes, for pigs and fowls are owned by +individuals absolutely, and though the native will often treat one of +his pigs (called a _ngai_) with an almost Hibernian indulgence, and pet +and feed it in his house like one of his children, this affection does +not prevent him from slaughtering it and eating his share of it, when he +considers it sufficiently fat. Whatever may be the reason the Fijian +seldom eats a chicken and never an egg, although almost every other +denizen of the reef and the bush--shell-fish, snakes, iguanas, lizards, +grasshoppers, rats, grubs, chameleon-eggs, cats, dogs, wild duck, and, +in recent times, mongoose--at some time finds its way into his maw. + +[Pageheader: PAST AND PRESENT COMPARED] + +Milk, the principal sustenance for children in their first years, is not +to be had in native villages, and many Fijians vomit on first tasting +it.[105] Their agricultural system has imbued them with a prejudice +against cattle, which break down their weak fences, and trample and +destroy the yams and plantains. In the isolated instances, where the +chiefs keep goats or cattle as pets, they show, by their callous +disregard for their wants, that they have no sympathy with the +sufferings of the lower animals. The want of milk, as has been shown, +has an important bearing upon the relation between the sexes. + +The Fijians have two regular meals in the day. The principal meal is +eaten in the afternoon when they return from their plantations. +Sometimes food is cooked for them before they start in the morning, but +more often they take with them some cold yam or taro left from the +previous day, or trust to being able to roast some wild food during the +intervals of their work. The women, however, generally cook a meal for +themselves and the children if there is sufficient food and firewood in +the house. The boys either eat with their parents or forage for +themselves in the bush, eating large quantities of unripe fruit, and +thus inducing the bowel complaints that are so common among them. In +some cases it is the custom to boil a separate pot of food for the +children to eat during the day. The men eat first, and when they are +satisfied the women and children may fall to upon what is left, but the +latter, during the operation of cooking, know how to take care of +themselves. + +It is impossible to say whether the Fijians now plant less food than +formerly. The traces of extensive clearings that are to be seen on +almost every hillside prove nothing but that the population was once +much larger, and that the native planter shifts his ground year by year. +But the decay of custom has not left the food-supply untouched, for +supposing the production to be proportionately as great, the consumption +is proportionately far greater. In heathen times feasts were confined to +occasions of ceremony within the tribe, such as births, marriages and +funerals, or the rare visits of allies. In these days every meeting +connected with the Government or with the Missions is accompanied by a +feast to the visitors. There are, besides the half-yearly Provincial +Council, a District Council every month, and some three or four +missionary meetings every quarter, and, though these feasts are often +small enough, and the meetings are held in different villages of the +district or circuit in turn, they are all to be added to the ordinary +expenditure of food upon births, marriages and funerals, as well as the +little tribal _solevus_ that are held from time to time. Moreover, with +the introduction of European-built vessels, and the safety of travellers +from attack, travelling for pleasure has much increased, without any +diminution of the hospitality to visitors, which is enjoined by +customary law. The ravages of the imported banana disease, and the +damage done in some islands to the bread-fruit by horses (lately +introduced), which are inordinately fond of gnawing the juicy bark, have +diminished the supply of two important articles of food. + +While intercourse with foreigners has had an unfavourable influence on +the regularity of the food supply, it has done very little to provide +the natives with new articles of diet. Preserved meats, biscuits, bread, +tea and sugar are used by many of the richer natives, but always as +luxuries, not as part of their daily diet. To these, and more +particularly to the use of sugar, the natives attribute the decay of +their teeth, a condition which they declare was unknown to the last +generation. Whether this be true or not, it is a remarkable fact that +among quite a hundred skulls which I have examined in burying-caves I +have never seen a decayed tooth, whereas it was lately possible for an +American dentist to realize a considerable sum by selling sets of false +teeth to the native chiefs. + +The obvious defect in the Fijian dietary is the absence of all cereals. +It is alleged by planters of experience that in Fiji, where the +immigrant Melanesian labourer is fed upon native food, he is of less +value as a labourer than in Queensland, where he receives a ration of +bread and beef. + +[Pageheader: PRIMITIVE IMPLEMENTS] + +Cereals are the staple food of vegetarian races like the Indian and the +French peasant, and indeed of all races that have left their mark upon +history. But, though the Fijian has cultivated maize in the tax +plantations for many years, and has tasted rice prepared by the coolie +labourers, even growing it himself under European direction, he refuses +to regard either as fit for human food. And, though he has a liking for +bread and biscuits, he seems to consider both inferior to yams and +_taro_. + +The labour of agriculture has been much lightened by European tools, and +for this reason more food may now be planted than in heathen times. +Formerly the reeds and undergrowth were broken down with a sharp-edged +wooden club, and burned as soon as they were dry enough; this work is +now performed in a tithe of the time with a twelve-inch clearing-knife. +The ground was then ready for the digging-stick, a tool which does +little credit to the inventive powers of the Fijians considering their +ingenuity in other directions. It is merely a pole of hard wood tapered +at the point by flattening one side. The diggers work in parties of +three or four, by driving their sticks into the ground to a depth of +twelve inches in a circle two feet in diameter. Then, bearing upon the +handles, they lever up the clod and turn it over. The women follow them +on their knees, breaking up the clods with short sticks, and finally +pulverizing the earth with their hands. The soil is then made into +little hillocks in which the yams are planted. The yams were weeded with +a hoe made of a plate of tortoise-shell or the valve of a large oyster. +Iron tools have superseded these, but, strange to say, the European +spade remains less popular than the digging-stick, because it cannot, +without pain, be driven into the ground with the bare foot. The most +popular implement at present seems to be a compromise between the two--a +digging-stick shod with a blade of iron--and it is astonishing how +quickly the Fijians will dig a piece of ground with this unscientific +tool. + +Planting is made a picnic; the planter alternates spurts of feverish +energy with spells of rest and smoking in the shade. Though the Fijian +has learned the use of carts and wheel-barrows when working for +Europeans, he does not adopt them, preferring to harvest his roots by +carrying them in baskets slung across his shoulders with a stick. He +uses no mean skill in the irrigation of his taro beds, leading the water +to them by canals or by pipes made of hollow tree-fern trunks. For these +he is now substituting troughs of corrugated iron. + +The question of diet may have but little bearing upon the stamina of the +adult Fijian, who is able to bear fatigue and exert his muscles as well +as the men of any race, but it may well be concerned with those obscure +qualities that threaten the race--the failure of the women to bear +vigorous children. + + +Water + +It is strange that, though the islands are richer in unpolluted streams +of pure water than, perhaps, any country in the world the natives are +notoriously careless about the water that they drink. At the Annual +Meeting of Chiefs in 1885 they were reprehended by the Administrator, in +his opening address, for their careless habit of drinking bad water. In +their reply (Resolution 14) they said: "You mention bad water and +insufficiency of food as causes (for the excessive mortality), but we +are usually careful about the water we drink, and we think that there is +more food now than in former times." The Fijians are, in fact, quite +ignorant of what constitutes purity in drinking water. They assume any +water to be drinkable that is moderately clear and does not contain +solid impurities. There are villages that draw their drinking-water from +shallow holes that collect the surface-water from burying-grounds. Many +of the native wells are shallow pools lined with a sediment of decayed +leaves and supplied from the surface drainage from the village square, +which swarms with pigs. In the villages situated in the mangrove swamps +of the deltas of the large rivers no wholesome water can be obtained +without a journey of several miles, and the people use exclusively water +collected in surface depressions. In the sandy, rocky and riverless +islands the natives are content with surface-water when deep wells might +easily be sunk. And, even in villages which draw their water from pure +running streams, the water is carried and kept in bamboos and +cocoanut-shells that are half rotten, and are never cleansed. In this +respect, it is true, contact with Europeans has not affected their +customs either for better or for worse. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 105: The Government has succeeded in persuading a few chiefs +to keep milch cows, but they are not milked regularly.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +YANKONA (_Kava_) + + +Yankona (_Yaqona_) the _Kava_ or _Ava_ of the Polynesians, is an +infusion of the root of the pepper plant (_Piper methysticum_), which is +indigenous in Fiji. Throughout Polynesia it occupies the place which +coffee takes among the Arabs, that is to say, it is used on occasions of +ceremony and in the entertainment of strangers, and its preparation, +even in private houses, is always accompanied by a ceremonial more or +less elaborate. Its geographical distribution in the Pacific may be +roughly described by saying that the races that chew betel do not drink +_yankona_. The plant is unknown in the Solomon Islands and the other +Melanesian groups, with the exception of the Banks and New Hebrides +Islands. We know that the Banks Islanders acquired the habit of drinking +it only recently, and it is possible that the New Hebrides natives +learned the habit from labourers returning from the plantations in Fiji. +Kava-drinking, indeed, seems to be so purely a Polynesian custom, that +the Fijians might be supposed to have learned it from the Polynesians +were it not for the fact that the yankona songs of the hill tribes are +so archaic that the people have quite forgotten their original meaning. +In the New Hebrides and Banks Islands the quasi-religious character of +the custom has not yet given place to everyday use, and _yankona_ is not +drunk by women. + +Even in Fiji itself there was considerable diversity of custom. Thomas +Williams says it was not in common use in Vanualevu and part of Vitilevu +in his time. The hill tribes of Vitilevu seem always to have used it, +though its use was confined to the old men, who often drank it to +excess. They prepared it without the elaborate ceremonial with which +the coast tribes have made us familiar, but on great occasions they made +use of a peculiar weird chant, accompanied by gestures whose meaning has +been long forgotten. In Williams's time the natives used to assert that +the true Fijian mode of preparing the root was by grating, and that the +practice of chewing it, which is now universal throughout Fiji, was +introduced from Tonga. About thirty years ago King George of Tonga +absolutely prohibited the chewing of kava as a filthy habit, and the +practice of grating the root or pounding it between two stones has now +become so universal that the Tongans regard the Fijian habit of chewing +it, which they themselves introduced, with the utmost disgust. The +customs of the two countries have thus been reversed. + +[Pageheader: A COLD-BLOODED EXECUTION] + +In former times the use of _yankona_ in Fiji was purely ceremonial. A +dried root was the indispensable accompaniment of every presentation of +food. The spokesman of the donors held it in his hand while making his +speech, and the representative of the recipients tore off a rootlet or +two while acknowledging the gift. The chiefs _yankona_ circle supplied +the want of newspapers; the news and gossip of the day were related and +discussed; the chief's advisers seized upon the convivial moment as the +most favourable opportunity for making known their views; matters of +high policy were often decided; the chief's will, gathered from a few +careless words spoken at the _yankona_ ring, was carried from mouth to +mouth throughout his dominions. No public business was transacted +without _yankona_-drinking. The late Mr. William Coxon, who acted as +English secretary to Tui Thakau, told me that he witnessed an execution +at the chiefs _yankona_ ring, which it would be difficult to surpass in +cold-blooded horror. The ring was formed as usual, except that the open +space between the chief and the bowl was occupied by the condemned man, +Tui Thakau's cousin, who had been guilty of sedition after repeated +warnings. Four hulking fellows, seated on either side of him, held the +ends of the cord that passed about his neck. The chewing and mixing +proceeded with their usual decorous deliberation, and none knew better +than the condemned man that the hand-clapping of the person officiating +at the bowl, notifying that the drink was brewed, would be the signal +for his death. He could hear the liquor slopping back into the bowl as +the strainer was wrung out. Knowing exactly how often the operation must +be repeated, he could count the moments of life left to him, yet he sat +like the others in deferential silence with his eyes upon the floor and +his breathing as regular as theirs. At last the brew was made: the +brewer gathered the strainer into a tidy parcel, swept it once round the +lip of the bowl, and struck it smartly with the other hand. It was the +signal. The executioners threw their whole weight upon the rope, and the +body fell writhing upon the floor with the head almost wrung from the +shoulders, and the tongue hideously extruded from the open mouth. They +stayed so until the tortured limbs ceased to writhe, and then, at a +signal from the chief, the body was dragged by the shoulders to the +doorway, and flung, rope and all, out of the house. It fell with a heavy +thud upon the hard ground below, for the house was built upon a +foundation fourteen feet high. Not until all was finished did any one +break the silence, and the talk turned upon the ordinary topics of the +day, and the men laughed at the jester's jokes as usual. + +Allowing for certain local variations, the ceremony of +_yankona_-drinking as practised throughout Fiji at the present time is a +fair guide to the ancient practice. The chief is seated with his back to +the raised bed-place at the further end of the house, the bowl is +hanging from the eaves with its strainer; a few young men, preferably +those who are known to have good teeth, are called in by one of the +attendants. A man unhooks the bowl from its hanging-place, and, +squatting on his heels, claps his hands several times in apology to the +company for having reached above their heads. The man who is to make the +brew faces the chief with the bowl before him, carefully turning it so +as to allow the cord by which it hung to be stretched out in the +direction of the presiding chief. The others, still conversing, move +their places so as to form two lines, the sides of an oblong +corresponding with the shape of the house, the president closing one end +and the bowl the other. When all is ready a herald, sitting near the +chief, says, "_Na yankona saka_" (the _yankona_, sir), and the chief, or +his own herald in his place, says carelessly, "_Mama!_" (chew!). The +outer rind is scraped off with a knife, the root is cut into small +pieces, and while water is poured over the hands of the brewer to +cleanse them, the young men munch the root into a pulp, which they +deposit in the bowl until it is studded all over with little doughy +lumps of the size of hens' eggs. When all is chewed the brewer takes the +bowl by the edge and tilts it towards the chief, and the herald calls +his attention to it by saying, "_Sa mama saka na yankona_" (the +_yankona_, sir, is chewed); the president glances at it and says, in a +low tone, "_Lomba_" (wring it), an order which the herald repeats in a +louder tone. Water is poured into the bowl from a jar or bamboo, the +brewer meanwhile stirring it into a muddy fluid. It is at this point +that the _yankona_ song is chanted. Each verse is sung in a quavering +duet, which is broken in upon by a chorus chanted in unison, each verse +ending with a sort of sigh or grunt and accompanied by gestures of the +arms and body, which are executed in absolute time. The effect of the +double line of bodies swaying gracefully in the uncertain light of the +lamp has an extremely picturesque effect. The words of the chant have +been so far conventionalized that they have ceased to convey any +meaning. + +[Illustration: Brewing Yangkona.] + +[Pageheader: THE _YANKONA_ CEREMONY] + +Throughout the chant the brewer is busy at his task. He first places the +strainer, a bunch of the fibres of hybiscus bark, over the surface of +the infusion, on which it floats like a buoyant net. Then he presses the +outer edge of it down along the sloping bottom of the bowl, and coaxes +it upwards towards him with his fingers so as to enclose all the solid +matter of the infusion in a sort of bag or parcel. Slightly twisting the +ends of the parcel he folds them together, and doubling it again so as +to reduce its size to a comfortable hold for the hands, he lifts it +gently from the liquor and begins to wring it, allowing the liquor to +drain from it back into the bowl. Taking a new handhold he twists it +tighter and tighter until the last drop is wrung from it and the +fibres crack with the tension. On a little mat spread at his left hand +he now shakes out the woody portions of the root, holding the strainer +up with the left hand and combing it with the fingers of the right. The +operation of straining is repeated three or four times, until the liquor +is sufficiently clear, and sometimes two strainers are employed, the one +to relieve the other. An old strainer is preferred to a new one, from +which the acrid quality of the fibre has not been washed by frequent +use. If strained too often the liquor becomes weak and tasteless, and +some judgment has to be exercised by the brewer to regulate his +movements so as to bring his operation to a conclusion without +interrupting the singers in the middle of a verse. The signal, warning +them not to begin another verse, consists in making a feint in the air +as if to wipe the lip of the bowl, and in then holding the strainer in +the left hand while striking it sharply three or four times with the +hollow palm of the right. The cup-bearer now crouches before the bowl, +holding his cup over it with both hands, while the brewer fills it by +using the strainer as a sponge. The cup-bearer now approaches the chief +in a stooping posture, holding the full cup with both hands at arm's +length before him, and empties a portion of its contents into the +chief's own private cup, which has been carefully wiped for the +occasion. While the president is drinking all clap their hands in a +quick and merry measure, finishing abruptly with two sharp claps as the +president spins his cup upon the ground, the herald crying, "_Mbiu_" +(thrown away) at the same moment. At this the clapping becomes +independent. It is prolonged according to the rank of the chief, and it +is naturally more hearty on the part of his own dependants. Some +sycophant usually continues to clap for some moments after the others +have ceased in the hope of attracting the chief's attention. The next to +drink after the president is his private herald or attendant; after him +the chief next in rank and his attendant, and so on until the liquor is +exhausted. Unlike the practice of Tonga, the cup-bearer has the delicate +duty of serving the company in the order of rank without assistance from +the herald, who, to qualify himself for his hereditary office, has made +a lifelong study of the table of precedence. When two persons of nearly +equal rank are present a very pretty contest of modesty ensues, the +first served declining the proffered cup in favour of the other, who in +his turn vehemently repudiates the honour thrust upon him. It is an +empty form prescribed by convention, for the fact of drinking before +another would confer a step in the social ladder no more than preceding +another to the dinner-table in more civilized communities. If the +cup-bearer were to make a mistake--a very rare occurrence--he would be +set right by one of the heralds before he could commit his solecism. The +task was less difficult, because when custom was the law it was +impossible for reigning chiefs to eat or drink together, and even now, +when they are brought together by the Government, the feast is always +apportioned, and taken away by their attendants to be eaten in the +privacy of their temporary lodging. But, since no native council would +be fruitful of debate unless it were opened with a solemn +_yankona_-drinking, the problem of precedence has been boldly solved by +the English commissioners by prearranging a fictitious table of +precedence, alphabetical or otherwise, so fictitious that it cannot be +construed into a ground of offence, even by the most jealous and +susceptible. + +It is only in modern times that women have become _yankona_ drinkers. +All the old natives agree that it used to be considered a shocking thing +for women to drink _yankona_. Some of them assert that the emancipation +of women from the old restriction was introduced from Tonga, while +others think that Nkoliwasawasa, the sister of Thakombau, was the first +to drink it in Mbau, and that she was allowed to do so to comfort her +for the loss of her husband. Others were not allowed to imitate her, for +that would have been disrespectful, but as soon as the status of women +was raised through the influence of the missionaries they began to drink +_yankona_ as the men had done before. + +[Pageheader: FORMERLY FORBIDDEN TO WOMEN] + +Other changes have crept in. In the old days, it was not drunk in every +house nor on every night, but only in chiefs' houses by the chief and +his retainers, and on the occasion of special feasts and ceremonies. +Now, however, it is drunk in the houses of the common people whenever +they can obtain a supply of the root. Far more _yankona_ is now planted +than before, and one chief at least is in the habit of growing it for +trade. European traders import it in large quantities from Samoa and +other Polynesian islands and retail it to natives at the usual rate of +from 1/6 to 2/- a lb. + +Boys begin to drink it as soon as they leave school, say at the age of +eighteen; girls do not begin till later, though they are often required +to chew the root for others to drink. Women seem to drink it as a +beverage, as a stimulant, as a laxative, and also as a diuretic. They +drink it during pregnancy in the hope that it will give an easy labour +and produce a fine child; and also during the suckling period under the +excuse that it increases the flow of milk when all other expedients +fail. There is among some natives a fixed belief that frequent draughts +of _yankona_ are a specific in the early stages of diarrhoea. + +There can be no doubt that moderate drinkers find it quite innocuous, +but it is otherwise with confirmed _yankona_ topers, who are easily +recognized. Their bodies become emaciated, and their skin, especially +the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet and the forearms and +shins, become dry and covered with scales. They lose their appetite, +their sleep is disordered, their eyes bloodshot, they complain of pains +in the pit of the stomach and sink into unwholesome lethargy. Any more +prolonged debauch than usual leaves its marks upon the drinker for two +or three days. + +Natives describe the symptoms of habitual _yankona_-drinking as +follows:-- + +_Kaui_ (peeling of the skin), at first about the hypogastrium only, but +eventually over all those parts of the body where it usually occurs; +offensive perspiration; smarting of the conjunctivae; darkening in hue of +the nose and cheeks; _lakatha_, _i.e._ cracking of the palms and soles, +weariness and lethargy, pins and needles in the hands and feet. If an +habitual toper goes without _yankona_ for one day he feels restlessness +and sleeplessness, a parched feeling in the mouth and viscidity in the +saliva. If the abstinence is continued for two or three days he has +borborygmi, occasionally tenesmus. + +The following are the effects of a single debauch on a person +unaccustomed to drink _yankona_: restlessness, headache and +sleeplessness, singing in the ears, salivation, hyperuresis, languor, +temporary loss of control of the legs, tremor of the hand when grasping, +and disinclination for food. + +From my own experience I am bound to say that one may drink a very great +deal of _yankona_ without experiencing any of these symptoms. The +visitor to the Pacific who fondly hopes that a single draught of the +national beverage will send him careering over the country with a clear +head but rebellious legs will be woefully disappointed. On one occasion +I joined a party of investigation to test _in propria persona_ the +effects of a carouse. We drank a bucketful of strong _yankona_ between +the three of us in three-quarters of an hour, until, to put it plainly, +we could hold no more. The effect was negative. We felt no stimulation, +no soothing, no depression. Our lower limbs continued to behave as lower +limbs should. The drink neither kept us awake nor sent us to sleep, and +it left no headache behind it. So far from the hands trembling in the +act of grasping, one of our number played a better game of billiards +that afternoon than usual. We felt a little sick, perhaps, but not more +than if we had been compelled to swallow the same extravagant quantity +of any other liquid. + +[Pageheader: A SUBSTITUTE FOR ALCOHOL] + +We noticed the familiar numbing sensation of the fauces and the soft +palate which swallowing strong _yankona_ always induces. For a time the +quantity of saliva was increased, and it became more viscid than usual. +Europeans who are accustomed to drink _yankona_ in moderate quantities +find, not only that it quenches thirst better than any other beverage on +a hot day, but that it acts as a mild stimulant to social conversation, +and to the fullest enjoyment of tobacco. Its capacity for loosening the +tongue is fully recognized by all those who have to conduct native +meetings. Native chiefs of high rank, confronted with each other, are +usually tongue-tied with awkward constraint, but as soon as the +_yankona_ cup has gone round, their reserve is dispelled like the mists +of a summer morning, and they become prone to betray confidences that +would otherwise have remained locked in their bosoms. Europeans have +discovered an even more useful quality in _yankona_. The great +temptation that besets lonely Englishmen in tropical countries is +intemperance, which grows upon some of them until they lose all power of +resistance to the vice. Some confirmed drunkards have cured themselves +by substituting _yankona_ for spirits. They drink, it is true, +incredible quantities of the root, but it satisfies the craving for a +stimulant, without producing intoxication. In this respect it is a pity +that _yankona_ cannot be acclimatized in Europe. + +It is a common fallacy among writers of the South Seas that "the natives +of the Pacific Islands use a fermented beverage called kava." So far +from its being fermented, kava is always drunk as soon as it is made, +and any dregs left in the bowl over night are unfit to drink the next +morning, because by that time fermentation has generally begun. Those +who desire to know more of the chemical analysis of _yankona_ can +consult the monograph on the subject given by Dr. Lewin with the German +love of ponderous detail before the German Medical Society in 1885. The +chief physiological influence of the drug in the human body is exercised +on the motor nerves, but the sensory fibres are also affected, and the +influence is cumulative. The alcoholic extract, when evaporated to the +consistency of soap, is as active as cocaine, weight for weight, in +inducing local anaesthesia. + +There is, no doubt, in these days, a greater consumption of _yankona_ +than in heathen times, for at present the consumption is limited only by +the supply. Except in favoured localities, such as the island of Koro, +the root requires from two to five years to come to maturity, and +demands a good deal of attention during its growth. The importation of +the dried root from other islands in the Pacific has certainly made the +natives independent of the green crop; but since a single root of the +ordinary size generally suffices only for a single occasion, and its +equivalent in dried root cannot be purchased at the local stores for +much less than 2/- a pound (a pound being the minimum required for an +evening _yankona_ party)--the constant use of the root is beyond the +power of any but the richer natives. Natives probably drink _yankona_ +once a day throughout the year, far less, in fact, than persons of the +same rank in Tonga, where the pounding stones are never silent. +Commoners, unless they are in attendance on chiefs, go many days without +tasting it. + +In one respect there are signs of a change for the better. The custom of +chewing the green root not only tended to foster a taste for drinking in +the young person selected to prepare the bowl, but was probably the +means of communicating the bacilli of disease through the saliva. There +are Europeans who defend the dirty habit on the ground that pounding +reduces the woody fibre to dust which cannot be removed by the strainer, +and who allege that the root is merely masticated, and leaves the mouth +uncontaminated as it went in. But this comfortable belief received a +rude shock when the experiment was made of weighing an ounce of the root +before and after chewing, and it was found that the ounce had increased +by something more than 10 per cent. Happily, the Tongan chief is the +_arbiter elegantiarum_ to the Fijian Courts, and it is fast becoming the +fashion to regard the habit of chewing _yankona_ in its proper light and +to substitute the pounding stones of Tonga. + +[Pageheader: DISCOURAGED BY MISSIONARIES] + +The Wesleyan missionaries have attacked _yankona_ drinking with a fiery +zeal which is scarcely commensurate with the importance of the subject, +for if it is a vice at all, it cannot reasonably be condemned for +bringing in its train any of those social evils that are due to alcohol. +A large number of the native teachers wear a blue ribbon on their +shirt-fronts in token that they have abjured tobacco and _yankona_, and +suspend conspicuously in their houses a card bearing the legend, "_Sa +tabu na yaqona kei na tavako_" (drinking and smoking are forbidden). In +the interests of the mission the wisdom of this crusade may well be +questioned, for the path of virtue for the native has been made dull +enough already by the prohibition of all his ancient heathen +distractions, and to curtail any more of his pleasures would be to +invite an inevitable reaction which up to now has taken the course of +going over to the Roman Catholics, whose policy it is to make the lives +of the Fijians as joyous as they dare. Nevertheless, in so far as they +have checked the habit of _yankona_-drinking among youths and +childbearing women, the efforts of the Wesleyan missionaries are likely +to be of some immediate if not ulterior advantage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +TOBACCO + + +The tobacco plant was indigenous in Fiji, but until the beginning of the +nineteenth century the leaf was only used for killing lice, from which +it took its original native name of _mate-ni-kutu_ (lice-slayer). +Smoking was introduced by a Manila ship, and it spread rapidly through +the group, being adopted by both sexes. + +The plant is grown in dry, sandy soil, preferably on the sites of old +houses which have been well manured by the village pigs. The leaves are +hung suspended in bundles from the rafters of a house to wither, and are +then twisted tightly together to sweat. This produces a leaf of great +pungency and strength. It is smoked almost exclusively in the form of a +_suluka_, or cigarette, rolled in dry banana leaf. The ribs of the +tobacco leaf are stripped off, the leaf is partially dried over a +firebrand, and shredded before being rolled, and a supply of +ready-rolled _suluka_ is either stuck into a cleft reed to keep it from +unrolling, or carried behind the ear. + +Until about 1880 every native over fourteen years of age smoked; many of +the children began at a much earlier age, and, if punished for it, +continued the practice in secret. About twenty years ago the Wesleyan +missionaries tried to discourage the practice, by instituting a blue +ribbon for total abstainers from kava and tobacco. They may have induced +five per cent. of the adults to abandon the habit. + +[Pageheader: PIPE SMOKING] + +As long as smoking was confined to the _suluka_ it had a picturesque +side, but latterly the inconvenience of a cigarette that goes out every +two or three minutes, even with continuous application, has favoured the +introduction of the English pipe. The young chiefs are seldom seen +without one, and as they omit to remove it when speaking to you, it has +not tended to preserve the courtliness of Fijian manners. The women have +now begun to use it, and may be seen working in their plantations, +smoking a short, black clay pipe, with the bowl turned downwards to keep +out the rain. It would no doubt be universal were it not that the +imported tobacco, though it is admitted to have a pleasant smell, is +objected to as being less narcotic than the native-cured leaf. + +The women smoke a great deal during pregnancy, but abstain for the first +ten days after confinement. One woman told me that she had noticed, when +suckling, that when she was smoking heavily she had less milk, and that +her baby cried a great deal, whereupon she discontinued smoking until +the child was able to crawl. Few Fijian mothers show so much +consideration. With the view of testing the important point as to +whether excessive smoking affected the mothers, an experiment was made +on May 29, 1883. A healthy Fijian woman, with a child at the breast, was +taken to Suva hospital and given half-an-ounce of native leaf to smoke. +She consumed is all in two hours, and then declined to smoke any more. +One and a half fluid ounces of her milk were drawn off and submitted to +examination by the late Dr. Zimmer. Unfortunately there were not +sufficient appliances for securing a positive analysis, but the addition +of platinum bichloride to the distillate gave a yellow precipitate, such +as is produced by the combination of nicotine with that salt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE TENURE OF LAND + + +At the cession of the islands in 1874 the form of land tenure among the +Fijians was very imperfectly understood. Most of the settlers, seeing +the large tracts of uncultivated land and the comparatively small +patches of cultivation round the native villages, planted one year and +deserted the next in favour of virgin soil, did not believe that the +natives had any definite system of land tenure, or that, with so large a +tract of waste land, they had found the necessity for evolving +proprietary rights in the soil. + +[Pageheader: THE PROPRIETARY UNIT] + +As soon as the sale of land by the chiefs to Europeans came to be +investigated by the Lands Commission there was a bitter controversy as +to what was the proprietary unit in the eye of customary law. It was the +object of every claimant to land to show that the proprietary unit was +the chief who had signed the deed upon which he relied. The natives on +the other hand, chiefs and people alike, were at pains to prove that the +land was vested in the people, that the chief virtually had no interest +in it at all, and had acted _ultra vires_ in selling it. The reader will +remember the disastrous mistake made by the Government in British +India--how as our empire spread our representatives took from their +Mahommedan predecessors the assumption that all private property in land +was held from the sovereign; that the soil was therefore theirs, and +that any land laws would be of their creation; how Lord Cornwallis +converted the Mahommedan tax-gatherers into landed proprietors, and how +in the southern provinces this was reversed and the Government +recognized nothing between itself and the proprietors. Both these +beliefs proved to be erroneous, because as in Fiji they were attempting +to make certain facts accord with European ideas. In India the real unit +was the village community; in Fiji, the tribal community. + +The inquiries of the Lands Commission have shown that the proprietary +unit is an aggregation of Matankalis seldom less than four, subdivided +in their turn into Tokatoka (septs), but known for ordinary purposes by +the name of the village they inhabit, or on occasions of ceremony by +their title, _Thavu_. This title is in some instances, probably in all, +taken from the name of the site of their original village. Matankalis +generally took their name from the house site of their founders. A +process of fission and fusion (unfortunately the latter in these days of +excessive mortality) is continually taking place. If a Tokatoka becomes +too numerous it is subdivided, and the new sept takes its name from that +of the house in which its leader lives. If it becomes more numerous +still it is called a Matankali. When the Matankali becomes reduced to +six males or less, it is usually absorbed, and becomes a Tokatoka of the +Matankali most nearly allied to it.[106] + +The early basis of society throughout the world is kinship. If a man is +not a kinsman, then he is an enemy, the craftiest order of wild beast. +Among primitive tribes the groups of consanguineous relations are much +larger than among civilized peoples, because there is always a tendency +for persons owning any tie of kinship to band together for mutual +protection. The Fijians had no territorial roots. It is not too much to +say that no tribe now occupies the land held by its fathers two +centuries ago. They are united by consanguinity, not by the joint +ownership of the soil. But the longer they stay upon land, the stronger +becomes their connection with it, until at last it becomes the basis of +brotherhood, and the adoption of a stranger confers nearly the same +privileges as those enjoyed by full-born members of the tribe. + +The evolution of the chief in Polynesia is not so complicated as in +Europe. Chiefs in ancient Greece were necessarily wealthy, and in Europe +wealth led to chieftaincy. But in Fiji the chief arrived at his position +only in virtue of being the representative of the purest line of the +common ancestor, related to his inferiors of the same tribe, but +distinct from the surrounding tribes, who admitted his authority in +virtue of conquest. Sir Henry Maine well says, "When the relation which +it created lasted some time, there would have been no deadlier insult to +the lord than to have attributed to him a common origin with the great +bulk of his tenants." For tenants in England innocent names have come to +bear an insulting meaning; "villain," "churl" and "boor" are names +perverted by the chiefs to indicate their contempt for the tenants, with +whom in reality they were related. + +The exalted rank of the high chiefs in Fiji does not seem to arise until +his tribe has subdued others by conquest. His people seemed to treat him +with far greater respect when he had allowed _fuidhir_ +tenants--fugitives from broken tribes--to settle on the waste lands of +the tribe. The superstitious element that had hitherto lain dormant then +brought into prominence the fact that in his body ran the purest blood +of the Kalou-Vu, the ancestor-god, a being to whom reverence as well as +obedience must be paid. The priests, who always cultivated an excellent +understanding with the chiefs, encouraged this feeling, and in return +the chief took care that the offerings to the gods were not stinted. At +the death of the chief there was a limited election, such as was +practised in Ireland as late as 1596. The candidates for election were +limited first to the brothers of the deceased, and in default to his +cousins, the sons of his brothers' brother. In default of these the son +was elected if he was old enough. The reason for this law of succession +is obvious. The tribe must have a leader in the zenith of his powers, +and the dead chief's brother was looked upon as the most fit person to +be regent during the son's minority. The eldest brother succeeded, +unless there were objections to him. In Bureta the ancient ceremony was +still practised up to a few years ago. The people were assembled after +the burial of the chief, and one of the elders of the tribe proposed the +name of his successor. Often voices from the crowd shouted objections. +"No, he is hasty tempered." "One goes into his house hungry and he gives +not to eat." Even if they had resolved on the appointment of the eldest +brother as successor the objections were still made as a delicate hint +to him to amend his conduct when he became chief. He was then taken to a +stream and bathed, and the chief's _masi_ was then wrapped round him. +Once elected, whether by the actual ceremony or by a survival of it, he +assumed control over the tenants in villeinage and over the waste lands +of the tribe. + +[Pageheader: THREE KINDS OF REAL ESTATE] + +Now, among tribes sprung from a common origin, living upon adjacent +lands, practising the same form of religion, subjected to the same +conditions of intertribal warfare, and having attained the same social +development, one would expect to find the land laws almost identical, +but, on the contrary, in the narrow area formed by the watershed on the +eastern part of Vitilevu, no less than eight systems of tenure have been +found to exist. + +The title to land is vested in the full-born members of a tribe. Three +kinds of land are recognized. The _yavu_ or town lot, the _nkele_ or +arable land, and the _veikau_ or forest. The two first of these are +nominally in the occupation of the heads of families. The _veikau_ is +common to all the members of the community, but it is always liable to +be encroached upon and appropriated according to the rules to be laid +down when I come to discuss the _nkele_. + + +The Yavu or Building Site + +The nucleus of every Fijian village has been at no very remote date a +single family, inhabiting a single house. As Fijians from the parent +stock multiplied, houses were built round the site of the house of the +common ancestor. Each son when he married and settled down, chose for +himself a site for his house, within the limits of the fortification. +He named it after his own fancy, and when imagination failed him, after +the nearest natural object. Thus most Fijian houses are named after some +native tree. In the course of years, or the vicissitudes of war, the +village was removed, but when this was done, the new settlement was +built as nearly as possible upon the exact plan of the old one. I have +watched the process. When the site was decided upon the chief went with +his people, and selected a site for his own house. In heathen times, the +position of the _Mbure_, or temple, was first marked out, and the chief +pitched his temporary shelter in a position that corresponded with the +site of his house in the village he had abandoned. Then his nearest +neighbours marked out the sites of their houses. Their neighbours +followed, and so on until the new village corresponded exactly with the +old, as far as the nature of the ground permitted. If the town increased +in size, new ground from outside the moat was appropriated by the +householders in want of a house, and the moat was dug so as to include +it. These house sites descended by the ordinary law of inheritance to +the eldest brother, or in default of a brother, to the eldest son. One +man, especially if he were a representative of a decaying family, might +own several. For years no house might have been built upon them, and +yet, unless he formally conveyed them to another, the right of himself +and his heirs was never disputed. The proprietary rights were most +jealously guarded. Between each _yavu_ there must be space for a path, +and the eaves of your house must not project so as to drip upon a part +of the path appertaining to your neighbour's _yavu_. A _yavu_ might +occasionally, though rarely, be given in dowry, but in such cases it +reverted, as in the case of arable land, to the descendants of the +original owner. + + +Nkele, Or Arable Land + +[Pageheader: METHOD OF APPROPRIATING COMMONS] + +The _nkele_ is simply that portion of the _veikau_ or forest that has +been appropriated. Once appropriated it descends according to the fixed +laws of inheritance. But the ownership of a proprietor is strictly +limited. There is no more absolute ownership known to the Fijian +customary law than there is to the English. "No man is in law the +absolute owner of lands. He can only hold an estate in them."[107] The +tenure of the _nkele_ may be best compared to an estate for life. Each +owner holds for the household to which he belongs; the household holds +for the sept, the sept for the clan, the clan for the community, and the +community for posterity. The owner of the _nkele_ had over his land a +little less than _dominium_ and a little more than _usufruct_. + +Now that the tribes have been so reduced in numbers by war and foreign +diseases, and whole villages have been swept away, leaving only one or +two representatives who have merged themselves for shelter and +protection in the community most nearly allied to them, there is still +little, even of the forest land, that has not some reputed owner. Thus, +when a man would clear and cultivate some patch far removed from the +village and overgrown by trees he first inquires (if he does not know) +who is the direct descendant and representative of the tribe that +formerly planted on the land. It is rare that no claimant can be found, +and in some cases the communal rights have apparently merged into the +individual ownership of a solitary survivor. But among tribes who have +quite lately fought their way into land belonging to their neighbours, +and who have successfully held the conquered territory until the cession +of the islands to England, no member of the tribe can have rights over +the _veikau_ greater than those enjoyed by his fellows. Among these one +may almost daily observe the manner of appropriating land when required +for planting purposes. Under the primitive system, agricultural crops +could not be grown in the same soil with success for more than two +seasons, and consequently an industrious planter will have patches of +cultivation scattered about upon the flat land bordering the +watercourses for a large area surrounding the village. When he would +acquire and dig a new garden he goes to the chief and uses some such +formula as this: "I have come, sir, to speak about my garden. I wish to +plant on the little flat known as So-and-so." The chief asks those round +him whether the land has an owner, and if they answer in the negative, +tells the man to report his intention to his Matankali. Thenceforward +the land, or the usufruct of it, is appropriated by that man and his +heirs. + +So simple a procedure cannot of course be tolerated unless the land far +exceeds the requirements of the population; and it is curious to note in +some communities such as Rewa, where the people outnumber the +planting-grounds, that the procedure for appropriation or transfer +becomes at once more formal and elaborate. + +The ancient boundaries of lands were continually contracting and +extending, in accordance with the military strength of the tribe. But +when tribes were of nearly equal strength, and the fortunes of war were +doubtful, both sides were as anxious to maintain peace as the +diplomatist of modern Europe. Questions of land boundaries, where the +land was so far more abundant than either side required, were submitted +to a rough form of arbitration. If one tribe could show occupation, the +other gave way rather than fight about such a trifle. Unless it had +strategic importance or bore valuable fruit-trees, or salt-pans, or some +other product whose loss would be felt, land in itself in those days was +of no account. Almost the only things of value that the Fijians +recognized in connection with land were the products of human +industry--wells, trees and crops. To claim another man's plantation was +a _casus belli_: to appropriate a patch of forest, reputed to belong to +a neighbour, was an offence that could be palliated by a paltry present. +Thus, if the council of the tribe determined to lay claim to a boundary +enclosing a strip of debatable land, they sent men to acquire and plant +gardens as near the projected boundary as possible. These gardens became +the property of the men who planted them, and of their heirs, unless of +course the neighbours resented the intrusion, and drove them back. The +same custom prevails even more largely under the English Government. As +soon as the lands court is reported to be about to visit the district, +every tribe begins extending its forest boundaries. The claims +invariably overlap, and when the surveyor visits the spot, he finds +newly-made plantations overlapping one another for several furlongs in +inextricable confusion. Any of these plantations, if the claimants be +successful, will be vested in the persons who acquired them, with of +course the same restrictions as applies to the tenure of _nkele_ +generally. + +[Pageheader: METHOD OF EVICTION] + +Having sketched the manner of acquisition and appropriation of common +land, I will now describe the common method of divesting the person of +ownership. This could only be done immediately after appropriation, as a +protest against his right to acquire and plant, or as punishment for a +crime. In the latter case the crime must in some way have infringed upon +the rights or dignity of a chief, and that chief must feel in himself +the power to support his prohibition by force of arms if need be. The +custom was called _veisauthi_. It consisted in sticking a row of peeled +reeds into the acquired ground. From this the land-grabber understood +that he planted again at his peril. If he felt strong enough he might +continue, but he would have to fight for it. As a general rule he +desisted, because he knew that the protesting parties, whoever they +were, had not taken this step without counting the cost. If the +protestors were persons within his own tribe, the dispute would be +brought up before the council of headmen, and adjusted one way or the +other. If the _veisauthi_ was resorted to as a punishment for an injury +to the chief, it was erected upon all the planting-lands of the +offending person. It had only one meaning, that he must flee for his +life, and, conscious of his guilt, he almost invariably did so. Even if +he were stronger than the chief he fled to collect his strength among +the enemies of the tribe, for the _veisauthi_ in this case meant that he +would be killed by foul means rather than fair--by the club in his +sleep, or by poison. + + +The Veikau, or Forest + +[Pageheader: EVOLUTION OF THE LANDLORD] + +This term included all the uncultivated lands within the reputed +boundaries of the tribe. As I have already said, these boundaries +fluctuated with its military strength. Much of the land was worthless +for cultivation, rough, bare hills, from which every scrap of soil had +been washed by the summer rains, and on which the scanty herbage was +scorched dry by the winter drought, and burnt annually in the autumn +bush fires. To such land as this no value whatever was attached. At the +foot of every hill ran streams, with patches of rich land here and there +along their banks. To include this, the claim was laid to the whole +tract. Besides its value as planting land, the actual forest was often +claimed for the rights of cutting timber, and pasturing herds of +half-wild pigs. Forests containing the _vesi_, valued as the best timber +for the posts of houses, or sandal-wood, a profitable article of barter +from remote times, were claimed with the same tenacity as in the case of +the _nkele_; but they were claimed by the whole community, not by +individuals. We have now to observe a very curious transition from +communal waste lands to land owned exclusively, under the law, which is +so well described by Sir Henry Maine. The waste lands belonged, +collectively, to the tribe, but inasmuch as tribal matters were decided +for the community by the chief, and an oligarchy of his supporters, the +ordinary freeborn men of the tribe gradually ceased to ask for any voice +in the disposal of the waste lands. The chief, accustomed to decide +questions of appropriation without reference to his people, came +gradually to look upon the waste lands as his private estate. The change +finally came when fugitives approached the tribe asking for their +protection. They came, of course, to the chief, as the tribal +representative, and asked for protection, and for the usufruct of land +on which to plant their food. He, in the name of the tribe, allotted to +them a portion of the _veikau_ on the ordinary tenure of dependants, +namely, an annual tribute from the crops grown upon the land. This +tribute, presented to the chief, was divided out among his own people, +but gradually the annual tribute was supplemented by produce yielded on +the chief's demand, whenever he had a feast to make. In making these +demands he was no longer acting as a tribal representative, but as an +individual. In the course of generations, the origin of tenure faded +from the memory of the people, and it was only remembered that the land +was held upon the condition of personal tribute to the chief, to be +yielded on his demand. He was, in fact, the landlord, they the tenants. +I shall describe in detail various tenancies that arose in this manner. +We are concerned at present with its bearing upon the _veikau_. Among +the lands thus granted to dependant tribes were considerable tracts that +remained uncultivated. In theory the grant had been only in respect of +the land actually used, but in practice it was common to regard the +_veikau_ surrounding the plantations as tenanted by the dependant tribe. +This portion of the _veikau_ was held on a different tenure from the +main portion claimed by the predominant tribe. In the latter case the +chief alone claimed the disposal of it, or of the trees that grew upon +it. In the former he rarely gave leave even for the cutting of trees, +without first intimating his intention to his tenants. They had in fact +acquired rights over it allied to usufruct. They might cut timber in +moderation without leave. They could appropriate to individuals of the +tribe such portions as they required, but they might not grant leave to +cut timber to outsiders without first obtaining the chiefs permission. + +The owners of the soil of a conquered tribe are reduced to a servile +status provided that their conquerors settle within reach of them. Mere +conquest without occupation produces no change in the form of tenure. +Tribute may be paid perhaps for a year or two, but as soon as the +conquered tribe feels itself strong enough to repudiate its subjection +the tribute ceases, and the tenure of land within the limits of the +tribe have from the beginning remained unaffected. It is otherwise where +conquest is followed by occupation. In such cases, from free landowners +the conquered are reduced at one sweep to the _nkalini-ni-kuro_, or +kitchen men, the lowest status known to the Fijian customary law. An +instance of this sudden change is to be found in the tribes of Maumi, +Ovea and Mokani, who were probably originally owners of the soil on +which they live, but who have been reduced by the occupation of the Mbau +chiefs to the status of kitchen men. The ceremony of transfer varied in +different districts. In Mbau it took the form of the _soro-ni-nkele_ +(earth tribute). When the conquered people came to pay their submission, +besides the whales' teeth they presented a basket of earth in token that +their land was at the disposal of their conquerors. This does not +necessarily mean that the land was conveyed to their conquerors, for +land, without people to cultivate it, was valueless. They rather +conveyed their own bodies with the land on which they lived as being +inseparable, and only valuable when in conjunction. Among primitive +peoples an act done at regular intervals tends to become a permanent +institution. There is no legislation among primitive tribes, but custom, +however it may arise, tends to become law. + +[Illustration: Picking Cocoanuts.] + +[Pageheader: OWNERSHIP OF TREES] + +We come now to a feature in the rights of property that is very hard for +a European, trained in the systems that are based upon the ancient Roman +law, to comprehend. The doctrine _ab inferno usque ad coelum_ has no +bearing in the islands of the Pacific. As I have already said, land as +land had no value. Its value arose only from its potential produce. The +thing treated with most consideration among primitive peoples is human +labour, and the products of it. In Rome, and therefore of course in +modern Europe, if a man plants fruit-trees on another's land, he has no +claim to them. They belong to the soil in which they grow; but in Fiji, +while you may be wrong in planting cocoanuts upon land which belongs to +your neighbour, you do not on that account part with your rights over +the product of your labour. The land remains his, but the trees are +yours, from the surface of the soil to the topmost frond. You have, +moreover, in virtue of your property in the trees, a right of way over +his soil to get at your trees. To our minds this seems very unjust, but +it must be remembered that in a country where the population is sparse, +and where cocoanuts have at once a commercial value which land does +not possess, cocoanut trees are held in far higher estimation than the +soil in which they grow. As a general rule this conflicting form of +tenure does not arise through the secret planting of trees. The tree +owner or his father has, in almost every case, asked the leave of the +owner of the soil before planting his cocoanuts. Where two men are +connected through the marriage of their children or by merely personal +friendship, this is a very common form of mutual obligation. In the case +of chiefs, moreover, it is no uncommon thing for the overlord to pick +out the pockets of soil most suitable for the growth of cocoanuts, and +to order his vassals to go and plant them there. The tenants still +possess their rights over the soil, but they would not dare to claim the +nuts growing upon them. The distinction may be best seen by comparing +the crops of yams or plantains. The tenants would take the first-fruits +to the chief, preserving the rest for themselves, but they would take +all the cocoanuts, even after expending their own labour in gathering +and husking them. This form of tenure has been a great embarrassment in +settling the ownership of land. Now that modern ideas have begun to take +root, and that every land-owner hopes to let his land to a European at a +fixed annual rent, payable in cash, the owners of the trees confront him +at every point with their claims. The result is that the rights in the +trees are very often disputed. European notions have been dimly seized +upon, and land-owners stand upon their rights as if they had been bred +under the English law of Real Property. The only way to settle these +disputes is to buy out one of the claimants. Where this is not done, the +owners of the trees should be allowed to have twenty-five years' +usufruct of them, after which they and all others they may have planted +in the interim should pass to the owner of the soil. + + +Tenures in Rewa + +Rewa is the most perfect example of a Fijian state known to us. Even its +disruption in the great war with Mbau in 1845 has not been able to snap +the ties that join the various units to the central power. So intimately +is the question of its political constitution connected with the tenure +of land that it is impossible to avoid giving it at some length. + +The supreme government of the state was vested in the spiritual and +temporal chiefs, the Roko-tui Ndreketi and the Vunivalu, who was the +head of Nukunitambua. Unlike the system in the rival confederation of +Mbau and many other native states, the spiritual chiefs had not yet +parted with their executive power, nor had the Vunivalu yet succeeded in +reducing them to a position of secondary importance. Before the great +war between Mbau and Rewa, every clan had its part to play in the state. +Below the two great families of Narusa and Nukunitambua, the spiritual +and the temporal, which divided the power between them, were the six +clans that formed the Sauturanga (_lit._ defence of the chiefs). These +clans owed the superior chiefs no service but that of leading the army +into battle and of conducting ambuscades. They also supplied the +_matanivanua_ (heralds or _aides-de-camp_). In order of battle they were +the horns of the net--that is to say, while the main body of the army +held back in cover, they led simultaneous flanking movements under cover +of the grass or trees, and fell upon both flanks of the enemy at once, +driving them into the arms of the main body, who were lying in wait. +They were land-owners, and received _thokovaki_ rent from their tenants, +but they supplied no _thokovaki_ produce to the two governing families. + +[Pageheader: CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE] + +Next to these in rank were the chiefs of the allied states of +Mburebasanga, who were the _nkase_ (elders) of the Rewa chiefs and of +Notho. These were only subject to Rewa in so far that they were pledged +to order their vassals to perform work for the supreme chiefs. Of course +this tie arose from the Rewa chiefs having at some remote time conquered +them and come to live among them, and in the case of Notho, through the +Notho people as fugitives, having obtained leave, on the condition of +tribute, to settle upon land belonging to Rewa. + +Next to these came the Kaso (cross-beams), who were perhaps originally +descendants of the younger sons of chiefs. The Kai Nalea, the first of +these, were the hereditary priests, whose power was broken in the +reformation already described, and next to them were the Kai Mbuli, who +had as tenants the Kai Malase. + +Next came the trade clans, the fishermen of Vutia, Nukui and Nasilai, +the carpenters of Ndorokavu and the Tongan sailors of Nambua and +Singatoka. All these tribes owed service to the chiefs in the exercise +of their trade, and received grants of land from time to time in +recognition of their services. + +Below these again were the free yeomen, the Kai Nandoi, and the villages +of Nakuru, Ndrekena, and Veiniu, called collectively the Kai Mbatikeri. +Next and below them came the Muainasau; below these again were the three +clans whose lands were in the mangrove swamps, and who were therefore +called Nkalivakawai (water subjects). These were the Kai Norothivo, Kai +Tavuya, and Kai Naiteni. + +Lastly came the villeins, the Kai Loki and the Kai Nandoria, who were +_adscripti glebae_, and whose proprietary rights in the soil were so +slight as to be almost indefinable. + +The Kai Vanualevu enjoyed a remarkable status. They were the sacred +tribe (Nkalitambu), and they owed the chief no service. Their special +function was the investiture of the Roko Tui Ndreketi in the ceremony of +the _yankona_ drinking, but this privilege does not seem to have +conferred upon them any special rank. Nevertheless, in such veneration +did they seem to have been held, that no one dared to plant on land they +had vacated. It is possible that this tribe are descended from the same +ancestors as the chiefs, and perhaps from an elder branch, but that, +owing to some tribal upheaval, the younger branch came to the front, and +with the loss of power the consideration in which the elder was held +dwindled away to this merely nominal status. + +[Pageheader: INDIVIDUAL TENURE] + +While the change from the independent Fijian state to a principal +province of the colony has done much towards obliterating the old +distinctions, it has not materially affected the customary law bearing +upon land tenure. Clans who are _thokovaki_ tenants of the Rewa chiefs, +such as Waivau, Vanualevu, and Vuthi, having been included for +administrative purposes within the boundaries of the Tailevu province, +are now required by law to render tributary service to Mbuli Tokatoka, +while they still continue voluntarily to pay tribute to their landlords +at Rewa. In this respect the establishment of a settled government has +accentuated in some measure the degree of their subjection. The taxation +system, in requiring that land held by individuals shall, for taxing +purposes, be regarded as communal property, has forced upon the natives +a retrogressive movement in their views of land tenure, but otherwise +the tenure remains unchanged. When the laws that now govern the native +race were framed, very little was known of the real nature of the +services rendered by commoners to their chiefs. The levies of the chiefs +were thought for the most part to be exercised in virtue of some kind of +divine right, or at least, if exercised in connection with land, to be +in virtue of the chief's exclusive ownership. But it certainly never +occurred to any of the members of the Governor's Council that _lala_ was +merely another form of rent. If this had been so, assuredly some steps +would have been taken to see that _lala_ was only exacted by the proper +landlords. For twenty years _lala_ has remained very loosely defined, +but unfortunately it has been often necessary to replace hereditary +chiefs by well-conducted persons of inferior rank, and the _lala_ has +been allowed to be exercised in virtue of office, rather than heredity. +All the native feelings of justice have naturally been outraged by their +being required to pay rent for their holdings to the mere nominee of an +alien Government, while the one person who, in their minds, has a right +to demand service from them is prohibited from doing so. In every +instance they have continued voluntarily to pay their rent, and have +grudgingly yielded a second tribute to the Government nominee, and have +further paid in respect of their lands a tax to the Government. If there +has been murmuring against the present form of native government, it has +been due, I am convinced, to this cause. In one respect the cession of +the colony has affected land tenure in a marked degree. It has put an +end to the continued transfer of land that flourished under the ancient +custom. With the abolition of heathen customs and the cessation of +native wars all reasons for permanent transfer have been swept away. + + +Individual Tenure + +The communal tenure of the _veikau_ is found only in parts of the +country where the land is in excess of the requirements of the +population. Fortunately for students, there are in the group districts +where, from war, migration, or other causes, the population has become +congested. This is especially so in the delta of the Rewa river. The +customary laws in force in this district deserve special study. In Rewa +there is practically no communal tenure. Individual tenure is there due +to the fact that every unit of land had to be reclaimed from the river +or the sea. To this day, if one digs down a few feet below the surface, +anywhere upon the alluvial flats, one finds mangrove roots. Perhaps the +mangrove swamps were partly reclaimed by Nature, for the great floods +that occur almost annually bring down a vast quantity of silt, which +they deposit when the water recedes. But man has done much to extend the +process. + +When floods are expected long trenches are dug, which leave tiny +embankments along their edge. The surface is flooded, the little ditches +are obliterated by the deposit, and the waters, held in by the +embankments, raise the entire surface of the land an inch or two. It is +obvious that among the primitive peoples a man must acquire proprietary +rights over land upon which he has expended labour. + +Besides man, there is another agent at work in reclaiming land in the +mangrove swamp, which extended from the present coast-line to about two +miles below Nausori, where islands are raised a few inches above +high-water mark. These were the haunt of a burrowing crayfish, called +the _mana_, which plays the same part in the swamps as do the +earth-worms in the grass land in England. They are continually bringing +up the subsoil of the swamp to the surface, leaving a long tunnel, +reaching from the surface to the water underneath. As the tide rises +they crawl backwards, until at high tide they are close under the mound +they have raised. The Fijians, knowing this peculiarity, set at low tide +a most effective trap, by which the _mana_ is caught in a noose. I had +heard it said that they carried a number of them to their taro +plantations, and there set them at liberty, to carry on their unceasing +work of raising the soil. But all the natives I have questioned on the +point deny this, saying, "When did you ever know a Fijian let go an +animal that is good to eat? We do not look ahead like you white men." +However this may be, the _mana_ undoubtedly does increase the size of +these islands very rapidly. + +[Pageheader: RECLAMATION FROM THE SWAMP] + +The Rewa province is composed entirely of the alluvial flats in the +delta of the great river. Over a large portion of these flats the land +is broken up into little plots, surrounded by ditches, in which grow +_via_ and _taro_, while the higher ground included by them is covered +with fruit-trees, and yams or plantains. Each of these plots has an +owner; but the owners of contiguous ground are not usually men of the +same tribe. We found it quite impossible to set a boundary to the land +of any particular tribe, for the holdings of the individuals were +scattered about the country, among the holdings of other tribes, in +hopeless confusion. To explain this remarkable _morcellement_, which is +unknown in any other part of the colony which has yet been investigated, +we must turn to tradition, and to the peculiar political constitution of +the Rewa people. The first settlers who came to the delta from the +higher reaches of the river were the ancestors of the people of Nandoi, +driven down by internal commotion among the tribes that inhabited the +mountains. They found, at first, no land fit to grow yams or plantains, +but the little islands in the mangrove swamp were excellently adapted +for defence, and they planted swamp _via_ and _taro_, digging for the +purpose trenches with banks on either side. The floods came and filled +the trenches with silt. The process was repeated, until by degrees the +ancient trenches and ridges were obliterated, and the whole country was +converted into a rich alluvial flat, raised above the influence of the +tide, but not beyond the fertilizing action of the highest floods. It +was at this period that individual began to take the place of communal +ownership. Considerable labour had to be expended before a supply of +food could be grown. The wide circular trench must be dug, and the earth +built up in the middle to make a bed for yams and plantains, while the +trench was suitable for taro. This work was not severe enough to be +beyond the power of a single family, and no call was therefore made upon +the labours of the community, as in the case of public works of greater +magnitude. Thus, as the Nandoi people came to regard these valueless +swamps as their peculiar property, individual families appropriated +portions of their common land, upon the undeniable claim of having +expended labour upon them. Once appropriated, the land followed the +customary law of the inheritance of chattel property--that is to say, it +descended to the eldest surviving son, or, failing a son, to the eldest +surviving brother. In default of a male heir, it passed to the clan, to +be appropriated by an individual. It was like appropriation of _nkele_ +in other districts, only the appropriation was more complete, inasmuch +as the labour expended on the property had been more severe. + +In Rewa, moreover, the idea of communal ownership of land has died down, +since the whole of it has been appropriated, and there is none left to +be held in common. + +While this explanation suffices to account for the existence of +individual tenure, it fails to explain the curiously scattered location +of the holdings. This, we thought, could only have been produced by an +organized system of conveying land from tribe to tribe, and we were +therefore at pains to trace the history of a number of these holdings, +in order to formulate a customary law, by which such questions were +governed. The result of our inquiries may be summarized as +follows:--There are nine distinct customs under which land may be +transferred: + +1. Ai-thovithovi-ni-ndraundrau (_The plucking-place for the +flooring-grass_) + +This was land given by the family of a bride as her dowry. In the +ceremony of conveyance they said, "We give this land that Nambutu's +child may eat of it, since he is our child as well as his." The husband, +as long as he lived with his wife, had the control of the land, and it +descended to her male children, but if she died without male issue it +reverted to the donors at the second generation. In this case it was +redeemed by the ceremony of _vakalutu_ (making to fall back). Until it +was so redeemed, the husband or his representatives could till or lease +the land, but not dispose of it. Cases have occurred in which the donors +have so long neglected to redeem their property that the circumstances +of the original transfer have been forgotten, and the tenants have +repudiated the demands for restitution. If there were a direct line of +male descendants of the original grantee, the land never reverted, and +it may be assumed that after land has been held for four or five +generations, the failure of the male line would not lead to the +restoration of the property to the original donors. There was no actual +customary law of limitation, but the grantees would decline to accept +the offerings of the _vakalutu_, and would be upheld in their refusal by +public opinion. + +There was another form of dowry, called _ai-solisoli-i-tamana_ (the gift +to the father), which was a plot of land given as a personal present to +the bride's father, with which his sept or tribe had nothing to do. Such +land could never be redeemed, but this form of dowry was rare, being +confined to the marriage of daughters of high chiefs, whose families +were large landowners. + +[Pageheader: THE CHILD'S INTRODUCTION] + +2. Ketenialewa (_The woman's womb_) + +This is land seized as a punishment for adultery. + +As soon as the offence became known, the friends of the injured man +planted reeds (_sau_) on the land of the offender, or of his family, as +a token of forfeiture. Reeds so planted were called +_ai-wau-tu-i-vu-ni-vundi_ (the club set in the banana patch). The family +of the offender knew that they must either abandon the land or fight for +it, but when by lapse of time the offence was forgotten, the land could +be redeemed by _vakalutu_. + +3. Veitumalelake (_Defending the dead_) + +This was land given as a reward for defending the corpse of a fallen +warrior from being seized by the enemy. If the disgrace of being spoiled +of armour by the enemy led Hector to stake so much upon the rescue of +Sarpedon's body, so much the more deserving of reward was the same +action among the people who cooked and ate all bodies of fallen enemies. + +4. Ai-thovi-ni-nkanka (_Reward for bravery_) + +This was land given to allies or to persons conspicuous for their +bravery, for services in war. Land so given could be redeemed after a +lapse of time. + +5. Veitau-ni-vanua (_Land given out of friendship_) + +This was land given by one friend to another to bind their friendship, +but the tenure was temporary only, and the land was usually redeemed +after the death of either the donor or the transferee. + +6. Ai-thuruthuru-ni-ngone (_The child's introduction_) + +The child of a high chief was taken immediately after birth into the +houses of the inferior chiefs to be exhibited to them. Property of +various kinds was given to it, but if there were insufficient chattels +in the house, a plot of land was often formally presented. In such cases +the tenure was not absolute, and the land reverted after _vakalutu_ had +been performed. + +All these cases amounted to little more than the transfer of the +usufruct of the land for life or for an uncertain period. The person +enjoying the usufruct had the right to all the crops and timber grown +upon the soil, but the fruit-trees remained the property of the donor. +He might improve the land or let it go to waste, and in this respect his +rights were superior to mere usufruct, but, as in the usufruct, he had +no power to transfer or even to sublet. The reason for this was obvious. +He would have been creating rights in the soil, which could not be +redeemed by the original donor by the ceremony of _vakalutu_ performed +to him alone. It is worth noting that all these systems of transfer, +though temporary, did not provide for the reversion of the land +spontaneously as at any given time. Unless the donors in their own +interest redeemed their property by the ceremony of _vakalutu_, the +transferees acquired an absolute title by prescription. + +Under the following kinds of transfer land could never be redeemed-- + +1. Ai-sere-ni-wa-ni-kuna (_Loosening of the strangling cord_) + +This was land given by the family of a dead man to the family of his +widow, who strangled herself in honour of her husband's memory. The +custom of strangling wives is closely interwoven with the ancient +beliefs regarding a future state. As has been explained already, the +widow who did not court the strangling cord was assumed to have been +unfaithful to her dead husband, and by following him along the path of +the Shades she saved his memory as well as her own from dishonour, and +her services thus deserved a recompense at the hands of his kinsmen. + +[Page header: THE LOPPED FINGER] + +Land given in this form of transfer could never be redeemed. But it +must be remembered that the transferees belonged to a tribe very closely +connected by the ties of marriage and vasu with the donors, and that +land was therefore virtually a transfer within the limits of the tribe. + +2. Ai-sere-i-soli-ni-mate (_The unrolling of the shroud_) and + +3. Tholambuka (_Carrying firewood_) + +Under these two customs, the relations of a sick man brought a bale of +native cloth in which to wrap his body when dead, or firewood with which +to cook his food when too ill to go and get it for himself, and the +dying man, unable to make other return, presented them with a piece of +land. Land so transferred was never redeemed, but in these cases again +it is to be remembered that it was a transfer within the limits of the +tribe. + +4. Mundulinga (_The lopped finger_) + +One of the chief forms of mourning for the dead was to lop off the +little finger of one of the hands. Few of the older natives can be found +who have the fingers of both hands intact; most of them, indeed, have +lost both little fingers This act of mourning was confined to the +relations of the deceased, unless he was one of the highest chiefs, and +the transfer was therefore confined to the limits of the tribe. Like the +other customs connected with death, the transfer was irrevocable. + +It is to be noticed, therefore, that the only irrevocable transfers were +confined to the limits of the tribe. Transfers from tribe to tribe could +be redeemed by the ceremony of _vakalutu_. It often happened, therefore, +that the male line of succession did not fail for several generations, +and in such cases the original circumstances were forgotten, and the +transfer became absolute by prescription. The ceremony of _vakalutu_ was +as follows: On a date agreed upon by both parties the original donors +came to the house of the transferee or his heir, and formally presented +him with a whale's tooth and perhaps a quantity of native goods in +addition, saying, "We have come to make the land (naming it) fall back +to us. Akesa ate from it and her children, but now she is dead, and they +are dead, and there are none of them left to eat from it. Therefore we +would have it fall back." If the representatives of the transferee +accepted the tooth, the redemption was complete, but if on the other +hand they refused to accept it, the question remained in abeyance until +one or other of the parties had brought it before a joint council of the +tribe. Under very exceptional circumstances it might even become a +_casus belli_, but as a rule the ground for refusal was, that the +property presented was inadequate. For in Fiji, as in Europe, land, like +all other commodities, has a commercial value estimable in chattels. The +ceremony of _vakalutu_ above described varied to some extent in +different districts. In Vatulele and Tailevu, for instance, the symbol +of transfer is a basket of earth, and the symbol of usufruct a leaf or a +bunch of plantains. + + +Leasehold (_Thokovaki_) + +[Pageheader: HOW RENT AROSE] + +These holdings were not necessarily farmed by the persons to whom they +were granted. There is throughout the Rewa province a remarkable custom +of subject tenure known as _thokovaki_. This tenure is sometimes +communal, sometimes individual. It is found throughout the Rewa delta +from the Nakelo to the sea, thus including a portion of Tailevu. In the +eastern end of Kandavu it reappears again in the form of rent paid by +tenants called _uraura-ni-vanua_. Properly to understand the system it +is necessary to glance at the history and political situation of the +Rewa people. After the arrival of the Nandoi people already referred to, +other tribes came down from the mountains into the delta. Principal +among these were the Kai Rewa proper. They settled at first at +Mburembasanga, where the land was naturally elevated above the mangrove +swamp. They were warriors descended from an older branch of the first +Melanesian immigrants, and they naturally signalized their coming by +preying upon the agricultural settlers below them. In this way they +imposed upon them the task of contributing to the feasts on ceremonial +occasions, and in course of time tradition has it that the Kai Nandoi +themselves invited them to cross the river and settle on their lands, so +as to spare them the irksome necessity of ferrying quantities of food +across the river. By this time there had been intermarriage between the +tribes, and land had been transferred to the new-comers under the form +of transfer described as dowry. They did not cross the river for +nothing. We find the Nandoi lands spread in a deferential semicircle +round the holdings of the chief families, showing that the former had +been despoiled of all their lands in the neighbourhood of the new +settlement. Then the usual process of aggression began. The chief family +was strong enough to protect fugitives, and fugitives came to them +accepting at once, in return for their lives, the status of kitchen men +(_adscripti glebae_). Thus probably the most servile form of _thokovaki_ +originated. The chief also began to acquire holdings further afield. +Like his peers on the highlands of the island, he ordered his +newly-conquered vassals to plant him gardens on their own lands, and in +process of time as the crops of _taro_ and _via_ succeeded each other in +the same soil, the land came to be regarded as set aside for the chief, +and as claiming the expenditure of annual labour for the chief's +support. Succeeding generations did not stop to inquire how this came +about. They had to cultivate year by year a certain plot of land for the +chief, subject to their occupation. Another, perhaps the commonest, +origin of _thokovaki_ tenure is to be found in reclamation. The swamp +was valueless and belonged to every one, but as no stranger could be +allowed to settle upon it, the tribe, if they thought of it at all, +thought of it as their communal property. The chief had a lien upon the +labours of his vassals, provided that he paid them in food, and so it +came about that the chief was the author of most of the reclamation. Of +the land thus reclaimed he was regarded as overlord, and he could put +whom he would upon it as his tenant. We found one piece of land in the +very process of transition. A reach of soil near Mburembasanga was +reclaimed by order of the former Roko-tui-ndreketi, and planted +regularly by his vassals. In Mburembasanga there was a difference of +opinion whether this land was _thokovaki_, or whether it belonged to the +tenants in fee simple. The chief left the question to the tenants, and +they immediately chose to have it regarded as a subject tenure, +_thokovaki_. Another origin of _thokovaki_ may be found in the transfer +called _kete-ni-alewa_ (forfeiture for adultery). The chief seized the +land and allowed the former owners to cultivate it under a subject +tenure. + +The small coastal islands, being unoccupied for agriculture, were also +regarded as the property of the chiefs. These are sometimes found to be +tenanted by vassals who tend the chief's pigs or gather his cocoanuts, +and this is in a sense _thokovaki_ tenure. + +One of the most remarkable features about _thokovaki_ tenure is that the +tenants themselves disclaim the actual ownership of the land they +cultivate. The chiefs seldom know where their land is. Before the Native +Lands Commission the Roko Tui, or some other chief, often asked his +tenants for the names and boundaries of the lands over which he was +overlord, and if the tenant denied that a particular piece of land was +_thokovaki_ the chief asked the commissioners to accept the statement. +It happened more than once that tenants gave the name of land for +registration in their own name, saying, "We hold the land only on +_thokovaki_ tenancy, but the chief has favoured us and says that he will +make it over to us absolutely." + +[Pageheader: RENT ALWAYS PAID IN PRODUCE] + +It must not be understood that _thokovaki_ rents are paid only to the +superior chiefs. Persons of almost equal rank are found in the position +of overlord and tenant. In the case of Nalea and Nambuli the Kai Nalea +were the principal heathen chiefs before what I must call the +Reformation, and the fact of their being extensive lords of _thokovaki_ +lands is an instance of the natural disposition of all ecclesiastical +bodies to acquire landed interests. I may add that the Reformation which +reduced Notho to unimportance occurred early in this century. The +assumptions of the priesthood had grown so intolerable that they +threatened the prestige of even the chiefs themselves. At last the +chiefs and people together determined to destroy the privileges of these +upstart priests who were originally people of no birth. They therefore +deprived them of their offices, and put in chiefs of rank in their +place. The success of this experiment of a state church was never put to +the proof, for Christianity came and swept away priests and gods alike. +Of the six great clans known as the Sauturanga we find that persons of +one are often in the relation of overlord to persons of another, though +they are of almost the same rank. + +The rent paid under _thokovaki_ tenure was variously called +_ndrawe-ni-vanua_, _ura-ura-ni-vanua_, etc. It varied according to the +produce of the land itself. It might even take the form of manufactured +property, but with the inexactitude of all primitive people, neither the +amount nor the time for yielding it seems ever to have been fixed. Among +the fishing tribes on the coast, who might easily have paid their rent +in fish, we find that the fish is bartered first for produce and that +the produce is then carried to the landlord. We may therefore assume +that the rent must always in some sort be in the form of produce capable +of being grown upon the land. Thus sinnet is permitted, because the +fibre composing it may have been husked from cocoanuts growing on the +land; mats, because the land grows the rushes used in their manufacture; +baskets, because the osiers could be cut upon the land. The time for +paying rent was fixed by the necessities of the landlord. If he had a +feast to make or contribute to, he sent to his tenants, apportioning +among them the total amount he required of the supply. It might happen +that he made only one call upon them in a single year, while in another +he might demand more than half their crops. But the safeguard against +excessive demands lay in the fact that the tenant had always the power +of deserting the land and offering himself as a tenant to a rival chief. +In practice, therefore, no overlord dared to make excessive levies upon +his tenants. + +[Pageheader: THE CRIME OF FISH-SCARING] + +The most striking example of _thokovaki_ tenure is to be found in the +tribe of Notho. From the myths which concern the origin of this tribe, +we can gather that they are an offshoot of the tribe that now inhabits +the distant island of Nayau, with which it is _tauvu_, that is, it +worships the same gods and has a common ancestress. Tradition says that +their ancestress when bathing was swallowed by a gigantic shark and was +carried to the mangrove swamp where now stands the village of +Nambundrau, where she was ejected by the fish and attended by the +natives of the place. As a proof of this tradition the natives point to +the fact that their ancient god is a shark, but it is scarcely necessary +to observe that in this case, as in many others, the romantic history +has been woven round the totem of the tribe and incorporated into the +folklore. Seven generations ago, that is about 1750, the ancestor of the +present chief moved to Nambundrau. At that time the only dry ground was +a narrow island in the mangrove swamp. The chief was followed by the +septs related to his family, and by two tribes that were tributary to +him. They immediately began the work of reclamation, until year by year +the island grew. Causeways were put forward into the swamp surrounding +the moat so as to form fish-ponds. Sites were built for six other +villages, which formed the nucleus of reclamation, until at the present +day the whole area is composed of a network of causeways, gardens and +fish-ponds. For the first fifty years of this process the swamp was +regarded as exclusively the property of the chief. But as sufficient +villages were formed under the leadership of one of his relations the +swamp came to be looked upon as the property of the chief upon whose +lands it bordered. The property rights of the chief in the swamp were of +course of a negative order. He could only exercise them by refusing to +others the right to reclaim it; but as no reclamation could be +undertaken except under his directions, the land as it grew became the +property of the chiefs. In Notho alone in all Fiji do the overlords not +draw tribute from their own dependants, but gather it haphazard from +tenants not their hereditary subjects. As each reclamation was completed +the chief chose from his followers a tenant. The tenancy descended from +father to son, but at any moment the tenant was free to throw up his +holding and become the tenant of a chief more to his liking. The chief, +too, for sufficient cause, had a right of eviction, and might offer the +holding to any person of whatever sept, so long as he belonged to the +aggregation of tribes known as Notho. So much was this liberty +recognized, that now when a child is born in a family of tenants, the +father and mother choose to which of the chiefs he should become client. +Of a family of four boys the eldest would succeed his father in the +tenancy, but the other three would each become tenants of a different +chief. It will thus be seen that the _clientele_ of the minor chiefs +have no common tie of blood, and therefore the position of the overlord +approaches far more nearly that of the landlord in Europe than is +usually to be found in primitive communities. + +The property of Notho consists of _taro_ beds, cocoanuts and fish-ponds, +and the rent therefore differs slightly from that paid in other +districts. There are, besides, special offences. It was a penal offence +to walk on a causeway bordering on another's fish-pond, and stamp on it +so as to make the fish jump out. + +This offence was often committed for the purpose of theft, but sometimes +also out of pure mischief. These little fish are often given to the +landlord as rent for the pond from which they were drawn. It will thus +be seen that Notho cannot be said to be divided into _matankalis_. The +only way to describe their social status is to say that the villagers of +Nakuroiwai and Nathuru are all chiefs, and that the commoners in the +remaining four villages are apportioned out among these chiefs +individually, as tenants of their lands. The first-named villages own +all the land, and the others are mere agricultural tenants, removable at +will. But even in Notho, where the chief's rights in the soil most +nearly approach to the absolute, it may well be doubted whether he could +sell his lands to any European without violating the sense of justice of +the whole district. + + +Province of Tailevu + +The tenures of land in Tailevu vary with the status of the tribe +occupying them. They may be classified as follows-- + +(1) Land which is admitted by the occupiers to be the absolute property +of the Mbau chiefs subject only to their occupation on the condition of +paying regular tribute in the form of _lala_ of food and labour. + +Instances of this tenure are to be found in Kamba and Nambua. The people +do not claim any rights in the soil, but represent that they are only +occupying at the will of the chiefs, who have the absolute disposal of +it. They are subject to levies of food whenever a large feast is to be +made at Mbau, but they plant no special gardens for the chiefs, and they +are unstinted in the use of the cocoanuts and other fruit. The tribute +is called _drawe ni vanua_, perhaps the nearest equivalent for the word +"rent" that can be found in the language of any primitive people. The +people account for their position by stating that they formerly lived +with the chiefs as their servants, and that when the chiefs removed from +Kamba they were left upon the land to cultivate it under the present +conditions of tenure. + +Roko Tui Tailevu asked that the land should be registered in the name of +the tenants subject to his rights as overlord. + +(2) Land which is the joint property of the chiefs and their +tributaries, who both plant gardens for their superiors and pay regular +tribute in food to the chiefs to whom they are attached. + +This form of tenure is to be found in the lands occupied by the people +of Namuka, Nakoroiwau and Natila. These tribes hold a peculiar position. +In former times they did not _tamaka_[108] any but the chief of the +Vusarandave, and at the death of a Vunivalu they alone could prepare the +body for burial. This may be accounted for by the tradition that they +originally formed part of the Tui Kamba family, and that they were left +behind to occupy the tribal lands when the Mbau chiefs moved to their +island. + +[Pageheader: THE OVERLORD] + +(3) Lands of which the occupiers, though _nkali_ (tributary), claim to +be the proprietors, acknowledging only the overlordship of the chief at +Mbau, to whom on that account they are subject to _lala_. + +An instance of this tenure is to be found in Mokani. The people account +for the difference in their status from that of the other _nkali_ tribes +by saying that they were given their lands by the Ndravo people, to whom +they are related. In this case the land was registered in the name of +the people, endorsing the register with a statement of the usual tribute +due to the overlord. + +It should here be noted that it is only in these cases that the +_turanga-i-taukei_, provided for in the Regulation of 1883 as the +recipient of forty per cent. of the rents for lease moneys, can be said +to exist, and as a measure of justice to the people, the Regulation +should be so amended as to allow ninety per cent. to be divided among +the people in all cases in which the Native Lands Commissioners certify +that there is no _turanga-i-taukei_ (overlord). + +(4) Lands which are owned by the tribes independently of Mbau, and are +subject only to the overlordship of their own local chief. + +Namata may be cited as an instance of this kind of tenure. The clan was +_mbati_ to Mbau, and therefore subject only to military service. As a +consequence the Mbau chiefs have no power to levy food or personal +service from Namata. + +(5) Land of which the local chief claims to be the absolute owner. + +The only instance we have found of this tenure is in Nakelo, which was a +very powerful tribe until the introduction of firearms by Charles Savage +about 1802-7 enabled Mbau to reduce it. + +In spite, however, of the assertion of Tui Nakelo it is doubtful whether +the chief's rights could ever have been exercised without the assent of +his own tribe. In these days at any rate, they could not be so +exercised without shocking native opinion. + +(6) Lands owned by the commune without the overlordship of any chief +either local or central. + +Nausori and Kuku afford instances of this tenure. It is the natural +result of their geographical situation between the _mbati_(borders) of +two rival confederations, Mbau and Rewa--of being in fact a "buffer +state." + +In these communes there is a difference between waste and cultivated +land. The _yavu_ (house foundation) is held by the individual and is +inherited by his heirs. The _teitei_ or _nkele_ (cleared and cultivated +land) is also regarded as the individual property of the occupier; the +waste lands are held in common, and may be appropriated, cleared and +cultivated by any member of the tribe with the consent of the rest. A +man thus owns individually neither more nor less than he can keep in +cultivation. + +(7) Lands owned by a commune who have been fugitives from a distant part +of the country, and have been placed on their lands by the chiefs under +whose protection they have placed themselves. Until their position was +assured they paid tribute both to their protector and to any other +neighbouring chief strong enough to annoy them. An instance of this form +of tenure is to be found in the Kai Naimbosa, who came from the Vungalei +country, and for some time paid tribute both to the chiefs of Mbau and +Namata. + +[Pageheader: RIGHTS OF FISHER TRIBES IGNORED] + +Among all the coast tribes are to be found small communities of +fishermen, who by the nature of their occupation are debarred from +cultivating the soil. As might be expected, therefore, their tenure of +land is quite different from the tribes surrounding them. In Mbau there +are two of these tribes Lasakau and Soso; in the Rewa province the Kai +Naselai and the Kai Vutia. The Kai Soso claim all the shallow shore +reefs from Kamba Point to Uthui Kumi. They use fences only, a kind of +fishing that cannot be carried on unless the right of a reef is +exclusive. The Kai Lasakau are fishermen using both traps and nets, but +not fences. They claim the exclusive right to fish on all the deeper +reefs from Waikelia in Sawakasa to the Suva Point, including those near +Moturiki. There is a clear understanding between them and the Rewa +fishermen of Naselai and Vutia that they shall not interfere with the +shallow reefs on the Rewa coast. The members of this clan live almost +entirely by their skill. As soon as a man returns from the reef, his +wife takes the fish and hawks them from house to house, in exchange for +yams or _taro_. Failing to dispose of them in Mbau, she takes them to +the villages on the mainland. This system of barter has greatly taken +the place of the old system, under which the fishermen were fed by the +chiefs to whom they owed allegiance, that is, they were a continual tax +upon the chief's tenants. The Kai Soso have acquired a plot of land by +right of occupation, and their claim is not disputed. The Kai Naselai +used in return for their fish to be allowed the run of the plantations. +They would go and take whatever food they required, provided they +confined themselves to the gardens of those who had received fish from +them. Now, however, they have acquired land in right of occupation. The +Government here encounters another difficulty. At the cession all the +reefs were declared the property of the Crown, and unless the fishermen +were made a charge upon the lands registered as the property of the +natives they would have no means of subsistence. They must either be +given land belonging to other people, or the reefs belonging to the +Crown must be handed over to them. It is to be feared that the +Government will adopt a middle course, that of giving them a right to +fish upon the Crown reefs and withholding that right from others. But +this is a course that will inevitably lead to trouble in the future. If +rights are to be defined, now is the time to define them, before holders +have had time to acquire property by prescription. + +Under the pressure of European land customs the Fijian conception of +land has begun to break up. Owning two-thirds of the land of their +islands, it was impossible that they should be left in useless +possession, and though they may not sell an acre of it they have been +encouraged to lease to planters at a fair rent all that they do not +require for their own support. As soon as they understood that they were +to have the spending of the rent, land, to which they had hitherto +attached little value, became their most precious possession, and their +natural earth-hunger was keenly whetted. In some instances the +proprietary unit had dwindled to a few individuals of low birth, and +these men, contrary to all custom, found themselves courted by powerful +neighbours on account of their wealth. This sudden acquisition of money +without effort has been demoralizing, but it has quickened the growth of +new tastes and new wants, which is the first step towards material +progress. On the other hand, it is fostering a spirit of lying and +cheating in every transaction concerned with the ownership of land. +Happily it has not led to one form of demoralization--that of +drinking--thanks to the rigid enforcement of the liquor law, which +forbids the sale of alcohol to natives under heavy penalties. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 106: The divisions of Tailevu and Rewa are-- + +(1) _Matanitu_--Tribe or Confederation. + +(2) _Matankali_--Clan. + +(3) _Tokatoka ni matankali_--Sept. + +(4) _Mbatilovo_ (_lit._ "brink of the same pit-oven")--Joint-family.] + +[Footnote 107: Williams's _Real Property_.] + +[Footnote 108: Shout the cry of respect.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +CONCLUSION + + +It has been too readily assumed that the ancient system of the Fijians +was wholly evil. The disposition of early explorers and missionaries is +to describe the races with whom they came in contact as living in a +state of savage anarchy, the motive of travellers being to excuse their +own rapacity and cruelty; and of missionaries to vindicate their +iconoclasm and to magnify their courage and self-sacrifice. "Nothing," +says McClennan, "is more common in these old narratives than to find the +peoples who were being sacrificed to European cupidity described as +living in a purely animal state, without government, laws, or religion, +and yet the student will sometimes be able to spell out from these very +narratives themselves that the peoples so described were intensely +religious, and that they dwelt under the constant pressure of a rigid +body of customary law, and what we would call a highly developed system +of constitutional government."[109] + +It was so with the Fijians. In seeing how admirably adapted many of the +old superstitions and tabus were for securing sanitation and moral and +physical cleanliness, one is led to wonder whether they were survivals +of a code brought by their ancestors from the land of their origin; the +work of some forgotten law-giver, or merely a gradual evolution from +experience coloured by superstition. So admirably were they suited to +the haphazard and indolent character of the people who obeyed them, that +we can scarcely hope that any European system will take their place +until the character itself is regenerated. + +Let us consider three instances. What could better secure the sanitation +of villages than the fear of _ndrau-ni-kau_, which taught the people to +destroy or bury all offal and excreta for fear of affording an +instrument for witchcraft to a secret enemy? The villages are no longer +swept clean, for Christianity threatens the people with no immediate +punishment for being dirty, and they have not yet come to believe that +dirt produces the germs of disease. + +How could the proper nourishment of young children in a country +destitute of milk and farinaceous diet be provided for than by the fear +that intercourse between the parents during lactation would impoverish +the mother's milk and injure the child? In these days the custom of +abstinence is decaying, and the mother is again pregnant before her +child is fit to assimilate solid food, and she must either continue to +nourish the child within her and the child at the breast, to the injury +of both, or prematurely wean the latter to the certain injury of its +health. + +How could the sexual morality of the people be better guarded than by +shutting up all the unmarried men at nightfall within the _mbure-ni-sa_, +and placing all the girls under the protection of their parents; by +training the young men in the emulation of arms and seamanship until +they were old enough to marry; by making death the penalty of loss of +virtue; by constituting the absence of virginity in a bride a sufficient +cause for withholding the dowry, or even by holding up an unchaste bride +to the ridicule of the community through the mutilation of the cooked +pig presented by the bridegroom's people at the feast given after the +marriage? But the _mbure-ni-sa_ was a heathen institution, and boys and +girls are now thrown together as they are in civilized communities; +there is no more war or other spur to emulation among the young men, who +now seek their excitement in sensuality, and the loss of virtue if +discovered entails only consequences that can be borne with equanimity, +so far at least as the men are concerned. + +[Pageheader: EVILS OF THE TRANSITION STAGE] + +It would be unjust to blame the missionaries for the mutilation of the +social system, for by the time they gained a foothold in 1840, the +native civilization--for such it is fair to call it--had been so marred +by the influence of worthless Europeans and the introduction of firearms +that the people groaned under a system of continual war, barbarity and +oppression under which no people could increase. The ancient social +system was mutilated; part of it was already broken down. During the +first twenty years of the last century whole provinces had been swept by +the powerful tribes fortunate enough to possess firearms, and their +internal affairs were dislocated by the oppression of their conquerors. +The early missionaries were no more far-sighted than others of their +class, and their zeal was as narrow as the zeal of proselytizers is apt +to be. They looked not for hidden causes of the customs they found. It +was enough for them that they were in someway connected with heathen +superstition; though often they were not incompatible with the +acceptance of Christianity their existence interfered with mission work, +and their discontinuance established a convenient line of demarcation +between the Christian and the heathen. It would have been impossible to +graft the principles, the refinements or the arts of modern civilization +upon the ancient customs. Some of them had to go, and the criticism that +occurs to the unbiassed historian is that the missionaries either +destroyed too many of the ancient customs or not enough. + +For the transition stage we now have is undoubtedly worse than what it +has displaced. The Fijians have been slow to adopt foreign habits, and +for more than a generation they have been crawling upon the stumps of +their old customs propped by ragged fragments of European innovations. +Civilized sentiments have not taken the place once filled by customary +law. The Fijian, at all times the creature of circumstance has in the +passing of things a pleasant feeling of lack of permanence which affects +his whole family life and blunts his sense of responsibility for his +children's welfare. + +The apathy and indolence of the Fijians arise from their climate, their +diet and their communal institutions. The climate is too kind to +stimulate them to exertion, their food imparts no staying power. The +soil gives the means of existence for every man without effort, and the +communal institutions destroy the instinct of accumulation. As Sir Henry +Maine said of the native policy of the government of India, those +responsible for guiding native races in Fiji, as elsewhere, are "like +men bound to make their watches keep true time in two longitudes at +once. Nevertheless the paradoxical explanation must be accepted. If they +are too slow, there will be no improvement; if they are too fast, there +will be no security." There is no reason to despair of the ultimate +arrival of the Fijians at some degree of physical and moral prosperity. +Our own forefathers in the time of Cicero seemed to the Romans no less +unpromising, for, writing to his friend Atticus, the orator recommends +him not to procure his slaves from Britain, "because they are so stupid +and utterly incapable of being taught that they are unfit to form a part +of the household of Atticus." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 109: _Studies in Ancient History._ London, 1896.] + + + + +INDEX + + + Abipone Indians, 180 + + Abortion, procuring, 221; + compatible with high birth-rate, 223; + by mechanical means, 224; + in Gilbert I., 225; + law against, 226 + + Abstinence during suckling, 176; + in Tonga, 178 + + Adulteration, 307 + + Agriculture, 339 + + Alluvial land, 370 + + _Amiable Josephine_ captured, 36 + + Ancestor worship, xi; + key to government, 57 + + Ancestry, common, 5 + + Annexation, 55 + + _Argo_, wreck of, 25, 246 + + Aristocracy created by war, 59 + + Army, size of, 91; + of Thakombau, 101 + + Arnold, Sir E., 179 + + Assault on forts, 13 + + + Banana disease, 338 + + Bantus, increasing, xii + + Barter, 385 + + Basques, ix + + Beachcombers, 27 + + _Beche-de-mer_, 32, 43 + + Bethencourt, de, xvii + + Betrothal, customs of, 201; + gifts, 204 + + Birth, customs, 206 + + Bligh, Capt., 24 + + Boasting ceremony, 90 + + Bora rites in Australia, 148 + + Borderers, 88 + + Bougainville, viii + + Bouro, 118 + + Burial, Lament of Shades, 131 + + Bushrangers, 309 + + + Calico, displaces _tapa_, 2 + + Canal dug by natives, 32 + + Cannibalism, 102; + seen by Whilkes, 102; + origin of, 103; + vitiated taste for, 103; + tabu to women, 104; + drum, 104; + names for human joints, 104; + reasons for, 104; + act of triumph, 105; + feast at Male, 106; + chant, 107; + forks, 109; + among ghosts, 128 + + Cannon first used, 53 + + Canoes, 9, 46; + evolution of, 290; + twin, 292; + cost of, 293; + Tongan, 294 + + Carew, Mr. W., 179 + + Carnac, 147 + + Castaways, 15, 22; + eaten, 102 + + Catoira, Gomez, viii + + Caves, 92 + + Census, 195 + + Ceremonial licence, 154, 157, 171 + + Cession, proposed, 54 + + Charms, 164, 168 + + _Chatham_, wreck of, 249 + + Chiefs, spiritual, 60; + temporal, 61; + titles of, at Mbau, 61; + power curtailed by missions, 64; + rarely complained of, 74 + + Circumcision, 216 + + Claims of U.S. Government, 52 + + Club-houses, 175, 241, 388 + + Clubs, working, 68 + + Codrington, Dr. R. H., 179, 193 + + Comet, 26, 246 + + Community of property, 79 + + Conclusions, 387 + + Concubitancy, 184; + limitations of, 190; + fecundity of, 199 + + Confederations, a modern growth, 60; + in decay, 62 + + Conquest, safest civilizing method, x + + Constabulary, armed native, 101, 317 + + Convicts, myth concerning, 27 + + Cook, Capt., 248, 271 + + Copts, xiv + + Corney, Dr. B. G., 255, 260 + + Corvee, 68 + + Councils, provincial, 288, 337 + + Couvade, 179 + + Cows, improperly kept, 229, 336 + + Creation myth, 134 + + Creches, 214 + + Cricket, 332 + + Cruelty, 305 + + Cruelty to animals, 3 + + + Daily habits, 229 + + Dances, 284 + + Dates, calculated by genealogies, 4, 18; + of Melanesian settlement, 10 + + Death dance, 96 + + Decay of custom, xii + + Deluge, 17, 26, 137 + + Dengue fever, 252 + + d'Entrecasteaux, 86 + + Depilation, 303 + + Detection of crime, by witchcraft, 167; + by soul stealing, 168 + + Disease, native theory of, xiii; + treatment of, xiii; + epidemic, 243; + from European contact, 253 + + Disenchantment, 250 + + Dismisser, 125, 132 + + Divinities, 112 + + Dollars, from wreck, 28 + + Drugs, 223 + + Drums, 93 + + d'Urville, Capt. Dumont, 27, 37 + + Dysentery, 246, 251 + + + Eclipse of sun, 26, 246 + + Edwards, Capt., 24 + + Eel bridge, 121 + + _Eliza_, wreck of, 27 + + Elysium, 118 + + Epic of Ndengei, 138 + + Epidemic diseases, xii, 243 + + Erskine, Commodore, 41 + + Eskimo, viii + + Essomeric, xvii + + Execution, 342 + + Exorcism, 250 + + + Games, 318, 328 + + Genealogies, average twenty-five years, 18 + + Gilbert I., 210 + + God of Fire, 113; + of Increase, 114; + of Origin, 5; + of the Afterworld 117; + of Thunder Hill, 130 + + Gods, 111 + + Gordon, Sir A., 65 + + Gordon, Rev. G. N., 247 + + + Hairdressing, 302 + + Half-castes, xvii + + Hatred, race, xv, xvii + + Hawaii, 4; + genealogies, 11 + + Honesty, 3 + + _Hunter_, visit of, 31, 95 + + Hysteria, religious, 162 + + + Ilai Moto-ni-thothoka, 6 + + Immortality, heresy, 141 + + Immortality maidens, 142 + + Inbreeding, 200 + + Insouciance, 228 + + Inspectors, travelling, 79 + + Inspiration of priests, 158, 160 + + Intellect of savages, xiv + + Invulnerable, making, 156 + + Iron, name for, 11 + + Iroquois, 195 + + Irrigation, 339 + + + Japanese, 179 + + Joske, Mr. Adolph, 148 + + Juju, xiii + + Jumping-off place, 6, 118 + + + _Kalourere_, rites, 169 + + _Kalou-Vu_, 5 + + Kamba, siege of, 46, 50 + + Kaunitoni, first canoe, 6 + + Kava, 213, 283, 307, 341; + chant, 344 + + _Kerekere_, 79; + results of, 80 + + Kites, war, 93 + + _Koroi_, form of knighthood, 28, 97 + + + Labour among hill women, 209, 210 + + Lakemba I., 51 + + _Lala_, 66; + misunderstood, 66; + communal, 67; + compared to local rates, 68; + sanitation by, 69; + personal, 70; + a landed interest, 71; + commutation of, 73, 77; + oppressive, 73 + + Lala, Ratu, 16 + + Land customs increase power of chiefs, 59; + Polynesian, 70; + worthless without cultivation, 71; + England confirms native titles, 72; + tenure, 354; + sale of, 354; + arable, 358; + waste, 362; + tenure in Rewa, 366; + leasehold, 376; + reclaimed, 377 + + Lands, sold to Europeans, 55 + + Lasakau fishermen, 23 + + _Lavo_, 330 + + Law of custom, decay of, xviii + + Lawry, Rev. W., on abortion, 221 + + Leasehold, 376 + + Leper stones, 260 + + Leprosy in Fiji, 255; + in other islands, 255; + described by Aristotle, 257; + introduction into Europe, 257; + contagious, 259; + traditions concerning, 261 + + Levuka town, 33; + expulsion of whites, 40; + burnt, 45 + + Levuka tribe, 23 + + Licence, ceremonial, 154, 157; + sexual, in war, 240 + + Lifu I., 249 + + Lila, wasting sickness, 25, 243 + + Liquor law, 386 + + Loot, 96 + + Love sickness, 241 + + Lutu-na-sombasomba, first ancestor, 6, 8 + + Lying, 305, 312 + + + Maafu, leads Tongans, 53; + death, 55 + + Maclennan, Mr., 57, 203 + + Maine, Sir H., 356, 389 + + _Malae_, Polynesian temple, 149 + + Malake, 8 + + Malaria, 251 + + Maoris, leprosy among, 256 + + Mara, Ratu, 34 + + Mariner, William, 29, 271 + + Markets, 288 + + Marquesas I., 4 + + Marriage system, 182; + restrictions of, 193; + origin of, 193; + census of, 195 + + Marriages, mixed, xvi + + Masai, xiv, xv + + Massage, 225 + + _Mata-ni-vanua_, functions of, 62 + + Matchmaker at Mbau, 62 + + Maternal instinct, 231 + + Matuku I., 25 + + Mba province, 32 + + Mbaki rites, 146 + + _Mbalolo_, 324 + + Mbanuve, King of Mbau, 23; + death of, 26, 246 + + _Mbati_, borderers, 88 + + Mbau, sets fashions, 2; + origin, 22; + constitution of, 61 + + _Mbole_, boasting, 90 + + Mbua, province, 51 + + Mbulotu, Fijian Elysium, 117 + + Mbutoni, 23 + + Meals, 337 + + Measles epidemic, 252 + + Medical students, 313 + + Mendana, viii + + Meningitis, 252 + + Mercenaries, 86 + + Merivale alignments, 147 + + Midwives, 206, 209, 210 + + Milk, substitutes for, 214, 336, 337 + + Missionaries, arrival of, 36, 52; + repulsed from Mbau, 42; + persecuted, 43; + short-sightedness, 389 + + Missionary killed and eaten, 107 + + Mixed blood in Europe, ix; + through conquest, x + + Moats, 91 + + _Moe-moe_, act of homage, xi + + Moerenhout, 255 + + Money, use of, 289; + copper coin unpopular, 307; + effect of, 386 + + Monomotapa, Emperor of, xvii + + Mourning, ceremonial, 311, 375 + + Murdu legend, 193 + + Musket, first, 28; + imported, 86 + + + Nailatikau, King of Mbau, 23 + + Nakauvandra, 5, 6, 9, 134, 136 + + Namara tribe, 31 + + Nandronga, 15, 64 + + _Nanga_ rites, 146; + origin of, 149 + + Narauyamba, siege of, 136 + + Natewa, 41 + + Native races, decay of, xii + + Naulivou, King of Mbau, 26 + + Navigation, prehistoric, 16, 290 + + _Ndambe_, injury to children, 177, 388 + + Ndauthina, fire-god, 113 + + Ndengei, 7, 10, 16, 112, 133; + Melanesian deity, 134; + epic of, 138 + + Ndeumba, wealth of, 81, 287 + + Negroes, ix; + educated, xiv; + beachcombers, 32 + + Nemani Ndreu, 149, 171 + + New Caledonia, Expedition to, 44, 249 + + New Guinea, 214, 250 + + Niue I., 248 + + Nkara, King of Rewa, 41, 44, 46, 48; + death, 49 + + Noikoro tribe, 14 + + Nyassa, natives, 180 + + + Obligatory marriage, 184 + + Obstetrics, 207 + + Oliver, Mr., discovered Matuku, 25 + + Oneata I., 26 + + _Orua_, preparation for defeat, 92 + + Outriggers, 291 + + Ovalau I., 33 + + Overlord of land, 70 + + + Paddles, 295 + + Palaeolithic men, viii + + Pandanus tree, 121 + + Pandora, H.M.S., 24; + tender of, 25 + + Path of the Shades, 119, 120 + + Peering goddesses, 122 + + Penrhyn I., 249 + + Perouse, Count de la, 29 + + Perversion, 241 + + Pigs, 336, 378; + sacred, 151 + + Pinching stone, 124 + + Place of Wonder, 127 + + Planting, 337 + + Pocahontas, xvii + + Poetry, 314 + + Polygamy, 172, 235 + + Polynesians, 12; + alleged settlement in Fiji, 13; + route of, 14; + sexual licence, 234 + + Population, decrease of, 198 + + Portent, death, 49 + + Poultry, 336 + + Priests, 62, 157; + inspiration of, 158, 160; + reformation of, 159 + + Prostitution unknown, 173 + + Pursuer of Shades, 122 + + Pylstaart I., 15 + + + Race antipathy, xv, xvii + + Rajakarya in Ceylon, 68 + + Rebellion of inland tribes, 55 + + Reclaimed land, 377 + + Reefs, property in, 385 + + Relationships, 182 + + Religion, ancestor-worship, xi, 111 + + Rent, 376, 379 + + Review, _tangka_, 90 + + Revolt at Seankanka, 145 + + Rewa, 23; + war with Mbau, 39; + burnt, 39; + constitution, 367 + + Ritova, 201 + + Robson, Capt., 30 + + _Roko Tui_, spiritual chief, 61 + + Rokola, ancestor of craftsmen, 6, 9 + + Romans, as slave-holders, ix + + Rotuma, 317 + + Rowe, G. S., 56 + + + Sailosi, scribe of Mba, 82 + + St. Christoval I., 118 + + St. Kilda I., 250 + + Salt-pans, 360 + + Sambeto, murder of, 306 + + Sandal-wood traders, 27 + + Sanitation by _lala_, 69, 79; + by fear of witchcraft, 166, 210 + + Savage, Charles, 28, 95; + made _koroi_, 100; + armoured chair, 101; + death, 30 + + Savage I., 248 + + Savings of Fijians, 82 + + Scrofula, 200 + + Seemann, 107 + + Serpent-worship, 16, 17, 114 + + Sexual morality, 233; + decline of, 236, 388 + + Shades, Lament of, 130 + + Sharks, 115, 309 + + Sieges, 93 + + Sierra Leone, 178 + + Skin diseases, 250, 276 + + Slade, Rev. W., 229 + + Smell, sense of, 303 + + Smoking out enemy, 92 + + Smythe, Col., 54 + + Solevu, 68, 280; + in decay, 286 + + Solomon I., viii, xv + + Somosomo, 37, 51 + + Sorties, 94 + + Soul stealing, 168 + + Souls of children, 126 + + South Africa, report of Native Commission, 174 + + Spiritual chiefs, origin of, 60 + + Spoliation by _vasu_, 75 + + Stewart, Mr. James, 195 + + Still-births, 210 + + Strangling of widows, 132 + + Stratagems, 94, 136 + + Submission, mode of, 97, 364 + + Suckling, 176, 177, 211 + + Suva, destruction of, 38 + + Swimming, 316 + + + Tabu, decay of, 64 + + _Tama_, shout of respect, 305 + + Tamils, 195 + + _Tanka_, review, 90 + + Tanna I., 195, 247 + + Tanoa, King of Mbau, 33; + rebellion against, 33; + return from exile, 35; + death, 44 + + Tasman, 24 + + Tattooing of women, 217, 241 + + _Tauvu_, kinship by, 5, 89, 380 + + Taveuni I., 37 + + Tenure, individual, 369; + in Tailevu, 382 + + Thakaundrove province, 60 + + Thakombau, 34, 35, 38; + assumes title of King of Fiji, 42, 54; + becomes Christian, 47; + limits of territory, 48; + declares constitution, 54; + pension, 55; + death, 55 + + Theft, rare, 308 + + _Thimbi_, death dance, 96 + + Thriftlessness, 2 + + Thunder Hill, 128 + + Thurston, Sir J., 65 + + _Tinku_, a game, 330 + + Tobacco, 352 + + Tofua I., 25 + + _Tombe_, token of virginity, 202, 302 + + Tongans, voyages of, 15; + assist Thakombau, 50; + conquer Lau, 52; + bravery, 94; + canoes, 294 + + Tortures, 96, 108 + + Totemism, 115 + + Tower builders, 17 + + Trade, 280; + in European goods, 286 + + Traits of character, 304 + + Transfer of land, 372 + + Transition, state of, 232, 389 + + Treachery, 95 + + Tribal division, 355 + + Tuberculosis, 277 + + Tuka heresy, 140 + + Tukuaho, Premier of Tonga, 16 + + Turner, Rev. J., 247 + + Turtles, 321; + mode of killing, 321 + + Turukawa, Ndengei's pigeon, 135 + + Tylor, Dr. E. B., 104 + + + Ulcers, 278 + + Undreundre, remarkable cannibal, 109 + + + _Vasu_, spoliation by, 75 + + Vatulele I., 92 + + Verani, 37 + + Verata tribe, 22, 23, 60 + + Vessels, effect of, 69 + + Vitality of offspring, 197 + + Viwa, massacre at, 38; + revival at, 162 + + Vunda, 7, 9 + + _Vunivalu_, temporal chief, 61 + + + Wailea, massacre at, 30 + + War, creates aristocracy, 59; + losses in, 85, 86; + causes of, 88; + declaration of, 89 + + War-cry, 96 + + War-paint, 303 + + Wasting sickness, Lila, 25, 243 + + Water, drinking, 340 + + Water games, 318 + + Water of solace, 120, 123, 132 + + Waterhouse, Rev. J., 45 + + Waya I., 11 + + Weaning, 215 + + Wells, Mr. H. G., vii + + Wet nurses, 213 + + Whooping-cough, 252 + + Widows, strangled, 132 + + Wilkes, Commodore, 37 + + Wilkinson, Mr. D., 65 + + Williams, Rev. J., 248 + + Williams, Rev. T., 27, 56, 85 + + Williams, U.S. Vice-consul, 51 + + Witchcraft, 163; + sanitation by, 166, 210, 388; + detection of crime by, 167 + + Wyandots, 195 + + + Yams, 339 + + Yasawa I., 8, 63 + + Yaws, 270; + distribution of, 270, 275; + in Timor, 270; + symptoms, 271; + sequelae, 272; + contagion, 273; + treatment, 274; + believed beneficial, 275 + +_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay._ + + + + +RELATIONSHIPS OF THE CHIEF FAMILY OF MBAU. + + +Table. + + Ratu VISAWANKA (_TANOA_), _d._ 1852. + + Ratu Ilaitia Torotha = Andi Thethere Ratu Thakombau = Andi Litia Samanunu + (_d._ 1889). (_d._ 1875). [Ratu Lote=Andi Sereana.] (_d._ 1883). (_d._ 1881). + + Ratu Vuki = Andi Alisi Ratu Joni Tholata = Salanieta. Nanise = Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. Ratu Timothi = Tubou (of Vavau). Andi Arieta Kuila = Ratu Timothi Vakaruru + (_d._ 1888). (_d._ 1875). (_d._ 1888). (_d._ 1887). (_d._ 1874). + + Ratu Kandavu Levu. Andi Thakombau. Adi Vuikamba. Ratu Nailatikau Ratu Beni. Ratu Ravulo. Andi Senimili. Ratu Timothi. + (_d._ 1892). + + +Table B. + +_Table of Relationships of the Chief Family of Mbau (See Table A), +showing the Concubitant Cousins in red._ + +[To be read from the left-hand top corner downwards, thus:--To ascertain +what relation Ratu Beni is to Ratu Kandavu Levu, find Ratu Beni's name +on the left hand of the table, and follow the line horizontally to the +column headed "Ratu Kandavu Levu," when it will be seen that Ratu Beni +is Ratu Kandavu Levu's _tavalena_.] + + --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | Andi | Ratu | | Ratu | Andi Alisi | Ratu Epeli | Ratu Timothi | Andi Kuila | Ratu | Andi | Andi | Ratu | Ratu Beni | Ratu Ravulo | Andi | Ratu Timothi + | Thethere. | Thakombau | Andi Litia. | Joni |(widow of late | Nailatikau | (late Roko Tui |(wife of Tui | Kandavu | Thakombau. | Vuikamba. | Nailatikau. | (Roko Tui | (Buli | Senimili. | Nkiolevu. + | |(King of Fiji). | | Tholata. | Roko Tui Mba). | (Roko Tui | Lomaiviti). | Naitasiri). | Levu. | | | | Naitasiri). | Naitasiri). | | + | | | | | | Tailevu). | | | | | | | | | | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Andi | | Sister. |Sister-in-law.| Mother. | Mother. | Aunt. | Aunt. | Aunt. |Great-aunt. |Great-aunt. |Great-aunt. |Great-aunt. |Great-aunt. |Great-aunt. |Great-aunt. |Great-aunt. + Thethere | Self. | Nganena. | Ndauvena. | Tinana. | Tinana. |Nganeitamana.| Nganeitamana. |Nganeitamana.|Nganeitukana.|Nganeitukana.|Nganeitukana.|Nganeitukana.|Nganeitukana.|Nganeitukana.|Nganeitukana.|Nganeitukana. + was to | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Ratu | Brother. | | First-cousin,| Uncle. | Uncle. | Father. | Father. | Father. |Grandfather. |Grandfather. |Grandfather. |Grandfather. |Grandfather. |Grandfather. |Grandfather. |Grandfather. + Thakombau | Nganena. | Self. | Concubitant. | Ngandinana. | Ngandinana. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Tukana. | Tukana. | Tukana. | Tukana. | Tukana. | Tukana. | Tukana. | Tukana. + was to | | | Ndavolana | | | | | | | | | | | | | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Andi Litia |Sister-in-law.| First-cousin, | | Aunt by | Aunt by | Mother. | Mother. | Mother. | Grandmother.| Grandmother.| Grandmother.| Grandmother.| Grandmother.| Grandmother.| Grandmother.| Grandmother. + was to | Ndauvena. | Concubitant. | Self. | marriage. | marriage. | Tinana. | Tinana. | Tinana. | Mbuna. | Mbuna. | Mbuna. | Mbuna. | Mbuna. | Mbuna. | Mbuna. | Mbuna. + | | Ndavolana. | |Nganeitamana.| Nganeitamana. | | | | | | | | | | | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Ratu Joni | Son. | Nephew. | Nephew. | | Brother. |First-cousin.| First-cousin. |First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin, + Tholata | Luvena. | Vungona. | Vungona. | Self. | Nganena. | Tavalena. | Tavalena. |Concubitant. |once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed. + is to | | | | | | | | Ndavolana. | Tamana.[A] | Vungona. | Vungona. | Vungona. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Tamana. + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Andi Alisi | Daughter. | Niece. | Niece. | Sister. | |First-cousin,| First-cousin, |First-cousin.|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin, + is to | Luvena. | Vungona. | Vungona. | Nganena. | Self. |Concubitant. | Concubitant. | Ndauvena. |once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed.|once removed. + | | | | | | Ndavolana. | Ndavolana. | | Tinana.[A] | Tinana. | Tinana. | Tinana. |Nganeitamana.|Nganeitamana.|Nganeitamana.|Nganeitamana. + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Ratu Epeli | Nephew. | Son. | Son. |First-cousin.| First-cousin, | | Brother, | Brother. | Father. | Uncle. | Uncle. | Uncle. | Uncle. | Uncle. | Uncle. | Uncle. + Nailatikau | Vungona. | Luvena. | Luvena. | Tavalena. | Concubitant. | Self. | elder. | Nganena. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Ngandinana. | Ngandinana. | Ngandinana. | Ngandinana. + is to | | | | | Ndavolana. | | Tuakana. | | | | | | | | | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Ratu | Nephew. | Son. | Son. |First-cousin.| First-cousin, | Brother. | | Brother. | Uncle. | Father. | Father. | Father. | Uncle. | Uncle. | Uncle. | Uncle. + Timothi | Vungona. | Luvena. | Luvena. | Tavalena. | Concubitant. | Tathina. | Self. | Nganena. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Tamana. | Ngandinana. | Ngandinana. | Ngandinana. | Ngandinana. + was to | | | | | Ndavolana. | | | | | | | | | | | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Andi Kuila | Niece. | Daughter. | Daughter. |First-cousin,| First-cousin. | Sister. | Sister. | | Aunt. | Aunt. | Aunt. | Aunt. | Mother. | Mother. | Mother. | Mother. + was to | Vungona. | Luvena. | Luvena. |Concubitant. | Ndauvena. | Nganena. | Nganena. | Self. |Nganeitamana.|Nganeitamana.|Nganeitamana.|Nganeitamana.| Tinana. | Tinana. | Tinana. | Tinana. + | | | |Ndavolana. | | | | | | | | | | | | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Ratu |Great-nephew. | Grandson. | Grandson. |First-cousin,| First-cousin, | Son. | Nephew. | Nephew. | |First-cousin.|First-cousin.|First-cousin.|First-cousin.|First-cousin.|First-cousin,|First-cousin. + Kandavu Levu | Vungona. | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. |once removed.| once removed. | Luvena. | Luvena. | Vungona. | Self. | Nganena. | Nganena. | Tuakana. | Tavalena. | Tavalena. |Concubitant. | Tavalena. + is to | | | | Luvena.[A] | Luvena.[A] | | | | | | | | | | Ndavolana. | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Andi | Great-niece. | Granddaughter. |Granddaughter.|First-cousin,| First-cousin, | Niece. | Daughter. | Niece. |First-cousin.| | Sister. | Sister. |First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin.|First-cousin, + Thakombau | Vungona. | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. |once removed.| once removed. | Luvena. | Luvena. | Vungona. | Nganena. | Self. | Tuakana. | Nganena. |Concubitant. |Concubitant. | Ndauvena. |Concubitant. + is to | | | | Vungona. | Luvena. | | | | | | | | Ndavolana. | Ndavolana. | | Ndavolana. + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Andi | Great-niece. | Granddaughter. |Granddaughter.|First-cousin,| First-cousin, | Niece. | Daughter. | Niece. |First-cousin.| Sister. | | Sister. |First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin.|First-cousin, + Vuikamba | Vungona. | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. |once removed.| once removed. | Luvena. | Luvena. | Vungona. | Nganena. | Tathina. | Self. | Nganena. |Concubitant. |Concubitant. | Ndauvena. |Concubitant. + is to | | | | Vungona. | Luvena. | | | | | | | | Ndavolana. | Ndavolana. | | Ndavolana. + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Ratu | Great-nephew.| Grandson. | Grandson. |First-cousin,| First-cousin, | Nephew. | Son. | Nephew. |First-cousin.| Brother. | Brother. | |First-cousin.|First-cousin.|First-cousin,|First-cousin. + Nailatikau | Vungona. | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. |once removed.| once removed. | Luvena. | Luvena. | Vungona. | Tathina. | Nganena. | Nganena. | Self. | Tavalena. | Tavalena. |Concubitant. | Tavalena. + was to | | | | Vungona. | Luvena. | | | | | | | | | | Ndavolana. | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Ratu Beni | Great-nephew.| Grandson. | Grandson. |First-cousin,| First-cousin, | Nephew. | Nephew. | Son. |First-cousin.|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin.| | Brother, | Brother, | Brother, + is to | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. |once removed.| once removed. | Vungona. | Vungona. | Luvena. | Tavalena. |Concubitant. |Concubitant. | Tavalena. | Self. | elder. | elder. | elder. + | | | | Luvena. | Vungona. | | | | | Ndavolana. | Ndavolana. | | | Tuakana. | Nganena. | Tuakana. + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Ratu Ravulo | Great-nephew | Grandson. | Grandson. |First-cousin,| First-cousin, | Nephew. | Nephew. | Son. |First-cousin.|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin.| Brother, | | Brother. | Brother, + is to | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. |once removed.| once removed. | Vungona. | Vungona. | Luvena. | Tavalena. |Concubitant. |Concubitant. | Tavalena. | younger. | Self. | Nganena. | elder. + | | | | Luvena. | Vungona. | | | | | Ndavolana. | Ndavolana. | | Tathina. | | | Tuakana. + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Andi Senimili | Great-niece. | Granddaughter. |Granddaughter.|First-cousin,| First-cousin, | Niece. | Niece. | Daughter. |First-cousin.|First-cousin.|First-cousin.|First-cousin,| Sister. | Sister. | | Sister. + is to | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. |once removed.| once removed. | Vungona. | Vungona. | Luvena. |Concubitant. | Ndauvena. | Ndauvena. |Concubitant. | Nganena. | Nganena. | Self. | Nganena. + | | | | Luvena. | Vungona. | | | | Ndavolana. | | | Ndavolana. | | | | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + Ratu Timothi | Great-nephew.| Grandson. | Grandson. |First-cousin,| First-cousin, | Nephew. | Nephew. | Son. |First-cousin.|First-cousin,|First-cousin,|First-cousin.| Brother, | Brother, | Brother. | + Ngkiolevu | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. | Makumbuna. |once removed.| once removed. | Vungona. | Vungona. | Luvena. | Tavalena. |Concubitant. |Concubitant. | Tavalena. | younger. | younger. | Nganena. | Self. + is to | | | | Luvena. | Vungona. | | | | | Ndavolana. | Ndavolana. | | Tathina. | Tathina. | | + --------------+--------------+----------------+--------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + +Note.--This table does not include all the members of the family in the +degrees represented. A selection has been made for the purpose of +illustrating the Fijian system of classing relationships, which is all +that is intended in this place. Besides the concubitant relationships +marked in the table, therefore, it must be remembered that many of the +persons are concubitant to other cousins not included in the table. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote A: Ratu Kandavu Levu is in reality _vungona_ to Ratu Joni +Tholata; but he calls the latter his father, because his own mother and +Ratu Joni Tholata's wife happened to be sisters--as shown in the plan. +Ratu Kandavu Levu also addresses Andi Alisi by the familiar term "_Nau_" +or "mother," and speaks of her as _tinanku_; but this is for the reason +that she and his father are _vei-ndavolani_--concubitant.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fijians, by Basil Thomson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIJIANS *** + +***** This file should be named 38432.txt or 38432.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/4/3/38432/ + +Produced by Jason Isbell, Suzanne Lybarger and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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