The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1891-01-29

fc'iches given TO avert or oppose a supernatural
interference with health. Women are slaves
and the disastrous restrictions o: tribal sc7I-
TItism are carried 10 an extreme degree. When
unprovidei with the formulas Of faith which
is Incompatible with their natures aud which
they are utterly incapable OF assimilatiag, these
sayJgGs have
NO DIVINITY.
so far as has been certainly asccrtaiued not
even a chief ghost or pcrs1uitei power of
nature sufficiently powerful 90 control other
dead mems shades, or the physical phenomena
which they fear.
life like this life is 10 them the only 9o5si-
BILE or conceivable kind OF existence. aud those
who depart from as7O1atiuu with their Fellows
live unseen under precisely the same conditions
rs they were subjected 70 before, except thar in
case OF previous good behavior, they have
plenty of spontaneously produced yams to eat,
and no need of labor
The MelaHesaus Of that group Of about 900
islands, variOusly called Fiji, FidSchi, or Viii
we teI. now amount to rather more than lUD-
900 persons, and are scattered in very un-
equal manner over their insular territories.
No natives Of the South sea have been so yOIu-
minously described; none have served so con
stautIy ito point moral or a.iorn tale /" Of
travel. They are constantly cited by ethnoio-
giss, aTchTOlOgiSs and sOciOlOgists for illustra-
tions and terms of comparison, and uudoubt-
edly these communities represent the working
out Of some Of the most important aud interest
ing problems in the science Of man
Still, despite the amount Of writing about
them, it is quite impossible 10 give anything
more than an account Of the external aud ma
teTal factors now operating upon their lives
The author is not acquainted with the works
of any authority who has made even an ap-
pTOach toward telling Us what is best worth
knowing concerning the F1iaus
Al L.
type of mankind. They are essentially
mixed race in whom features derived from a
Papuan ancestry pred9minate, but whose long
heads light brown color, nearly straight faces
and slender, but well grown and muscular
frames, indicate deep strain Of POlyncsIan
blood.
The many dialects Of their
MUSICAL LANGUAGE,
and very generally their customs also, point
20 the samo close relationship. IL has been
said that intermixture is often an advantage
and these natives certainly stand, from an in
telIectuaI point Of view, at the head Of Meaue-
sian peoples.
They possess, however in q high degree the
vanity and self-cDnsc!Ousuess of slvages, and
adOrn their persons % the utmost Of their
power. Malay, Samoan, Tongan and European
decorations, all figure together in the suTpTis-
ing toilets Of these tribes. imagiue a medium
sDnage, with blue or brown eyes, and with a
bone or piece Of bamboo thrust through the
cartilage Of his nose, the lObes Of hts ears
dragged half fway down to the shoulders by a
roll Of tobacco or whales tooth, tattOOed or
welted all over with ccatrices. having red,
white or black devices pricked into his face,
and his hair painted crimson, strutting about
in the scartiest garments with half dozen
necklaces bow and arrow, a long spear or
eiaborately carved war club, and the picture
Of Fijian brave will be complete.
The missionaries have finally induced them
to wear clothes Especially the women) on Sun
day, and they have likewise introduced or
occasoned new fashion Of wearing the hair,
which formerly was piled on top Of the head
and served as a defense against downright
blows from their formidable clubs.
To the cxcrtiOns OF these evaDCCli5ts the
cessation Of caunibal feasts is also ascribed, but
the fact is that the practice Of mau-eating has
now become so universally detestable that il
has been generally given up, or is only in
dulged in secretly in the case Of communities
who have remained isolated. Further, the
horrible stories told about FIJI, though probably
true in themsclvCs, were accepted as descrip-
tiOns Of everyday life in those Islands, where
as there is nothing TO show that these anthrO-
pOphagi were worse, or indeed SO bad, as others
who are well known.
Here the transition from barter to purchase
anu HdlS mas DcGu tuEtbCui ana poll %1HlJ li3
given place to
HOMOGENEOUS MARRIAGE.
Furthermore, the custom Of killing an infrm
or old man and lining his grave with the bodies
. Of his wives, who were likewise murdered on
this occasion, has been abandoned, aud people
afflicted with chronic diseases are 10 longer
straugci by their relations.
Houses are round or quadrangular structures
Of wattlc-wOrk filed in with palm leaves canes,
etc. and having gabIe-FoOfs OF thateh with pro-
jecting caves. They are surrounded with
fences TO keep out the pigs which abound in all
villages, and are now irregularly clustered
about the mission church, in front OF which
hang strings of white shells, the insignia Of
chiefs who placed them there As the knights Of
former days hung up their shields in cathe-
| drals
10