St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-15

or families about 4, 900, residing in ], 220 COM
munes or villages. Regarded as colony, the
stands are divided into sixteen provinces or
districts of about 10000 inhabitants each.
These numbers are very fairly proportional
to the provinces, so that the population is
very evenly scattered over the whole group.
The provinces and their subdivisions or IT,
xmas are each governed by an hereditary
chief, his district being proportioned to his
rank.
The chiefs and the people are the heredi-
tary owners of all the lands, occupied and I'M
occupied, and each user Of land is taxed for
that amount which he takes to himself for
the time being from the common domain.
Continuity of use by the same family, even
for generations, does not work to ALLEVIATE the
land used, for among the Fijians there is not
and never has beon such thing as a fee simple
title to realty. The principle of these people,
and it has existed as the chief of their laws,
is that land can only be owned by the people
in common; that it is theirs @to use for the
benefit of the common community or brother
hood, whether they be full birthright men,
bers or only strangers admitted to share in
the benefits fer time, or adopted into it for
good.' The aged, the crippled and the help
less are supported from the land rax-not as
charity, but as a right.
The houses Of these people are exactly
suited to the climate, and not few Euro
peans have adopted with advantage the same
style of architecture which is of the beehive
style, with rolling mats about the Sides The
Fiiians, gay, light-hearted people among
themselves, i've in towns or villages, and
are particularly fond of agriculture, for which
they show an Intelligent aptitude, readily
adopting the appliances Of the white man
and falling in with his methods. There is not
a town or village that has not its public
school, and it is rare to meet native between
the ages of 10 and 80 who cannot read, write
and cypher. Women, instead of being treat
ed like slaves as in the past, are now regard
ed with something like ehiyalric respect, and
instead of doing all the agricultural work
they are exempt from labor in the fields
Personal property is sacred to the owner as
the product OF his own efforts, and many Of
the chiefs and their retainers have good bank
accounts and are regarded as wealthy.
Tho political unit is the village. Each of
these is ruled by an hereditary chief-before
Christianity title came through the mother
who is further endorsed or appointed by the
district council. III addition to the chief each
village has magistrate, with one or moro
constables, to enforce the law. A garden and
farm overseer, whose duty it is to assess the
taxes and to see that the land occupied by
tenants is being used to the best advantage,
is also an important officer. Representatives
from the villages meet in the district coun-
alc and thoSa in eli foNt
colonial council or parliament. This splen-
did machinery, it should be borne in mind,
did not come through tho white man,
but is of purely native and spontaneous
growth. The communes keep open the
roads and bridges, provide public baths, see
that cleanliness is maintained in the villages
and support the schools, in which all take the
greatest pride.
Nor are the Fijians race of lotus-eaters,
dwelling 'sin summer isles of Eden set in pur-
.ple:spheress of sea ;''sthey are the happiest
and most Industrious people in the world.
There are no loafers in the villages. From
the lad of twelve up to the old man, all have
their own plots of ground set apart from the
common, and they work them to the greatest
advantage. Even women, and many of them
not widows, have their own particular gar
dens, pay taxes for the use of them, and are
free to enjoy the profits of their own labor.
AS consequence of this ready access to the
land there are no poor people in Fiji, and
beggar, prompted to solicit through want of
life's necessities, is a thing unknown.
There is something else to be said in favor
of these people, who but yesterday were man
eating savages. When man is through with
seeding or harvesting his own land, he does
not stop there. The Fijians delight to work
in crowds, and they work the better for their
singing and talking. When one mans crop
is in he turns to to help the weakest of his
neighbors. Others follow his example, and
so it continues from the first turning of the
sod to gathering of the crop. The only thing
expected from t he man helped is that he
shall contribute to the food of the men help
ing him. In addition to the gardens of pri-
waite owners each village has one more gar
dens cultivated in common for the benefit
the poor and helpless in the district. This is
not at all a bad sort of practical religion, and
nations older in Christianity might learn
much that is humane from the despised FL
jams.
Long before the coming of the white man
it was maintained by the Fijian chiefs and
the heads of families that their communal
system of cultivation and work conserves
their industrial habits and tends to increase
their wealth and comfort, compreheding, as
it does, not only the cultivation of food, the
erection of houses, the building of boats, the
making of roads or whatever else may be for
the common good, but also placing within
the reach Of every individual, regardless of
class or circumstances food, clothing and
good home.
The Fijian, if it is fair to call him a savage,
is the most magnificent savage in the world.
Physically he has no superior, and while his
morals may not be such as a synod would en-
dorse, yet he is in the main good husband
and devoted son. He is docile and obedient,
credulous and suspicious. If the white man
agrees to pay him dollar for certain work
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