Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-09-27

| themselves at their expense. In 1861 the
Tasmanian race was reduced TO sixteen
souls; in 1869 the last man persisted, and
| in 1876 Queen" Truganina, popularity
known as Lalla Rookh, followed her
people to the grave. But there still sur
wives few half-castes, and in 1884 So
called 'sTasmanian" woman obtained a
grant of land from the Colonial Parlia-
ment.
The Fijians present afinities both with
the Western Melanesians and Eastern
Polynesians, and are at least partly OF
mixed descent, although the majority APP
proach nearest to the former group. They
are tall and robust, very brown and cop
perry, sometimes even almost black, with
abundant tresses, intermediate between
hair and wool Half-breeds are numerous,
and are often distinguished by almost
European features. Till recently they
went nearly naked, wearing only the loin-
cloth or skirt of vegetable fiber, smearing
the body with oil, and dying the hair with
red ochre The women passed bits of stick
or bark through the pierced lobe of the
ear, and nearly all the men carried for
midable club; now they wear shirts, blous-
es or dressing gowns, or else drape them
selves in blankets, and thus look and more
like needy laborers dressed in the cast-off
clothes of their employer They display
great natural intelligence, and according to
Williams, are remarkable for a logical turn
of mind, which enables Europeans to dis
cuss questions with them in a rational way.
Their generosity is attested by the language
itself, which abounds in terms meaning to
L.. L. 60 h. ,a,,
of borrowing or lending. Compared with
their Polynesian neighbors. they are also
distinguished oy much reserve. Their meke,
or dances, always graceful and marked by
great decerum, represent little land or sea
dramas, sowing, harvesting, fishing, even
the struggle between the rising tides and
rocks.
Cannibalism entered largely into the
religious system of the Fijians. The names
of certain delties, such as the god of
slaughter" and the 'god-eater of human
brains," sufficiently attest the horrible
nature of the rites held in their honor.
Religion also taught that all natural kind
ness was impious; that the gods loved
blood, and that not to shed it before them
would be culpable; hence those wicked
people who had never killed anybody in
their lifetime were thrown TO the sharks
after death. Children destined to be sac
rifed for the public feasts were delivered
into the hands of those of their own age,
who thus served their apprenticeship as
executioners and cooks. The banquets of
'long pig"-that is, human fesh-were
regarded as a sacred ceremony, from which
the women and children were excluded !;
and while the men used their fingers with
all other food, they had to employ forks of
hard wood at these feasts. The ovens, also,
in which the bodies were baked could not
be used for any other purpose. Notwith-
standing certain restrictions, human flesh
was largely consumed, and in various
places hundreds of memorial stones were
shown which recalled the number of sac
rihces.
From the ethical standpoint, Polynesia
forms distinct domain in the oceanic
world, although its inhabitants do not APP
pear to be altogether free from mixture
with foreign elements. The vestiges of
older civilizations differing from the pres
ent prove that human migrations and revo-
lutions have taken place in this region on
a scale large enough to cause the displace
ment of whole races. The curious monu-
ments of Easter Island, although far in
ferior in artistic work to the wood carv-
ings of Birara and New Zealand, may per-
haps be the witnesses of former culture,
no traditions Of which have survived
among the present aborigines. These
monuments may possibly be the work of a
Papuan people, for skulls found in the
graves differ in no essential features from
those of New Guinea.
The Polynesians, properly so called, to
whom the collective terms Maroi and Saw
aiori have also been applied, and who call
themselves kanaka, that is, "men," have
a light brown or coppery complexion, and
rather exceed the tallest Europeans in
stature. In Tonga and Samoa nearly all
the men are athletes of fine proportions,
with black and slightly wavy hair, fairly
regular features and proud glance. They
are laughter-loving, light-hearted peo-
pie, fond of music. song and the dance,
and where not visited by wars and the
contagion of European culture" the hap
piest and most harmless of mortals. When
Dumont d Urville questioned the Tukopi-
ans as to the doctrine Of a future life, with
rewards for the good and punishments for
the wicked, they replied, "Among US there
are no wicked people"
Tattooing was so widespread and so
highly developed that the artistic designs
covering the body served also to clothe it;
but this costume is now being replaced by
the cotton garments introduced by the
missionaries. In certain islands the oper-
alton lasted so long that it had to be begun
before the children were years old, and
the pattern was largely left to the skill
and cunning of the professional tattooers.
Still, traditional motives required in the
who could usually be recognized by their
special tracings, curved or parallel lines,
diamond forms, and the like. The artists
were grouped in schools, like the old mas
tiers in Europe, aud they worked not by
incision, as in most Melanesian islands, but
by punctures with small, comb-like in
strument slightly tapped with a mallet
The pigment used in the painful and even
dangerous operation was usually the fine
charcoal yielded by the nut of Aleurtes
triloba, an oleaginous plant used for illu-
minating purposes throughout Eastern
POLYNESIA.
In Samoa the women were much re-
spected, and every village had its pat
roness, usually the chiefs daughter, who
represented the community at the civil
and religious feasts, introduced strangers to
the tribe, and diffused general happiness
by her cheerful demeanor and radiant
beauty. But elsewhere the women, though
as a rule well treated, were regarded as
greatly inferior to the men. At the re-
ligious ceremonies the former were nod, or
profane the latter ra, or sacred and most
of the interdictions or things tabooed fell
on the weaker sex. The women never
shared the family meal, and they were re-
garded as common property in the house
holds of the chiefs, where polygamy was
the rule Before the arrival Of the Eu
ropeans infanticide was Systematically