WAR CANOE OF THE OLDEN TIME.
"The majority of the students are Samoans; the rest are from all the islands of the South Pacific, whence they have been sent by the local missionaries. They study arithmetic, geography, and of course learn to read and write, and besides these ordinary branches of education they devote considerable time to the Scriptures and to theology.
"Every Saturday evening there is a prayer-meeting, at which the students make short exhortations. On Sunday there are three services—morning,afternoon, and evening; and there are Sunday-schools for the children and Bible classes for the older folks. On the first Sunday of each month there is a communion-service, after the manner of churches in England and other civilized lands. We have not seen anywhere in the Pacific a finer assemblage of native men and women than the class at this college; they had bright, intelligent faces, and we were told that they were all so anxious to progress in their studies that they rarely infringed any of the rules of the institution, the one most frequently violated being that which required them to stop studying at nine o'clock and go to bed.
CANOES DRAWN ON SHORE.
"It was getting quite dark when we returned to Apia and found our old quarters on the yacht. They wanted us to stay all night at the mission school; but there were so many of us that we thought it best to come back to Apia lest we might incommode our hosts by thrusting such a large number of visitors on them at once. You may be sure we slept soundly in our cabins, as we were all thoroughly tired out with the long but very interesting excursion."
After a few days at Apia the yacht proceeded to Pango-Pango, in Tutuila Island, a distance of about eighty miles. Under her steam-power she made the journey in a single day; had she relied on her sails it would have been far different, as Tutuila lies dead to windwardof Upolu, and there are several currents which add their force to make a passage difficult. Sailing vessels are often five or six days making this trip, which can be covered in a few hours by steam.
Our young friends thought they had never seen anywhere a more beautiful harbor than this; Frank sat down to describe it, and after writing a few lines said he would abandon the attempt, and fall back upon the account of Admiral Wilkes, who visited it in 1839. Accordingly he copied the following from the history of the famous expedition:
"The harbor of Pango-Pango is one of the most singular in all the Polynesian isles. It is the last point at which one would look for a shelter; the coast near it is peculiarly rugged, and has no appearance of indentations, and the entrance being narrow, is not easily observed. Its shape has been compared to a variety of articles; that which it most nearly resembles is a retort. It is surrounded on all sides by inaccessible mural precipices, from eight hundred to one thousand feet in height. The lower part of these rocks is bare, but they are clothed above with luxuriant vegetation. So impassable did the rocky barrier appear in all but two places, that the harbor was likened to the valley of 'Rasselas 'changed to a lake. The harbor is of easy access, and its entrance, which is about a third of a mile in width, is marked by the Tower Rock and the Devil's Point."
"The harbor of Pango-Pango is one of the most singular in all the Polynesian isles. It is the last point at which one would look for a shelter; the coast near it is peculiarly rugged, and has no appearance of indentations, and the entrance being narrow, is not easily observed. Its shape has been compared to a variety of articles; that which it most nearly resembles is a retort. It is surrounded on all sides by inaccessible mural precipices, from eight hundred to one thousand feet in height. The lower part of these rocks is bare, but they are clothed above with luxuriant vegetation. So impassable did the rocky barrier appear in all but two places, that the harbor was likened to the valley of 'Rasselas 'changed to a lake. The harbor is of easy access, and its entrance, which is about a third of a mile in width, is marked by the Tower Rock and the Devil's Point."
CAPTAIN JAMES COOK.
"He might have added," said Frank, "that there is a coral reef on each side of the entrance, with the surf breaking heavily over it, or at any rate it was doing so at the time we entered. Pango-Pango is a splendid harbor, and could hold a great many ships. Its principal disadvantage is that the prevailing trade-wind blows directly into it, so that while a sailing-ship can get in without much trouble she has a hard time to get out unless she has a steam tow-boat to help her."
Doctor Bronson told the youths that at one time the King of Samoa proposed to present the harbor of Pango-Pango, and an area of land surrounding it, to the United States Government for a coaling and naval station; but as the acceptance of the proposal would involve political relations that might be troublesome in future, the offer was practically declined. The commerce of Pango-Pango is not as important as that of Apia, for the very simple reason that the island of Tutuila contains only four thousand inhabitants, and their productive energies are not great. Copra and cocoanut-oil are the principal articles of export; there are some small plantations devoted to cotton, sugar, or coffee, but the lack of native laborers and the high cost of imported ones has kept these industries in a backward state.
AN AMERICAN RESIDENT.
The first European vessel to enter this harbor was theElizabeth, an English whaler, commanded by Captain Cuthbert. He gave it the name of Cuthbert Harbor, but the appellation never adhered to it. Pango-Pango is its native name, and will probably be maintained long after Cuthbert is quite forgotten.
The settlement at Pango-Pango was so much like the one at Apia that we will not risk wearying the reader with a description. Suffice it to say the yacht remained two or three days there, and then proceeded on her voyage in the direction of the Feejee Islands.
Before their departure they were invited to attend a Fa-Samoa party, and the invitation was promptly accepted. Frank asked what a Fa-Samoa party was.
"You might put it in French," said the American consul, by whom the invitation was given, "and saya la Samoa, or, to come to plain English, you may render it 'Samoan fashion.' 'Fa-Samoa,' 'Fa-Feejee,' or 'Fa-Tonga,' mean after the manner of Samoa, Feejee, or Tonga. It is a convenient feature of the language, and I can assure you the party will be an enjoyable one."
"The consul was right," said Frank, in telling their experience, "as the party was a jolly one. It reminded us of the dinner at Tahiti after the native style, but was more like a picnic than anything else we have at home. In fact it was a good deal of a picnic, as each person who was invited contributed something to the supply of eatables for the table, so that those who did not fancy the native dishes need not go hungry.
CAVE NEAR THE PICNIC GROUND.
"The picnic ground was just outside the town, on a pretty bit of lawn shaded by grand old bread-fruit and cocoanut trees, and in the midst of a grove of bananas, which extended on three sides of the lawn and served as a sort of hedge. Banana-leaves were spread thickly on the grass, and on this lowly table the edible things were spread, and what do you suppose we had to eat?
"We had sucking-pigs roasted very much as they are roasted at home, or folded in taro-leaves and baked in hot ashes; the steam from the green leaves cooks them thoroughly, so that the joints fall apart at the merest touch of the knife, or a slight strain of the fingers. They gave us pigeons cooked the same way, and I remark, by-the-way, that there are pigeons in the Samoan Islands, and it is one of the native pastimes to catch them. We had several kinds of scale-fish, some cooked and others raw, and we had crawfish and prawns and Samoan oysters; but I'm bound to say I didn't think much of the oysters when I remembered those of my native land. They give us a salad made of the young and tender shoots of the cocoa-tree, and very nice it was, andeverywhere we turned there were bananas, oranges, pineapples, and other tropical fruits.
"The dishes that most attracted our attention were the puddings made of bananas, bread-fruit, taro, and similar things. The consul told us that each of the ingredients was beaten fine and baked separately, and then they were all worked in together and covered with the thick cream from a ripe cocoanut. Cocoanut-cream is wonderfully rich; when taken by itself it is apt to cloy the stomach and disturb digestion, but used as a sauce for the puddings it is delicious; but you must touch it sparingly, as it is full of oil.
"We sat on the ground to partake of the feast, and had a back-ache afterwards, just as we did in Tahiti. For drink we each had a freshly opened cocoanut-shell, and we took the cocoa-milk as we would take tea or any other beverage in civilized lands. There were some cakes made of putrid bread-fruit, but we did not touch them any more than we did the equally vile-smelling Limburger cheese which one of our entertainers had brought along. The bread-fruit is in season for about half the year; the natives store the fruit in pits lined with banana-leaves, and thus stored the stuff ferments, and soon smells so badly that any person with a sensitive nose cannot bear to come within odoriferous distance. When walking where there are any of these bread-fruit pits we always try to keep to windward.
"Taste and habit are everything. The Germans are nauseated by putrid bread-fruit, while the Samoans are equally intolerant of Limburger. They are horrified when told how long game is kept in England and America before being cooked and eaten, and the merest taste of Worcestershire sauce would spoil their appetites for a whole day at least."
MASSACRE BAY.
The course of the yacht carried her near Massacre Bay, and Fred naturally inquired why the spot was so called.
"It was so named," replied Doctor Bronson, "because of the massacre of several of the crew, together with the captain, of theAstrolabe, one of the ships of La Pérouse, the ill-fated navigator whose death was so long a mystery."
"What were the circumstances of the affair?" was the inquiry which followed this explanation.
"The ships of La Pérouse, theBoussole(compass) andAstrolabe(quadrant), were off the island, and Captain De Lange, who commanded theAstrolabe, sent four boats on shore to procure water. They carried sixty soldiers and sailors, and were commanded by De Lange in person.The boats made their way through the reef, and reached the beach without opposition. While the work of watering was going on the natives appeared friendly enough, until suddenly they gave a loud shout, and attacked the Frenchmen with stones and clubs. Captain De Lange was killed, and with him eleven of his men. The rest escaped to the ships, leaving one of their boats aground. La Pérouse endeavored to get inside the reef to punish the natives, but after several days he gave up the attempt and proceeded to Botany Bay, whence he sent an account of the affair to his government."
"And that was the last heard of him for a long time?"
"Yes; he sailed from Botany Bay with theBoussoleandAstrolabein March, 1788, and for thirty-eight years nothing was known of him or his ships, or what became of them."
"Did the French Government try to find out anything about their fate?"
"Oh, certainly. They sent an expedition to the South Seas, but it returned without the least information. Then they sent a circular to ambassadors, consuls, and other officials, at the courts of all the powers of the world, and to scientific societies and commercial associations, asking them in the name of humanity to search for any trace of the missing expedition, and offering to reward any one who rendered assistance to survivors, or gave any information about the fate of La Pérouse and his companions."
"And it took thirty-eight years to get the desired information?"
A VILLAGE IN VANIKORO.
"Yes. All inquiries of navigators and others came to nothing, and gradually the fate of La Pérouse was considered a problem impossible of solution. On the 13th of May, 1826, an English trading-ship from Calcutta, theSt. Patrick, Captain Peter Dillon, touched at the island of Tucopia, in latitude 12° 21' south, longitude 168° 33' east. Find its position on the map, and then I'll tell what Captain Dillon discovered there."
Frank and Fred eagerly scanned the map, and by following the lines of latitude and longitude they speedily located Tucopia. It is between the Solomon and New Hebrides groups, and lies nearly due north-west from the Feejees, and a little north of west from Samoa.
"Captain Dillon," continued the Doctor, "found there a Frenchman named Martin Buchert, whom he had known at the Feejees thirteen years before, and also a Lascar sailor who had landed at Tucopia with Buchert. The meeting of Dillon and Buchert was an interesting one; and so much was Dillon absorbed with it, that he did not at firstnotice a silver sword-hilt which the Lascar wore suspended by a string around his neck. While he was talking with Buchert, the Lascar sold the sword-hilt to the ship's armorer for a few fish-hooks. The natives that swarmed around the ship had many articles of European manufacture, and questions concerning them led to a remark about the sword-hilt, which was speedily obtained again from the armorer.
"Captain Dillon learned that the things were brought from an island called Vanikoro, about two days' sail to leeward of Tucopia, and that the natives there had many articles of European manufacture, which were obtained from two ships that had been wrecked there long before.
HAT ISLAND, WEST OF VANIKORO.
"Captain Dillon thought of La Pérouse, and of the reward which the French Government offered. Then he bought all the European articles which the natives of Tucopia possessed, and as soon as this was done he made sail for Vanikoro.
"When his ship was under way he carefully examined the sword-hilt with a magnifying-glass. There was a monogram so badly worn that the letters were indistinct, but he finally made it out 'J. F. G. P.'—the initials of the name Jean François Galaup de la Pérouse.
"He had found the hilt of the great navigator's sword!"
"And what did he find at Vanikoro?" said one of the youths, eagerly.
"Owing to contrary winds," the Doctor replied, "he was unable to visit the island at that time, and returned to Calcutta without doing so. He reported his discovery, and exhibited the sword-hilt and other relics; the East India Company fitted out a ship and placed it under his command, and he proceeded to Vanikoro, where he obtained a great many relics, including anchors, cannon, chains, and other heavy things,and learned from the natives the story of the wreck of theBoussoleandAstrolabe."
"What was it?"
LOUIS XVI. AND LA PÉROUSE.
"The ships went ashore in a severe gale. On one of them every one of the crew was drowned in the surf or killed by the natives. On the other, supposed to be the one commanded by La Pérouse in person, friendly terms were established with the people, and the crew were unharmed. They built a small vessel from the wreck of the larger one, and a part of them sailed away. They were never heard of afterwards; those who remained on the island died one after another, and it is supposed that the last survivor perished only a few months before the sword-hilt was found at Tucopia."
"And what became of Captain Dillon?"
"The French Government kept its promise. It created him a chevalier of the Legion of Honor, gave him a life pension of four thousand francs, and appointed him consul to Tahiti, where he remained until the establishment of the protectorate over the Society Islands. Then he returned to England, and lived on his pension until his death in 1846."
THE FEEJEE ISLANDS: THEIR EXTENT AND POPULATION.—TERRIBLE FATALITY OF THE MEASLES.—ROTUMAH AND ITS PEOPLE.—KANDAVU AND SUVA.—VITI LEVU.—SIGHTS OF THE CAPITAL.—PRODUCTIONS AND COMMERCE OF FEEJEE.—GROWTH OF THE SUGAR TRADE.—THE LABOR QUESTION.—OBSERVATIONS AMONG THE NATIVES.—FEEJEEAN HAIR-DRESSING.—NATIVE PECULIARITIES.—CANNIBALISM, ITS EXTENT AND SUPPRESSION.—HOW THE CHIEFS WERE SUPPLIED.—A WHOLE TRIBE OF PEOPLE EATEN.—LEVUKA.—INTERVIEWS WITH MERCHANTS AND PLANTERS.—THE BOLOLO FESTIVAL.—ANCIENT CUSTOMS.
A NATIVE OF FEEJEE.
During the voyage to the Feejees Frank and Fred informed themselves concerning that famous group of islands, which formerly had a dark reputation for being the scene of the grossest forms of cannibalism. What they learned was substantially as follows:
"There is really no such group of islands as 'The Feejees;' the word Feejee comes from Viti, or Vee-tee—Viti Levu being the largest island of the group, which consists of something more than two hundred islands and islets. The number is variously placed at from two hundred to two hundred and fifty, and of these about one hundred and forty are inhabited. Viti Levumeasures about ninety-seven miles from east to west and sixty-four from north to south, and its area is computed at 4112 square miles. Vanua-Levu, with an area of nearly 2500 miles, is the next largest, and then come Taviuni and Kandavu, the former of 217 square miles, and the latter of 124. None of the other islands have areas equalling one hundred square miles, and it would be tedious to name them all.
"Altogether the Feejee group has an area estimated at 7400 square miles, or about 400 square miles less than that of the State of Massachusetts. Its population is estimated at—"
Fred was about to write 200,000, taking the figures from a book before him, when he was interrupted by Doctor Bronson.
"Wait a moment," said the Doctor, "and I'll tell you something on that subject.
A ROYAL ATTENDANT.
"Twenty or twenty-five years ago," he continued, "the population was estimated at fully that figure, and some authorities put it as high as 250,000. Of course there has never been a careful census, and in the interior of the larger islands it is not easy to get even a close approximation of the number of inhabitants. Since the occupation of the islands by the whites the population has followed the general law of all Polynesia, and diminished with more or less steadiness.
"In 1874 it was estimated that it had been reduced to 180,000, and in the following year fully one-third of this number died from the scourge of measles."
"Measles!" exclaimed Frank and Fred, in astonishment. "I didn't know," Frank added, "that this disease was a deadly one."
"It is not usually so considered in civilized lands," the Doctor answered, "nor would it have been so here but for the ignorance of the people, and their persistence in doing exactly what they should not have done.
"In the latter part of 1874 Thakombau, King of Feejee, and his sons went to Sydney in an English man-of-war, to pay their respects to the Governor of New South Wales. At Sydney the two youngestboys took measles, but the disease showed itself in such a mild form that nothing was thought of it. On the return voyage in January the King had a slight attack, but it was considered of no consequence, and on his arrival at Levuka he went ashore at once.
"His relatives and subjects came to pay their respects, and according to custom smelt of his hands or his face, and thus took in the poison of the disease. A few days after his arrival there was a meeting of chiefs and other high dignitaries from all the tribes of the group, and the same ceremonies were gone through. In this way the disease was spread through the group, and when it developed it caused the death of nearly every chief who had attended the ceremonial.
ANCIENT FEEJEE TEMPLE.
"All through the Feejees people died by the thousand; in some instances whole villages were struck down, and there were not enough well people to care for the sick or bury the dead. Medical directions were published and sent abroad as soon as possible, but the superstitious people had been told by some of the beach-combers and other scoundrels infesting the islands that the disease had been imported in order to kill them off and get their lands, and that the medicines of the white men were intended to spread rather than check it. The medical directions were ignored; some tribes who had become Christian renounced the new religion and drove out their teachers. In one instance where a teacher died of measles his Christian disciples concluded that it was best to follow the old custom and bury his wife and children with him, in order to propitiate the demon of the scourge."
"Why was the disease so fatal here when it is not so in our own country?" one of the youths inquired.
"You are aware, I presume," the Doctor answered, "that care should be exercised in measles against taking cold, and thus driving the disease to the lungs. These people are continually bathing, and it was the most natural thing in the world for them to rush to the cooling streams as soon as the fever came on them. In this way thousands doomed themselves to death, and besides, there came an unusual rainfall that converted great areas of country into swamps, and rendered it impossible for the people to keep dry even if they had tried to do so.
"As an illustration of the effect of bathing, I may mention the case of the native police at Levuka. A hundred and fifty men were seized with measles, and the officer in charge, an Englishman, immediately established a hospital and ordered those who were least affected to care for the rest. They were forbidden to bathe or allow any one else to do so; all the patients recovered except ten, and of these every man was found to have disobeyed orders and indulged in a bath in the tempting sea which was close by.
"An English resident says that whole villages were swept away by the scourge, the dead were buried in their own houses, and to this day many of the platforms on which the Feejeean houses are built are simply family tombs. The coast towns suffered more than those of the interior, probably in consequence of their being in more swampy ground, and thus more affected by the dampness. The measles were afterwards carried to other groups, where the effect was severe, but not so fatal in proportion to the population as in the Feejees."
With this explanation Frank put down the number of native inhabitantsof the Feejees at 120,000; afterwards he obtained at Suva the figures of the census of 1884, which were as follows: European residents, 3513; native Feejeeans, 115,635; Polynesian laborers, 5634; Asiatics, about 5000; and Rotumah men, about 2600.
A POLYNESIAN IDOL.
"What is a Rotumah man?" said Fred, when the above figures were obtained and read aloud by Frank.
"Rotumah," said the Doctor, "is a small island lying in mid-ocean about four hundred miles north of Feejee, and recently made a British possession. The natives are a kindly race; the women are prettier than most other Polynesians, and the men strong and of good size. They make excellent sailors, and you find them in ships all over the South Pacific, and even in other parts of the world. A gentleman who visited Rotumah told me it was no uncommon thing to find natives who had been in New York, London, Liverpool, or Hamburg, and they could discuss the relative merits of sailing and steam vessels with an intelligence not always found among white sailors.
"Though living in an island where nature is kindly and the wants of man are few, the Rotumah men are not unwilling to work; they are consequently sought as laborers in the Samoan, Tahitian, and other groups, and especially in Feejee. So many men have been taken from the island that the supply has been practically exhausted, and the planters are compelled to look elsewhere. Some of the laborers were kidnapped in the manner described in our discussion of the labor-trade, but the most of those who emigrated were fairly and honestly obtained."
The outlying islets of the Feejee group were first sighted by our friends on the yacht, and in due time the peaks of the larger islands came into view. The Feejeean Archipelago is situated between the fifteenthand twenty-second parallels of south latitude, and the meridians of 177° west and 175° east longitude, and scattered over an area of ocean some two hundred miles from north to south, and three hundred from east to west. Its exact extent is not known, as there has been no complete survey of the islands; one is now in progress under the direction of the colonial government, but it will take some time for its completion. Surveying in Feejee is slow and difficult work, owing to the dense tropical vegetation that is found everywhere.
A COAST SCENE IN KANDAVU.
The first island of importance which was sighted by our friends was Kandavu, the fourth largest of the group and containing something like 10,000 inhabitants. As they expected to see it later, they did not stop there, and the youths contented themselves by studying its well-wooded slopes and fertile valleys, and the towering head of Mount Washington 3000 feet high on its western side. The captain told them that Kandavu was the stopping-place of the mail-steamers on their way between San Francisco and Australia, as it was more convenient and less dangerous for them than either Suva or Levuka. He added that it aboundedin fine timber, and was a favorite resort for whalers in search of supplies and water.
Steam was made as soon as Kandavu was sighted, and in a few hours thePerawas at anchor in the harbor of Suva, the capital of the British colony of Feejee. It was selected in 1880 by a commission appointed to secure a site for a future capital, the former one, Levuka, having been found disadvantageous in some respects. Levuka is more centrally situated in the archipelago than Suva, but its harbor is not so easy of access, and a ship approaching or leaving it has more dangerous navigation. Levuka is on the small island of Ovolau, while Suva is on the south side of Viti Levu, which is, as before stated, the largest and most populous of the group.
A PLANTER'S RESIDENCE.
On shore our friends found a prosperous-looking place, when its age was taken into consideration, and Frank said it reminded him of a town in California or Colorado. There were half a dozen hotels,several churches, which represented the Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Methodist faiths, a great number of shops and stores, and many well-built warehouses, cottages, and other dwellings. They went to the principal hotel before proceeding to call upon their consuls or make any acquaintances, and the proprietor immediately offered to show them the sights of Suva.
A NEW ARRIVAL.
He pointed out the Governor's residence, the jail, hospital, custom-house, and lunatic asylum, together with other public edifices. Doctor Bronson suggested that there was every indication of a fixed community when so young a place could boast of a jail and a lunatic asylum, not to speak of the custom-house and the hospital.
"We needed a jail here before anything else," was the reply to his remark. "All the riffraff of the South Seas seemed to be collected in Feejee before the annexation, and there was nothing but the powerful arm of law, with jails and other paraphernalia, that could preserve order."
"They had been gathering here for a long time, I presume," said the Doctor, "and were most numerous just before the annexation."
"There had been a fair sprinkling of beach-combers and idlers," was the reply, "ever since the islands were first occupied by white men. After them came men who wished to engage in planting cotton, sugar, and other things for which the islands were supposed to be favorable; there were some adventurers among them; but, on the whole, they were a good class of citizens, as they were nearly all of birth and education, and most of them brought some capital with which to go into business.
"But in the latter part of the sixties we were inundated with a different lot of adventurers. A few came with the design of planting cotton, or engaging in some other honest employment, but the great majority were penniless fellows, with no fondness for decent occupations. Many of them had left the Australian colonies to avoid arrest for swindling or other crimes, and there was a fair share of men forwhom the prisons yawned for offences of the most serious character. Down to that time San Francisco had been the haven to which these fellows emigrated, but it was easier to go to Feejee than to America, and therefore Feejee got the benefit."
"I think I heard something about it at the time," the Doctor remarked.
GOING TO FEEJEE.
"Quite likely," responded his informant. "About 1870-71 Feejee was a word of contempt in Australia. 'Gone to Feejee' had the same meaning in Sydney and Melbourne that 'Gone to Texas' had in the United States forty or fifty years ago; but now, under colonial rule, it is an orderly land, and life and property are as safe as in Australia or California."
In the conversation that followed Frank and Fred learned that the late King Thakombau, who died in 1883, offered the sovereignty of the islands to the Queen of England under certain conditions, but the offer was declined. Another offer was made in March, 1874, which was also declined; but in October of the same year a deed of cession gave the sovereignty of the islands to Great Britain. A charter was shortly after issued, making Feejee a colony of Great Britain, and the first governor, Sir Arthur Gordon, arrived in June, 1875, and assumed authority.
The colony has been, on the whole, a prosperous one, though there have been periods of depression. Year by year the capabilities of the islands are becoming better known, and it would seem that there is every known kind of productive soil in Feejee. Its swamps will produce rice in abundance, and the other lands are adapted to sugar, cotton, coffee, sweet-potatoes, yams, and all other tropical productions, while in many localities pease, beans, cabbages, apples, and other fruits and vegetables of the temperate zones are successfully grown.
Frank asked about the cocoanut and bread-fruit trees, and was toldthat the former was indigenous, and the latter had been grown there so long that it was practically so. The cocoanut-tree was an important article of cultivation, and thousands of acres have been planted with it. For a long time the chief article of export was copra, but latterly it has been exceeded by sugar. In 1875 the export of copra was 3871 tons; in 1884 it was 6682 tons, or nearly double the amount of nine years before. As the young trees come into bearing the exportation of copra will be greatly increased.
SCENE ON A COTTON PLANTATION.
"The growth of the sugar-trade," said his informant, "has been very rapid, as you will see by the figures. In 1875 the export of sugar was 96 tons, and in 1876 it was 265 tons; in 1884 it was nearly 9000 tons; and in 1885, 10,586 tons. Molasses shows about the same increase as its first-cousin, sugar, though the product of later years is not as valuable as some that preceded it, owing to the diminished price of the article.
"Cotton has not been a profitable crop on the whole," he continued, "and the production has fallen off from 386 tons in 1879 to 150tons in 1884, and only 45 tons in 1885. Many cotton-bushes have been destroyed to make place for the cultivation of sugar; coffee has been little, if any, more profitable than cotton, and many of the coffee plantations are now devoted to bananas, which are an important article of export. In 1875 less than $500 worth of fruit was sent from the islands, while the exports for the last three years have exceeded $100,000 worth annually.
"The other exports are beche-de-mer, tobacco, cocoa-fibre, tortoise-shell, wool, hides, and pearl-shell, but none of them amount to a great deal. The industries of the colony are somewhat hampered by restrictions upon the importation of foreign labor; in consequence of former abuses the Government is very severe, and some of us think needlessly so."
Frank asked in what particular he thought the authorities ought to be more lenient.
SUGAR-CANE MILL.
"The laborers are engaged for three years," was the reply, "and under the old regulations a laborer could be re-engaged for another period of three years if he was willing to do so. At present the employers are compelled to return him to his home, even though he is desirous of remaining here for another term. This is the rule as to imported labor; if a planter hires Feejeeans to work for him he is obliged to make his engagements from month to month. The probabilityis that coolie labor from India will in time drive out Polynesian labor."
"Why so?" Fred asked.
"Because of the lower relative price of it. Polynesians must be fed, clothed, and cared for by the employer, and consequently it is not easy to calculate exactly the cost of this kind of labor. The coolies feed and care for themselves, and besides they are better and more steady laborers. A Polynesian laborer costs about eighty dollars a year, a Feejeean one eighty-five dollars, and a coolie from India or China ninety-five to one hundred dollars. But, all things considered, the Asiatic is preferable to the Polynesian."
There was further conversation relative to the labor-trade, which has already been discussed in this book, and so we will not repeat it. Our friends then took a stroll along the Victoria Parade, a wide and handsome avenue nearly a mile in length. Frank and Fred were interested in everything they saw, and particularly with the passing kaleidoscope of Englishmen, Germans, Americans, and other white nationalities, together with Chinese, Indian coolies, Feejeeans, Rotumah men, and natives of half the islands of the Pacific. Of course the Feejeeans were more numerous than any other race or kind of people that passed before their eyes.
"The Feejeeans," said Frank, in his account of their visit to Suva, "are considerably darker than the Samoans or Tahitians; Doctor Bronson says they belong to the race of Papuans rather than to the Malays, though possessing characteristics of both. They are superior to the Papuans in physique and in their degree of civilization, but they have the frizzly hair and beard and the dark skin which indicates their Papuan origin. Then, too, they use the bow and arrow for weapons, and make pottery, neither of which is characteristic of the true Polynesian.
FEEJEEAN HEAD-DRESS.
"What struck us as odd about them was their immense heads ofhair, some of them being fully three feet in diameter. Hair-dressing seems to be one of the fine arts in Feejee, and the barber is a most important personage, though less so to-day than formerly. And how do you suppose they managed to get such enormous mops on their heads?
"Well, the naturally frizzly hair is 'improved' by the barber. Each particular hair is seized and pulled with tweezers until it stands out straight, helped of course by the other hairs which have been served the same way. The hair-dressing of a Feejeean dandy takes the greater part of the time, and when he wishes to appear in specially fine style he must be for a whole day at least in the hands of his barber. When the hair has been stretched out to the proper degree, it is wrapped with fine tappa or imported muslin, and in this condition presents a very curious appearance.
"The office of barber to the King was such a sacred one that the royal barbers were tabu, or forbidden to do anything else. They could not even feed, dress, or undress themselves, or do anything whatever with the hands which were to be used solely on the royal coiffure. And yet there were plenty of men who coveted this honorable occupation in spite of its manifest inconveniences.
"They are a polite people—at least we are told so, and certainly have seen nothing to lead us to think otherwise. The hotel-keeper says the Feejeean boys make excellent table servants, and the native policemen along the streets seem fully equal to any we have ever seen outside of a European or American city. Like all Polynesians, the Feejeeans are very ceremonious, and great sticklers for etiquette. The chiefs and nobles are surrounded with ceremony, and one needs to be as careful in approaching them as in approaching the Queen of England or the Emperor of Russia.
"Here in Suva most of the people have adopted European dress, or a modification of the native one, but back in the mountains they adhere to their primitive garments. These are strips of cloth around the waist, and owing to this enormous array of hair I have just told about theysleep on a pillow consisting of a stick like a thick lath, with legs four or five inches long. It is like taking a section of a two-inch plank a foot long and four inches wide, and resting one's neck on the edge. A Feejeean pillow is by no means an inconvenient weapon in a fight, and 'very handy to have in the house.'
AN ACCOMPLISHED LIAR.
"It is said the Feejeeans look upon lying as an accomplishment, and I have been told that one of the worst stumbling-blocks in the way to their conversion to Christianity was to have them understand that it was wrong to tell deliberate falsehoods. They have improved a great deal under missionary teachings, and there is still plenty of opportunity for more improvement in the same direction. When angry, they are sullen rather than noisy; when a chief is offended, he puts a stick in the ground as a mark by which he remembers the cause of his anger. After a while he may pull up the stick as a sign that his anger is relenting, and he is ready to be propitiated with gifts.
"We look upon this people with a great deal of curiosity, as we have all our lives associated them with terrible stories of the most horrible forms of cannibalism. Happily this is a thing of the past, but it is by no means so very long ago. Even now the people among the mountains are said to indulge in it occasionally; but if they do, the extent of the practice is very small by comparison with fifty years ago.
"How it was adopted no one knows; the Feejeeans have a tradition that it began in an effort to prevent the incursions of people from other islands, and as a result of battle, which is quite likely to have been the case. In course of time it was not confined to enemies and foreigners, but extended to those who were offered as sacrifices in the temples. Sacrifices increased in number year by year until, as in Tahiti, a considerable part of the population was liable at any time to be offered up at the bidding of the priests or chiefs.
"In every village there were particular ovens and pots devoted tocooking the flesh of men, and the cooks were as skilled in the cannibal art as are the Parisianchefsin theirs. It was not uncommon to see twenty or thirty human bodies cooked at a time for a great feast, and the chiefs used to sacrifice their wives or their friends to gratify their tastes for this horrible article of food. When a chief demandedbakola(long pig), the customary name for human flesh, his attendants used to rush out and kill the first person they met in order to gratify his wish!
FORK OF A CANNIBAL KING.
"The bakola was not eaten with the fingers like other kinds of food, but with wooden forks with long prongs, and these forks were tabu for any other purpose. Each fork had a special name, like an individual; the fork of one of the cannibal kings was namedundroundo('a dwarf carrying a burden'), and was presented in 1849 to one of the missionaries by Ra Vatu, the son of the King referred to. Ra Vatu talked freely about his father's love for human flesh, and showed to the missionary the line of stones which registered the number of bodies he had eaten. One of the native teachers who accompanied the missionary counted the stones, and found they numbered eight hundred and thirty-two! Thakombau, the last King, was a cannibal until the latter part of his life, and his father, Tanoa, continued a cannibal till the day of his death.
TANOA, FORMER KING OF FEEJEE.
"Here is a story that I find in Doctor Seemann's report of his visit to Feejee:
"'A peculiar kind of taro was pointed out as having been eaten with a whole tribe of people. The story sounds strange, but as a number of natives were present when it was told, several of whom corroborated the various statements or corrected the proper names that occurred, its truth appears unimpeachable.A CANNIBAL DANCE."'In Viti Levu, about three miles north-north-east from Namosi, there dwelt a tribe known as the Kai-na-loca, who, in days of yore, gave great offence to the ruling chief of the Namosi district, and as a punishment for their misdeeds the whole tribe was condemned to die. Every year the inmates of one house were baked and eaten, fire was set to the empty dwelling, and its foundation planted with taro. In the following year, as soon as this taro was ripe, it became the signal for the destruction of the next house and its inhabitants and the planting of a fresh field of taro. Thus house after house and family after family disappeared, until the father of thepresent chief pardoned the few that remained. In 1860 only one old woman was the sole survivor of the Na-loca people. Picture the feelings of these unfortunate wretches as they watched the growth of the ominous taro! There was no escape, as they would only hasten their doom by fleeing into territories where they were strangers.'
"'A peculiar kind of taro was pointed out as having been eaten with a whole tribe of people. The story sounds strange, but as a number of natives were present when it was told, several of whom corroborated the various statements or corrected the proper names that occurred, its truth appears unimpeachable.
A CANNIBAL DANCE.
"'In Viti Levu, about three miles north-north-east from Namosi, there dwelt a tribe known as the Kai-na-loca, who, in days of yore, gave great offence to the ruling chief of the Namosi district, and as a punishment for their misdeeds the whole tribe was condemned to die. Every year the inmates of one house were baked and eaten, fire was set to the empty dwelling, and its foundation planted with taro. In the following year, as soon as this taro was ripe, it became the signal for the destruction of the next house and its inhabitants and the planting of a fresh field of taro. Thus house after house and family after family disappeared, until the father of thepresent chief pardoned the few that remained. In 1860 only one old woman was the sole survivor of the Na-loca people. Picture the feelings of these unfortunate wretches as they watched the growth of the ominous taro! There was no escape, as they would only hasten their doom by fleeing into territories where they were strangers.'