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FIJI
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FIJI . Ve:ae C FTurtle L)0 See also:Emery Wa;ter,e. is the See also:chief stream of Vanua Levu. It breaches the mountains in a See also:fine valley; for this See also:island consists practically of one See also:long range, whereas the See also:main valleys and ranges separating them in Viti Levu radiate for the most See also:part from a See also:common centre. With few exceptions the islands are surrounded by barriers of See also:coral, broken by openings opposite the mouths of streams. Viti Levu is the most important island not only from its See also:size, but from its fertility, variety of See also:surface, and See also:population, which is over one-third of that of the whole See also:group. The See also:town of Suva lies on an excellent See also:harbour at the See also:south-See also:east of the island, and has been the See also:capital of the See also:colony since 1882, containing the See also:government buildings and other offices. Vanua Levu is less fertile than Viti Levu; it has See also:good anchorages along its entire See also:southern See also:coast. Of the other islands, Taviuni, remarkable for a See also:lake (presumably a See also:crater-lake) at the See also:top of its lofty central See also:ridge, is fertile, but exceptionally devoid of harbours; whereas the well-timbered island of Kandavu has an excellent one. On the eastern See also:shore of Ovalau an island which contains in a small See also:area a remarkable See also:series of See also:gorge-like valleys between commanding hills, is the town of Levuka, the capital until 1882. It stands partly upon the narrow shore, and partly climbs the rocky slope behind. The chief islands on the See also:west of the See also:chain enclosing the Koro See also:Sea are Koro, Ngau, Moala and Totoya, all productive, affording good anchorage, elevated and picturesque. The eastern islands of the chain are smaller and more numerous, Vanua Batevu (one of the Exploring Group) being a centre of See also:trade. Among others, See also:Mago is remarkable for a subterranean outlet of the See also:waters of the fertile valley in its midst.
The See also:land is of See also:recent See also:geological formation, the See also:principal ranges being composed of igneous See also:rock, and showing traces of much volcanic disturbance. There are boiling springs in Vanua
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Levu and Ngau, and slight shocks of See also:earthquake are occasionally See also:felt. The tops of many of the mountains, from Kandavu in the S.W., through Nairai and Koro, to the Ringgold group in the N.E., have distinct craters, but their activity has long ceased. The various decomposing volcanic rocks—tufas, conglomerates and basalts—mingled with decayed See also:vegetable See also:matter, and abundantly watered, See also:form a very fertile See also:soil. Most of the high peaks on the larger islands are basaltic, and the rocks generally are igneous, with occasional upheaved coral found sometimes over r000 ft. above the sea; but certain sedimentary rocks observed on Viti Levu seem to imply a See also:nucleus of land of considerable See also:age. Volcanic activity in the neighbourhood is further shown by the quantities of See also:pumice-See also: In See also:February and See also: Among the many valuable See also:timber trees are the vesi (Afzelia bijuga) ; the dilo (Calophyllum Inophyllum), the oil from its seeds being much used in the islands, as in See also:India, in the treatment of See also:rheumatism; the dakua (Dammara Vitiensis), allied to the New Zealand kauri, and others. The dakua or Fiji See also:pine, however, has become scarce. Most of the See also:fruit trees are also valuable as timber. The native See also:cloth (masi) is beaten out from the bark of the See also:paper mulberry cultivated for the purpose. Of the palms the cocoanut is by far the most important. The yasi or See also:sandal-See also:wood was formerly a valuable product, but is now rarely found. There are various useful drugs, spices and perfumes; and many See also:plants are cultivated for their beauty, to which the natives are keenly alive. Among the plants used as pot-herbs are several ferns, and two or three Solanums, one of which, S. anthropophagorum, was one of certain plants always cooked with human flesh, which was said to be otherwise difficult of digestion. The use of the See also:kava See also:root, here called yanggona, from which the well-known See also:national beverage is made, is said to have been introduced from See also:Tonga. Of fruit trees, besides the cocoanut, there may be mentioned the many varieties of the See also:bread-fruit, of bananas and plantains, of See also:sugar-See also:cane and of See also:lemon; the wi ( Spondias dulcis), the kavika (Eugenia malaccensis), the ivi or Tahitian See also:chestnut (Inocarpus edulis), the pine-See also:apple and others introduced in See also:modern times. Edible roots are especially abundant. The chief See also:staple of See also:life is the See also:yam, the names of several months in the See also:calendar having reference to its cultivation and ripening. The natives use no See also:grain or See also:pulse, but make a See also:kind of bread (mandrai) fromthis, the taro, and other roots' as well as from the See also:banana (which is the best), the bread-fruit, the ivi, the kavika, the See also:arrowroot, and in times of scarcity the See also:mangrove. This bread is made by burying the materials for months, till the See also:mass is thoroughly fermented and homogeneous, when it is dug up and cooked by See also:baking or steaming. This See also:simple See also:process, applicable to such a variety of substances, is a valuable See also:security against See also:famine. See also:People.—The Fijians are a people of Melanesian (Papuan) stock much crossed with Polynesians (Tongans and Samoans). They occupy the extreme east limits of Papuan territory and are usually classified as Melanesians; but they are physically See also:superior to the pure examples of that See also:race, combining their dark See also:colour, harsh hirsute skin, crisp See also:hair, which is bleached with See also:lime and worn in an elaborately trained See also:mop, and See also:muscular limbs, with the handsome features and well proportioned bodies of the Polynesians. They are tall and well built. The features are strongly marked, but not unpleasant, the eyes deep set, the See also:beard thick and bushy. The chiefs are fairer, much better-looking, and of a less See also:negroid type of See also:face than the people. This negroid type is especially marked on the west coasts, and still more in the interior of Viti Levu. The Fijians have other characteristics of both Pacific races, e.g. the See also:quick See also:intellect of the fairer, and the savagery and suspicion of the dark. They See also:wear a minimum of covering, but, unlike the Melanesians, are strictly decent, while they are more moral than the Polynesians. They are cleanly and particular about their See also:personal See also:appearance, though, unlike other Melanesians, they care little for See also:ornament, and only the See also:women are tattooed. A partial See also:circumcision is practised, which is exceptional with the Melanesians, nor have these usually an elaborate See also:political and social See also:system like that of Fiji. The status of the women is also somewhat better, those of the upper class having considerable freedom and See also:influence. If less readily amenable to civilizing influences than their neighbours to the eastward, the Fijians show greater force of See also:character and ingenuity. Possessing the arts of both races they practise them with greater skill than either. They understand the principle of See also:division of labour and See also:production, and thus of See also:commerce. They are skilful cultivators and good See also:boat-builders, the carpenters being an hereditary See also:caste; there are also tribes of fishermen and sailors; their mats, baskets, nets, cordage and other fabrics are substantial and tasteful; their pottery, made, like many of the above articles, by women, is far superior to any other in the South Seas; but many native manufactures have been supplanted by See also:European goods. The Fijians were formerly notorious for See also:cannibalism, which may have had its origin in See also:religion, but long before the first contact with Europeans had degenerated into gluttony. The Fijian's chief table luxury was human flesh, euphemistically called by him long pig," and to satisfy his appetite he would See also:sacrifice even See also:friends and relatives. The Fijians combined with this greediness a See also:savage and merciless natures. Human sacrifices were of daily occurrence. On a chief's See also:death wives and slaves were buried alive with him. When See also:building a chief's See also:house a slave was buried alive in the hole dug for each See also:foundation See also:post. At the launching of a See also:war-See also:canoe living men were tied See also:hand and See also:foot between two See also:plantain stems making a human See also:ladder over which the See also:vessel was pushed down into the See also:water. The people acquiesced in these brutal customs, and willingly met their deaths. See also:Affection and a See also:firm belief in a future See also:state, in which the exact See also:condition of the dying is continued, are the Fijians' own explanations of the See also:custom, once universal, of killing sick or aged relatives. Yet in spite of this savagery the Fijians have always been remarkable for their hospitality, open-handedness and See also:courtesy. They are a sensitive, proud, if vindictive, and boastful people, with good conversational and reasoning See also:powers, much sense of See also:humour, tact and See also:perception of character. Their See also:code of social See also:etiquette is See also:minute and elaborate, and the graduations of See also:rank well marked. These are (r) chiefs, greater and lesser; (2) priests; (3) See also:Mate ni Vanua (lit., eyes of the land), employes, messengers or counsellors; (4) distinguished warriors of See also:low See also:birth; (5) common people; (6) slaves. The See also:family is the unit of political society. The families are grouped in townships or otherwise (qali) under the lesser chiefs, who again owe See also:allegiance to the supreme chief of the matanitu or tribe. The chiefs are a real See also:aristocracy, excelling the people in physique, skill, intellect and acquirements of all sorts; and the reverence felt for them, now gradually diminishing, was very great, and had something of a religious character. All that aman had belonged to his chief. On the other hand, the chief's See also:property frequent, and hurricanes sometimes occur, causing scarcity by destroying the crops. The rainfall is much greater on the See also:wind-See also: Another curious custom was that of vasu (lit. See also:nephew). The son of a chief by a woman of rank had almost unlimited rights over the property of his See also:mother's family, or of her people. In time of war the chief clairned See also:absolute See also:control over life and property. Warfare was carried on with many courteous formalities, and considerable skill was shown in the fortifications. There were well-defined degrees of dependence among the different tribes or districts: the first of these, bati, is an See also:alliance between two nearly equal tribes, but implying a sort of inferiority on one See also:side, acknowledged by military service; the second, qali, implies greater subjection, and payment of See also:tribute. Thus A, being bati to B, might hold C in qali, in which See also:case C was also reckoned subject to B, or might be protected by B for political purposes. The former religion of the Fijians was a sort of ancestor-See also:worship, had much in common with the See also:creeds of See also:Polynesia, and included a belief in a future existence. There were two classes of gods—the first immortal, of whom Ndengei is the greatest, said to exist eternally in the form of a See also:serpent, but troubling himself little with human or other affairs, and the others had usually only a See also:local recognition. The second rank (who, though far above mortals, are subject to their passions, and even to death) comprised the See also:spirits of chiefs, heroes and other ancestors. The gods entered and spoke through their priests, who thus pronounced on the issue of every enterprise, but they were not represented by idols; certain groves and trees were held' sacred, and stones which suggest phallic associations. The priesthood usually was hereditary, and their influence great, and they had generally a good understanding with the chief. The institution of See also:Taboo existed in full force. 
The m,bure or See also:temple was also the See also:council chamber and See also:place of assemblage for various purposes.
The weapons of the Fijians are spears, slings, throwing clubs and bows and arrows. Their houses, of which the framework is timber and the See also:rest lattice and See also:thatch, are ingeniously constructed, with great See also:taste in ornamentation, and are well furnished with mats, See also:mosquito-curtains, baskets, fans; nets and cooking and other utensils. Their canoes, sometimes more than too ft. long, are well built. Ever excellent agriculturists, their implements were formerly digging sticks and hoes of turtlebone or See also:flat See also:oyster-shells. In See also:irrigation they showed skill, draining their See also:fields with built watercourses and See also:bamboo pipes. See also:Tobacco, See also:maize, sweet potatoes, yams, kava, taro, beans and pumpkins, are the principal crops.
Fijians are fond of amusements. They have various See also:games, and dancing, See also:story-telling and songs are especially popular. Their See also:poetry has well-defined metres, and a sort of See also:rhyme. Their See also:music is See also:rude, and is said to be always in the See also:major See also: See also:Mourning is expressed by See also:fasting, by shaving the See also:head and face, or by cutting off the little See also:finger. This last issometimes done at the death of a See also:rich See also:man in the See also:hope that his family will See also:reward the compliment; sometimes it is done vicari.• ously, as when one chief cuts off the little finger of his dependent in regret or in See also:atonement for the death of another. A steady, if not a very rapid, decrease in the native population set in after 1875. A terrible epidemic of See also:measles in that See also:year swept away 40,000, or about one-third of the Fijians. Subsequent epidemics have not been attended by anything like this mortality, but there has, however, been a steady decrease, principally among See also:young See also:children, owing to whooping-cough, See also:tuberculosis and See also:croup. Every Fijian See also:child seems to See also:contract See also:yaws at some time in its life, a mistaken notion existing on the part of the parents that it strengthens the child's physique. See also:Elephantiasis, See also:influenza; rheumatism, and a skin disease, thoko, also occur. One per cent of the natives are lepers. A See also:commission appointed in 1891 to inquire into the causes of the native de-crease collected much interesting anthropological See also:information regarding native customs, and provincial inspectors and medical See also:officers were specially appointed to compel the natives to carry out the sanitary reforms recommended by the commission. A considerable sum was also spent in laying on good water to the 'native villages. The Fijians show no disposition to intermarry with the See also:Indian coolies. The European See also:half-castes are not prolific inter se, and they are subject to a scrofulous taint. The most robust See also:cross in the islands is the offspring of the See also:African See also:negro and the Fijian. See also:Miscegenation with the Micronesians, the only race in the Pacific which is rapidly increasing, is regarded as the most hopeful manner of preserving the native Fijian population. There is a large Indian immigrant population. Trade, See also:Administration, &°c.—The principal See also:industries are the cultivation of sugar and fruits and the manufacture of sugar and See also:copra, and these three are the chief articles of export trade, which is carried on almost entirely with See also:Australia and New Zealand. The fruits chiefly exported are bananas and pine-apples. There are also exported maize, See also:vanilla and a variety of fruits in small quantities; See also:pearl and other shells and bechede-mer. There is a manufacture of See also:soap from coconut oil; a See also:fair quantity of tobacco is grown, and among other industries may be included boat-building and saw-milling. See also:Regular steamship communications are maintained with See also:Sydney, See also:Auckland and See also:Vancouver. Good bridle-tracks exist in all the larger islands, and there are some macadamized roads, principally in Viti Levu. There is an overland See also:mail service by native runners. The export trade is valued at nearly £600,obo annually, and the imports at £500,000. The See also:annual See also:revenue of the colony is about £140,000 and the See also:expenditure about £125,000. The currency and weights and See also:measures are See also:British. Besides the customs and See also:stamp duties, some £18,000 of the annual revenue is raised from native See also:taxation. The seventeen provinces of the colony (at the head of which is either a European or a roko tui or native See also:official) are assessed annually by the legislative council for a fixed tax in kind. The tax on each See also:province is distributed among districts under officials called bulis, and further among villages within these districts. Any surplus of produce over the See also:assessment is sold to contractors, and the See also:money received is returned to the natives.
Under a reconstruction made in 1904 there is an executive council consisting of the See also:governor and four official members. The legislative council consists of the governor, ten official, six elected and two native members. The native chiefs and provincial representatives meet annually under the See also:presidency of the governor, and their recommendations are submitted for See also:sanction to the legislative council. Suva and Levuka have each a municipal government, and there are native district and See also:village See also:councils. There is an armed native constabulary; and a volunteer and See also:cadet See also:corps in Suva and Levuka.
The See also:majority of the natives are Wesleyan Methodists. The See also:Roman See also:Catholic missionaries have about 3000 adherents; the See also: There are public See also:schools for Europeans and half-castes in the towns, but there is no See also:provision for the See also:education of the children of settlers in the out-districts. By an See also:ordinance of 1890 provision was made for the constitution of school boards, and the principle was first applied in Suva and Levuka. The See also:missions have established schools in every native village, and most natives are able to read and write their own See also:language. The government has established a native technical school for the teaching of useful handicrafts. The natives show themselves very slow in adopting European habits in food, clothing and house-building. See also:History.—A few islands in the See also:north-east of the group were first seen by See also:Abel See also:Tasman in 1643. The southernmost of the group, Turtle Island, was discovered by See also:Cook in 1773. See also:Lieutenant See also:Bligh, approaching them in the See also:launch of the " See also:Bounty," 1789, had a hostile encounter with natives. In 1827 See also:Dumont d'Urville in the " See also:Astrolabe " surveyed them much more accurately, but the first thorough survey was that of the See also:United States exploring expedition in 1840. Up to this time, owing to the evil reputation of the islanders, European intercourse was very limited. The labours of the Wesleyan missionaries, however, must always have a prominent place in any history of Fiji. They came from Tonga in 1835 and naturally settled first in the eastern islands, where the Tongan element, already See also:familiar to them, preponderated. They perhaps identified themselves too closely with their Tongan friends, whose dissolute, lawless, tyrannical conduct led to much See also:mischief; but it should not be forgotten that their position was difficult, and it was mainly through their efforts that many terrible See also:heathen practices were stamped out.
About 1804 some escaped convicts from Australia and runaway sailors established themselves around the east part of Viti Levu, and by lending their services to the neighbouring chiefs probably led to their preponderance over the rest of the group. Na Ulivau, chief of the small island of .Mbau, established before his death in 1829 a sort of supremacy, which was extended by his See also:brother Tanoa, and by Tanoa's son Thakombau, a ruler of considerable capacity. In his time, however, difficulties thickened. The Tongans, who had long frequented Fiji (especially for canoe-building, their own islands being deficient in timber), now came in larger See also:numbers, led by an able and ambitious chief, Maafu, who, by adroitly taking part in Fijian quarrels, made himself chief in the Windward group, threatening Thakombau's supremacy. He was harassed, too, by an arbitrary demand for £9000 from the See also:American government, for alleged injuries to their See also:consul. Several chiefs who disputed his authority were crushed by the aid of See also: Attempts were made at self-government, and the sovereignty was again offered, conditionally, to England, and to the United States. Finally, in 1871, a " constitutional government " was formed by certain Englishmen under King Thakombau; but this, after incurring heavy See also:debt, and promoting the welfare of neither whites nor natives, came after three years to a deadlock, and the British government felt obliged, in the See also:interest of all parties, to accept the unconditional cession now offered (1874). It had besides long been thought desirable to possess a station on the route between Australia and See also:Panama; it was also felt that the Polynesian labour See also:traffic, the abuses in which had caused much indignation, could only be effectually regulated from a point contiguous to the recruiting See also: In 1900 the government of New Zealand made overtures to absorb Fiji. The See also:Aborigines Society protested to the colonial See also:office, and the imperial government refused to sanction the proposal. See See also:Smyth, Ten Months in the Fiji Islands (See also:London, 1864) ; B. Seemann, Flora Vitiensis (London, 1865) ; and Viii: See also:Account of a Government See also:Mission in the Vitian or Fijian Islands (186o–1861) ; W. T. See also:Pritchard, Polynesian Reminiscences (London, 1866) ; H. See also:Forbes, Two Years in Fiji (London, 1875) ; See also:Commodore Goodenough, See also:Journal (London, 1876) ; H. N. Moseley, Notes of a Naturalist in the " Challenger " (London, 1879) ; See also:Sir A. H. See also:Gordon, Story of a Little War (See also:Edinburgh, privately printed, 1879) ; J. W. See also: Guppy, Observations of a Naturalist in the Pacific (1896–1899), vol. i.; Vanua Levu, Fiji (Phys. Geog. and See also:Geology) (London, 1903); Lorimer Fison, Tales from Old Fiji (folk-See also:lore, &c.) (London, 1904) ; B. See also:Thomson, The Fijians (London, 1908). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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