600 
 
 
 t.96c 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 ^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 
 n ==s ^^^^1 
 
 
 n ~==^ ^^^^H 
 
 
 
 
 ws^^^^^^ 
 
 
 B^^^^^ 
 
 
 »^=^^^ 
 
 
 ■-'■ tj 
 
 
 0==i^^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 £11 
 If 
 
 
 ■^^^a 
 
 
 i^a 
 
 
 1 iiii 
 
 ES F 
 
 DR. To P. LUCAS 
 
 University 
 Southern 
 Library
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 t' 
 
 A
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 AND 
 
 "Crush Out the British Slave Trade." 
 
 Being a Ret'iew of the Social, Political, and Religious 
 
 Relations of the Fijians ; a Consideration of the Policy 
 
 of the English Government; the Prosj^ects of 
 
 the White Settlers; the Labour Traffic; and 
 
 the Position and Duties of England to 
 
 the Islands of the Pacific. 
 
 Copiously illustrated with Facts and Anecdotes. 
 
 DR. T. P. LUCAS, 
 
 MELBOURNE. 
 
 DUNN & COLLINS, MELBOURNE. 
 
 [BnferacJ at Stationers' Hall, London.^
 
 E? :^ R A T ^ . 
 
 Page 'It) — Line 7, for ••neigh-,'" read neigh liour. 
 
 „ 26 — Line 15, for " do," read does. 
 
 ,,' 62 — Line 4, for '• natives," read native. 
 
 ,, 65 — Tliird line from bottom, after " lier?" read, Or like 
 the children of tender years, who, enticed 
 by sweetmeats or lollies, leave home to 
 accompany the beggar gipsy woman. 
 
 ,, 82 — Last line, read " At all." 
 
 ., 84 — Sixth line from bottom, for "She." rend The.
 
 oil 
 
 (pOO 
 
 L^6> 
 
 (L. 
 
 AND 
 
 SIGHIJ^GS FROM THE SOUTH SEAS- 
 
 -0- 
 
 Crush out the British Slave Trade. 
 
 As the traveller journeys among the English-speaking 
 populations of the world, he finds acknowledged on all 
 sides this one fact, that the human family is fallen, and 
 depraved by nature. 
 
 Among those nominally Christian, there are heralded 
 two gospels of restoration. 
 
 The gospel of Christianity. 
 
 The gospel of Civilization. 
 
 The gospel of Christianity proclaims two command- 
 ments, and promises an eternal Eden. 
 
 The first, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all 
 thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and 
 with all thy strength.'* 
 
 78052*
 
 4 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 The second, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' 
 
 The gospel of Cirilization enunciates two dogmas, and 
 hopes for heaven at last. 
 
 The first, " Do your duty in the position in ■which God 
 has called you, and forget not to return thanks to your 
 Creator." 
 
 The second, " Unto others do as you would they should 
 do to you." 
 
 The latter gospel is a modified rendering of the former, 
 and is essentially a creed of expediency, but in practice 
 allows its devotees a wide latitude. Every man may do 
 what seemeth right in his own eyes, provided he keep up 
 an appearance of civilized respectability. 
 
 Christianity demands a complete surrender of the whole 
 manhood in sacrifice to the Deity ; the heart or affections ; 
 the mind or intelligence ; the soul or life energies, both 
 spiritual and physical ; and the strength or utmost powers 
 of all the capacities. 
 
 Civilization advises a respectable allegiance to the 
 Divine, necessitating no self denial, but such as may stamp 
 the man as a respectable citizen, 
 
 Christianity demands a perfect morality. Man is to 
 love or regard, and treat liis fellow-man, as himself, as far 
 as duty and official responsibilities dictate. The precept 
 is equally strict with man as with woman. 
 
 Civilization grants a large degree of licentiousness to 
 man, provided he keep up a certain amount of out- 
 ward respectability. For the sake of decency he must 
 not go too far, or if he err, he must recompense to
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. O 
 
 a degree, so as to suppress the public appeals for 
 redress, those whom he may wrong. But a stricter 
 law is laid down for woman. And too often under 
 this code, man, the wrong-doer, retains his position in 
 society, his foremost seat in the social circle, and his mead 
 of praise in the public life ; while woman, the wronged, is 
 condemned in obloquy and shame to despair and destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 The gospel of Christianity prescribes commercial inter- 
 course, but with clean hands, righteous dealings, just 
 weights, fair prices, reasonable profits. 
 
 The gospel of Civilization also prescribes commercial 
 intercourse, but allows clever trickery, sharp jobbery, smart 
 dealings, poor articles, adulterated wares, only providing that 
 the dealings must be covered by the cloak of respectability* 
 
 The animal nature of man, being essentially selfish, when 
 refined and polished by education, inclines him to the 
 dogmas of Civilization. 
 
 The spiritual nature should lead him upwards. But it 
 is so subjected to the animal and selfish, that too often it 
 degenerates downwards. 
 
 And so in life, we see three experiences. The animal 
 nature, without education and knowledge, tends to sink 
 man lower and lower — morally, socially, and intellectually. 
 
 The gospel of Civilization by education and refinement, 
 seeks to buoy man on the surface of moral depravity, and 
 to raise him socially and intellectually, to an atmosphere of 
 respectability. 
 
 The gospel of Christianity seeks to raise him spiritually
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 and iiatelleotually to a conception of the highest virtues 
 and to the enjoyment of the purest vitality. 
 
 Thus while the spiritual sighs upwards, and the animal 
 gropes downwards, there is necessitated in the breast of 
 every man a mighty struggle. And it is only by super- 
 human aid that the spiritual can rise triumphant, keep the 
 animal in subjection, and advance daily by watchfulness and 
 devotion, in intelligence, experience and refined purity. It 
 is a struggle, a continuous, life-lasting struggle, and one 
 leading the very best men over many falls and stumbles. 
 
 Since then purity and righteousness of so high a type 
 are commanded as the acme of human aspirations and 
 intelligence, and since those most highly favoured and 
 most carefully nursed, inculcated and trained in the spirit 
 and teachings of these gifts and graces, have so often failed, 
 or come so vastly short, how shall we judge the heathen, or 
 the wild man just issuing from the stone to the iron age ? 
 And the difficulty is increased, when we remember that 
 opinions must vary, even as the higher or lower platforms 
 from whence the judges view the moral and social land- 
 scape. And the different views held upon these matters 
 would cause the several adherents to apply different 
 remedies for the raising the depraved wild man of the South 
 Seas. And so we found was practically the case in Fiji. 
 On the one hand we learned that the Wesleyan missionaries 
 had sought to raise the Viti man by heralding to him the 
 gospel of Christianity ; whereas, on the other hand, we 
 learned that the English Government, and the white popula- 
 tion largely, believed in bringing to bear upon the Fijian,
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 7 
 
 only the gospel of Civilization. 
 
 It did not require a long period or a yery close investi- 
 gation to discover that the advocates for the refining 
 influences of civilization were inimical to the heralders of 
 the gospel of Christianity. These self-denying men were 
 almost universally blamed for all the ills and woes which 
 had overtaken both black man and white in Viti-land, 
 Although official documents are so often favourable, and 
 although Sir H. Robinson acknowledged tiaat it was 
 through the peaceful conquest of the native races by this 
 agency that Fiji was at length a Crown Colony, yet high 
 officials too often privately sneer and pronounce Missions 
 largely to be a failure. It is the old example of kicking 
 away the ladder by which they climbed. The missionaries 
 were maligned as having large salaries, and as having 
 bought up land for little or nothing. I took special trouble 
 in official quarters to test these questions, and found that 
 the salaries received are lower than those of a carpenter, 
 boatbuilder, or other mechanic of second class ability. I 
 found that of forty-five missionaries, who had spent more 
 or less of their best days in the islands, only three had 
 bought land for their children. And surely, after these 
 philanthropists had given their life energies and denied 
 themselves the comforts of civilized society, not holding 
 their lives dear to them, so as to tame these savages, it 
 would have been a very small return to have received some 
 land on which to settle their children. Yet such was the 
 determined disinterested self-denial of these men, that only 
 three accepted a small portion, and after long service.
 
 8 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 It was further given out in official quarters that the 
 Capital was removed from Levuka to Suva because the 
 Wesleyans refused the Government a piece of land, ex- 
 cepting at an outrageous price. Now, in Levuka, a large 
 piece of the land belongs to the Mission. Sir Arthur 
 Gordon was offered the piece of land in question at his own 
 figure, or another piece as a present, the Mission Com- 
 mittee of Management feeling that the acceptance of such 
 would increase the value of their other property. Sir 
 Arthur refused the land, having previously determined to 
 remove to Suva, a place with more accommodation, but as 
 unhealthy a spot as he could very well have selected, and 
 with a rainfall of 110 inches per annum. He wrote and 
 denied that the mission was in any way the cause of the 
 removing the Capital, but to this day officials repeat to the 
 visitor the now stale calumny. 
 
 The planters and white settlers generally do not speak 
 evil of the missionaries personally. In fact in early times 
 the mission house was the place of refuge and safety 
 against the warring or cannibal savages, and to-day very 
 many are still houses of hospitality. But they are jealous 
 of the mission. The natives will work for them with a 
 willing service, but only grudgingly and for good wages 
 for the whites. The missionary exerts more power and has 
 more influence than the whites. But even here there is no 
 ground for envy, as the missionaries simply have worked 
 and continue to work [disinterestedly for the well-being of 
 the natives. And it is only natural that the natives should 
 acknowledge, with some respect and affection, those to
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. U 
 
 whom they owe so much. While we can hardly wonder 
 that they are distant and mistrusting to the whites, as a 
 whole, seeing how often they have been previously bitten. 
 The whites moreover blame the missions for raising the 
 black man enough to make him troublesome and indepen- 
 dent. But, after all, this raising is the result of a civilizing 
 and not a Christianizing influence. 
 
 On the whole we found in Fiji, as in other young 
 colonies, much civil and social unrest. The planters had 
 misunderstandings with the sugar companies. The blacks 
 were dissatisfied with the whites, jealous of the importation 
 of Indian coolies, and other ways disaffected. While all 
 classes were more or less dissatisfied with the policy, red- 
 tapeism, and general actions of the Government. 
 
 On landing in Fiji, a number of natives came on board 
 the ship and sought to be employed in carrying our luggage. 
 One fine-looking, good-tempered, laughing Fijian obtained 
 my promise to allow him to carry my belongings as soon 
 as I could arrange as to lodgings, &c. By a mistake of 
 the ship's officer, my box was brought up from the hold 
 and sent to the Custom's House. I had to go for it as I 
 wished to stow away in it packages which were loose in my 
 cabin. My engaged native accompanied me. When I got 
 to the Custom's House and explained the situation of 
 affairs, a mere youth half screamed out in tones of authority 
 and dignified pompousness, "Now then, how much tobacco 
 have you in there ?" I quietly answered that as I was 
 neither a smoker nor a trader that I had none. " Now 
 then, open the box and turn out the things." My native
 
 10 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 attendant stood by. " Get away, be off, get out of the 
 road," shouted the Custom's House official. The poor fellow 
 slunk off, but presently came near again. I explained that 
 I had agreed with him to carry my box. "But," answered 
 the official, " he is a lazy fellow and shall not be 
 encouraged." And with that he kicked the black man, 
 and effectually sent him away. After passing my belong- 
 ings through the Customs, I was directed to a verandahed 
 building where I could get a license to carry a gun. I 
 went up a flight of stairs, and when on the landing asked 
 another official where I could obtain a gun license. " Go 
 down these stairs, and up the next flight of stairs to the 
 door open on the verandah and at the other side of the 
 little gate. This part is private, the other is public." I 
 apologised as a stranger for coming up the wrong stairs, 
 but as I was close to the little gate, which was open, and 
 through which others were passing, I asked to be allowed 
 to go that way, so as to avoid the ascent unnecessarily of 
 another flight of stairs. With a growl he placed himself 
 in my way, and ordered me to go down the stairs, round to 
 the other side, and up the other stairs, and to come to 
 nearly the same point. Such were my first experiences of 
 English officialism on landing in Fiji. 
 
 My first interview was with the Government. " Our 
 policy," they stated, " is ijrotection for the native race. We 
 are obliged to protect them from the encroachments of the 
 white people. They look uj3on the black man as they do 
 upon a plough, as a something solely for their own use and 
 advantage. And they consider it a wrong not to be
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 11 
 
 allowed to force the black man to do their manual labour. 
 Thus we have to protect the natives, or they would die off. 
 Their government is patriarchal, so that the community is 
 dependent on each individual for its existence and pros- 
 perity. They are needed to till the ground, and to take 
 them from their villages would be to destroy the family life 
 and thus the maintaining and preservation of the race. 
 We do allow apportion to be employed, but under certain 
 restrictions and regulations, necessary, as we think, to pre- 
 vent undue advantage to be taken of them." 
 
 "But," I asked, "how about the labour question?" 
 The reply was — " This is nothing more nor less than a 
 slave trade. It is perfectly true that coast tribes kidnap 
 or in other ways obtain men from the inland tribes, and 
 that these are forced to go as recruits, or if they dare to 
 refuse, forfeit their lives for their temerity, the kidnappers 
 receiving the bounty money. And thus, not only are there 
 the evils of the particular kidnapping, but also the origin 
 of feuds and tribal wars. On the whole the whites treat 
 their labourers well, but many die soon after importation. 
 On these grounds we would discourage the labour traffic, 
 and have endeavoured to substitute Indian labour. And, 
 as far as tried, Indian (Coolie) labour has proved a 
 success." 
 
 " But," I asked, "why are the whites so dissatisfied with 
 what only appears a philanthropic policy ?" " Because," 
 they replied, " in many cases they have lost their all in 
 learning experience. They come down with a little money 
 and no experience, and so loose what little they have, and
 
 12 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 hence they are dissatisfied with the country, the Govern- 
 ment, and with the blacks. Everything is wrong, and 
 everything and everybody is at fault excepting themselves. 
 They expect the natives to do their plantation work, and 
 because they refuse, they cannot speak badly enough." 
 
 " Are any Fijians," I asked, " working for the white 
 j)eople, and if so, how many ?" 
 
 " Yes," was the reply ; " out ©f a male adult popula- 
 tion of some 17,000, about six thousand are hired out to 
 work, thus only leaving a necessary quantum to do the 
 needed agricultural and village work," 
 
 Tlie general drift of the conversation was the same, 
 jjainting the Government policy as the most philanthropic 
 philosophy, picturing the Government as persecuted and as 
 martyrs in a good cause, and chai'acterizing the whites as 
 a discontented, selfish, unrighteous conmiunity. 
 
 As may be imagined, our sympathies were drawn out 
 largely in favour of the Government, and we were strongly 
 prejudiced against the whites. But whatever our thoughts 
 we determined as yet to form no rash or hasty conclusions. 
 On the contrary, we determined to hear from all sides, 
 opinions, complaints, &c., and thus to endeavour to come 
 at the truth, and to form a common sense unbiassed 
 judgment. 
 
 The outcome of our enquiries led to a severe judgment 
 on the policy of the Government. And where their policy 
 is at all of good intention, their actions show vast lacking 
 of brain power and political judgment ; for the good
 
 CRIES FROM B^IJI. 13 
 
 out come is largely thwarted by absurd or mischievous 
 qualifying clauses. 
 
 Judged by the gospel of Christianity and in the light 
 of philosophy, it is righteous and proper to protect and to 
 seek to improve the native race. Judged by the gospel of 
 civilization, the sooner the weaker go to the wall, the 
 better ! 
 
 In seeking to protect and preserve the native race, the 
 question arises, what are the wisest and best steps for 
 securing and carrying out such a line of policy ? What 
 are the characters and what the characteristic features in 
 the case, and what the protection needed so that these 
 natives should be saved in the race for life with the white 
 man. 
 
 As stated by Government, the native governance is a 
 patriarchal one. From the earliest times, and doubtless 
 before their immigration to the Pacific islands, they lived 
 in obedience and servile bondage to chiefs. The rule of 
 these men became despotic and oftentimes tyrannical. A 
 chief appears to have held absolute and tyrannical power, 
 proportionately to his success in war. If fierce, cruel, war- 
 like and aggressively terrible to his foes, he obtained more 
 absolute sovereignty at home. His will was law. His 
 commands were absolute. The lives of his people were in 
 his hands. The daughters of the people were at his mercy 
 and caprice. A man like Thakombau on hearing of a petty 
 theft could order the thief at once to be clubbed ; on 
 hearing of his sister's adultery, he could at once direct that 
 her nose should be slit off ; on needing flesh for feast or
 
 14 CRIES FROM FIJI, 
 
 for visitors, he could pick from among the people, illegiti- 
 mate offspring, as victims for cannibalism. And under 
 such a regime, every man held his life in his hands, while 
 distrust, liatred, revenge and other allied evils kept the 
 people in a continuous unrest and fear. Such, under many 
 a potentate, was patriarchal government. The people 
 seemed cowed and awed. Traditions and laws held them 
 in crushing bonds. Superstition and a tyrannical patri- 
 archal government crushed them into complete submission. 
 A man ordered to be speared or clubbed would passively 
 submit to his fate ; a woman condemned to be strangled, 
 would unresistingly yield. Cruelty and abomination 
 marked the daily life of the potentate. Cringing sub- 
 mission and fawning flattery that of the subject. False- 
 hood was looked upon as a necessity. Family life was no 
 longer sacred. The communion was largely a communism, 
 but under a governing and owning master. The personal 
 goods and property and lives of the people were largely at 
 the beck and call of the chieftain. Goods were few and 
 held in common. Any one could beg whatever he or she 
 fancied from a fellow, and to refuse the gift was dis- 
 courteous, offensive, and in certain cases even criminal. 
 Property was inherited, but landed property was held in 
 little value, excepting as tribal. The chief or even lesser 
 chiefs could demand personal services at call. Life, as 
 stated before, depended on the will or whims of such poten- 
 tates, and was ever at stake through social differences or 
 through individual, family, or tribal quarrels. Marriage 
 was merely an agreement, and could easily be broken at
 
 CRIKS FROM FIJI. 15 
 
 any moment by mutual consent, and at times the wife 
 would be appropriated by the chief, the husband considering 
 the same as an honor conferred upon liim. Thus the 
 common people had no object in life, beyond the merely 
 animal. Eating, drinking and sleeping appeared to be 
 their only end and aim. And of this their food was mostly 
 simple, and was portioned out on the communal system, all 
 sharing according to rank ; their sleep was taken under the 
 protection of warlike weapons, and ever in terrible uncer- 
 tainty. Such was absolute, tyrannical, patriarchal govern- 
 ment. And frightful were the crimes, and fearful to 
 contemplate the condition of these people under such a 
 regime. 
 
 In certain cases, and to a greater degree in former times, 
 the people, through enterprising leaders or because their 
 chiefs were less successful or less enterprising in warlike 
 aggressions, obtained a controlling hand. Under these 
 circumstances, the chief had to listen to one or more 
 counsellors. And if his rule became too biting, his subjects 
 could leave him, and migrate to another ruler, or a blood 
 relation, instigated by the tribe or clan, would club the man 
 and so end his tyranny. The assassin would then reign in 
 his victim's stead. But even under such modified govern- 
 ment, the rule was always despotic, and though prevented 
 from going to such great lengths, yet the lives and persons 
 of individuals were never safe, and all the evils connected 
 with this form of slavery were in arrogant reign. Slavery ! 
 yes, slavery. The patriarchal system of government is always 
 a more or less mitigat«d form of slavery. The communism
 
 IG CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 destroys individual rights of property. The patriarch or 
 chief is the real and only man of independence and means. 
 The properties of his subjects are a mere nothing, and 
 are at their master's caprice. Their persons are at his 
 service, either for aggression or for social or other service. 
 His fiat is law. Individual liberty is restricted and freedom 
 is lost. All the interests are communal, and the whole 
 communism is at the mercy of the whims and temper of 
 the lord and father. Individual effort, individual ambition, 
 individual energy is lost in the one body of which this man is 
 the head. The patriarch or chief has to care for his subjects 
 or tribe ; but this care is more often only a selfisli one. A 
 taking care to procure absolute necessities demanded to his 
 retaining the number and wealth of followers. And it is 
 simply a directing the individual efforts, to the one con- 
 serving for the whole, and that whole for the aggrandise- 
 ment and power of the head. To make matters worse 
 and the slavery a greater bondage, the patriarch or chief 
 has to rely for aid on a number of iDersonages, who are 
 advanced to certain positions or rank, or who hold the same 
 as hereditary. These, while oppressing the people generally 
 for their chief's demands and dues, never neglect to oppress 
 and to cajole for their own selfish objects and aims. And 
 thus it is that whereas the tyranny of one despot might be 
 bearable, balanced as it must largely be, in his own safety 
 and interests, that of underlings becomes infinitely more 
 severe and crushing, the oppression bearing relative pro- 
 portion to the aims and ambitions of such in power. In 
 fact, it is impossible to imagine a patriarchal government,
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 17 
 
 heathen or even civilized, excepting as a communal 
 bondage and personal slavery. Perhaps the most righteous 
 patriarchal governance was that of Abraham. Yet under 
 it, the land was his, the cattle and camels and sheep were 
 absolutely his own ; tlie servants were his ; the whole com- 
 munity had to follow him to war. In this example of 
 patriarchal governance, we see the outcome of the system 
 under a righteous man. And in it we see the destruction 
 of individual liberties and ambitions, to the securing the 
 one end, the aggrandisement and power of Abraham and 
 liis heirs for ever. And whereas this dis})ensation might 
 have had its advantages in the early ages of the world, and 
 while men's minds and experiences were young, yet as the 
 descendents of Abraham increased in numbers and in know- 
 ledge and experience, they threw off the patriarchal com- 
 munism, fostered the family life, recognised the individual 
 manhood, and assigned to each their righteous standing and 
 importance. And tlms tliey became a nation, an impossibility 
 under patriarclial rule, which is distinctively tribal and 
 autocratic. The patriarclial rule is such that it is necess- 
 arily too limited in its area and influence to become 
 national. And as the history of the past has ever proved, 
 peoples have only become nations as they have discarded 
 the tribal and patriarchal, and by conquest and alliances 
 increased in numlier and influence under a mouarcliy or 
 republican government. 
 
 In a word, a nation becomes great and influential in pro- 
 jiortion to the sum total nf the wealth, power and influences 
 of its individual mcndjers. A tribe under })atriarc]ial rule
 
 18 CRIES FROM I-'IJI. 
 
 only becomes great and influential in proportion to the 
 influence and poAver of its chief. And what show has tlie 
 one against the many ? In the national system every 
 inducement is given and every protection afforded to in- 
 dividual and family talent and righteous ambition, while in 
 the chieftain or tribal, all individual effort and aspiration 
 is lost in the communal and destroyed in the despotic. 
 
 The avowed policy of the Englisli Fijian Government, 
 as related to me by one of its highest officials is — The pre- 
 servation and protection of the native race by securing to 
 them tlieir f>ld patriarchal government. By hedging in and 
 defending the same against tlie crafts and selfishness of 
 the whites, and by upholding the power of the chiefs. 
 
 Such a policy may at first siglit appear philanthropic, but 
 it is practically fratricidal ! Under existing relations, it 
 reminds one of the comluct of Joab and Amasa. Appear- 
 ing before liim in the light of a friend, and greeting him 
 witli a kiss, as lie grasped him by the beard, " Art tliou in 
 healtli, my brotlier ?" lie plunged the dagger into his heart. 
 And while tlie Government are saying to the Fijian, 
 " Hail, brother !" and frowning upon the whites because 
 of their grumbling, they, at the same time, are plunging 
 the dagger of destruction with sure and steady aim into the 
 heart of the Fijian. 
 
 To enable an outsider to see the correctness of the 
 argument, it is necessary to review briefly the character and 
 capabilities of the Fijian ; and secondly, the means adopted 
 by the Government for their carrying out their preservative 
 and protective policy.
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 19 
 
 It must be remembered that the Fljians have just 
 emerged from a state of the deepest moral degradation and 
 despotic bondage. And this entirely the work of missionary 
 effort. None can deny this. A man knowingly to deny a fact 
 must be a fool. Wisdom, philosophy and manly straight- 
 fonvardness are not in him. He may not like the fact, or 
 he may not like the actors in the background, but it is 
 absurdity to deny the fact itself. And in Fiji, it is 
 patent and palpable to any person who chooses to look 
 philosophically and unbiassed into the matter. Sir Hercules 
 Kobinson, in 1875, said, "The great social advances 
 which have already been made within the last forty years 
 from savage heathenism, are due to the self-denying and 
 unostentatious labours of the Wesleyan Church."* History 
 affirms, and records which cannot be contradicted, show, 
 that during this present century the Fijians were sunken 
 more deeply into the slough of degradation than they had 
 ever been before. And this largely through Englisli in- 
 fluence. 
 
 About the year 1804, twenty-seven convicts escaped 
 from New South Wales and landed in Fiji. These men 
 introduced fire-arms, sunk to the degradation of the natives, 
 and by their superior knowledge of the arts of civilized 
 nations, exerted almost a kingly sway over the parts where 
 they settled. At Mbau and Rewa they allied with the 
 chiefs, and in return for influence and hospitality, assisted 
 them, by means of their superior weapons and knowledge, 
 to increase their rule ; and as a consequence the despotism 
 * "At Home in Fiji." — Miss Gordon Cummins.
 
 20 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 and arrogance of tlieir now more independent and strenytli- 
 ■ened sway. The outcome was an almost absolute despotic 
 patriarchal sway, overshadowing a reign of terror, and as a 
 consequence a most degraded and Aile bondage ridden com- 
 munism. Life was uncertain, sacrificed singly or in 
 multitudes as occasion dictated. Cruelty in its worst forms 
 was jn-actised. Law, exce])ting as the caprice of the chiefs, 
 was almost unknown. A man's hand miglit bo against 
 every man. and any man's hand might be against him, as 
 authority or passioni willed. Woman was degraded to a 
 menial and sold or driven away as policy or fancy dictated. 
 It was unsafe to leave the Ijorders or precints of one tribe, 
 •or even township, to pass into the domains of another. If 
 open warfare was acknowledged, life was sought openly : if 
 peace was the reign, it needed cliieftain influence and guidal 
 protection, and too often even then treachery and villany 
 secured flesli for the oven and a meal for the covetous. 
 The whole land was but a sum total of habitations of 
 cruelty. The village had its stone, where the brains of the 
 victims were dashed out in offering to the gods. One man 
 would get hold of either arm of the victim, and rushing him 
 along, dash liis head against the stone, scattering brains 
 and blood. The township had its tree where innumerable 
 notches recorded the sacrifice of the slain. The public oven 
 in the midst of their liabitations for ever raised its polluted 
 smell to the skies. The chief increased the number of his 
 wives, thrashing them periodically with his own hand, to 
 keep them in terror and submission. Strangulation was an 
 accomplished art. A noose would be thrown over the neck
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 21 
 
 of the victim, who often passively yielded without a struggle, 
 A man on either side would grasp the end of the rope (a 
 roll of native cloth), and placing a foot each, in the armpits, 
 would simultaneously jmll. The tongue forced from the 
 mouth, would instantly hang out, and in a moment the 
 deed was done. 
 
 And the English criminal escapees, educated in English 
 ci'S'ilization, but punished for more or less heinous or trivial 
 infringements of the laws regulating the same, made matters 
 ten thousand times worse, by the powers they gave the 
 chief and tlie fearful examples tliey set before the natives. 
 Numbers of wives and numbers of children seemed to be 
 their cliief aim, and to-day villages of half-castes cry from 
 Fiji, against the wrongs inflicted on helpless heathen by 
 civilized (?) Englishmen. 
 
 A gentleman assured me tliat when in 1S52 lie landed 
 at Levuka, he dared not walk a mile along tlie shore, nor 
 dared he to go at all towards the interior. 
 
 But missionaries went witli tlieir lives in their hands, 
 and excepting in one or two instances, and that largely 
 through their own temporary forgetfulness or neglect of 
 ordinary caution, were preserved alive. They went lierald- 
 ing the gospel of Christianity, they lived self-denying 
 Christian lives. The power of Heaven came down upon 
 the natives — tlie mercies of tlie Most High overtook the 
 people, and the lion became the lamb — tlie murderer and 
 adulterer, the humble truster and believer in Jesus. 
 And what was the final outcome. Tribe after tribe 
 accepted the lotu (Christianity), threw away their deadly
 
 22 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 weapons, ceased their broils, learned to live in ipeace, filled 
 the churclies and the schools, buried their taste for man 
 eating, and sought with all their powers to learn and to 
 practice the religion of Jesus. And all this before civiliza- 
 tion could come in to the aid. What was it that modified 
 the terrors practised by Thakombau in his later years, 
 and which effectually at last broke down his tyranny and 
 vileness ? Answer, the gospel of Christianity. And tliis 
 he acknowledged as he lay dying. " Faith ! Wonderful 
 faith ! Saved by faith !" He then exerted himself and 
 prayed aloud with wonderful fervour and power ; and 
 laying back, quietly passed away. A white man who 
 stated that the Fijians had not brains enough to compre- 
 hend and to live Christianity, said, " But I must acknow- 
 ledge Thakombau was a Clu-istian." Missionaries reduced 
 the language to a written form, and taught the people 
 reading and writing. Missionaries taught the j^eople liow 
 to sing. Their war songs and national ditties are the 
 veriest doggerel, and are poured forth with a strain in a 
 a tone something between grunting and a snoring. But 
 the missionaries composed hymns (the Wesleyan hymn 
 book contains 168), and taught the natives the old country 
 tunes, and now they can sing with a power and pathos, 
 which would send a thrill through any English congrega- 
 tion, and which would put many a choir to shame. I had 
 a most pleasing and affecting instance of the same. I was 
 travelling by boat from Rewa township to Mbau. The 
 journey was along a tidal river, and partly by sea, eight 
 hours. The wind was favorable, and as we sped along to
 
 CRIKS FROM FIJI. 23 
 
 my astonisliment and pleasure, tlie boat's crew struck up a 
 hymn in Fijian: — 
 
 All hail the power of Jesu's name, 
 Let angels prostrate fall ; 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 I could not speak Fijian, and they could not speak 
 English, and there was no interpreter. Yet I knew the 
 tune and recognized the metre, and felt the influence and 
 spirit of the song. Our spirits were as one, as animated 
 by the inspiration on those Fijian waters, I joined in the 
 song, and impelled them on in energy and earnestness. 
 And although our words were different, our language was 
 the same, as the angels on their wings wafted our song' to 
 Heaven. 
 
 My feelings as I went back in thought, may be better 
 imagined than expressed. Savages, and the offspring of 
 cannibals, and the near relatives of sacrificed cannibal 
 victims, going in peace and assurance to their old and 
 hereditar}' enemy, Mbau, and singing songs and praises to 
 the King of Peace. Men wliom I would not be ashamed 
 to count as friends and brethren. And all this transfor- 
 mation, the result of missionary entei-prize. 
 
 The Fijian reminded me of the public school boy of 
 England of old. Youths, from fifteen to seventeen years 
 of age, would exercise a species of terrorism over the small 
 boys. Friendships among tlie lads were easily made, easily 
 broken. Deep feeling among the young was transitory 
 and flashing, and made little appreciable difference in their
 
 24 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 lives and habits. Sorrow was momentary, love was childish, 
 shallow and fickle. The cares of life did not burden or 
 trouble the youthful mind. Sufficient for the day was the 
 evil thereof. The real philosophy of things was as yet a 
 distant viewed theme. A kind of communism was virtually 
 acknowledged, so that when any boy obtained a parcel of 
 cakes and good things, he was regularly besieged by beggars, 
 and accounted a mean fellow and a glutton if he did not 
 divide the spoil. In a word, the mental capacities and 
 ideas were only developed to a limited extent. The boy of 
 sixteen thinks differently and views things in a very 
 different light to what a man of forty does. Yet the boy 
 of sixteen could comprehend the spiritual and understand 
 the great truths of Christianity and the moral law. His 
 brain powers are not developed to the extent they would be 
 at the age of forty. And hence he could not think and 
 judge at sixteen as lie would at forty. 
 
 As far as I could judge, the mental capacities of 
 the Fijians are on an average, and their ideas had 
 developed equally, with those of ordinary English school-boys 
 foom fifteen to seventeen. They are specially restricted in 
 mathematical mind. But they can count up to a hundred 
 thousand, having to count thousands of yams at the great 
 feasts, and as tribute. They have to calculate slowly the 
 simplest monetary transactions. They can appreciate a 
 rise in value, but cannot comprehend the reason for a fall 
 in the money market. For some time everything was 
 offered in barter for sixpence, until European competition 
 led on to a shilling. And now a native will ask one
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 25 
 
 shilling for a dozen or so of lemons or oranges, while 
 another will ask no more for a large basket full. A man 
 with a sovereign and wanting commodities, will go to a 
 shop or store, and first of all change his gold for twenty 
 shillings. If the article he requires cost sixpence or three- 
 pence, he will again change a shilling for these smaller 
 coins. He thus gains confidence, and will slowly and 
 cautiously pay in each separate coin, as he receives the 
 article of equivalent value. If a native be sent for change 
 for a five pound note, he will almost assuredly return and 
 declare that the change is not correct. He gets puzzled 
 in counting it, or possibly he may drop a coin, just as a 
 thoughtless English boy might do. If the Englishman, 
 who gave the cliange, is firm and confident that he gave 
 the exact amount, and especially if he can bring corrobora- 
 tive proof, then the bearer of the cliange must explain and 
 resolve the difficulty, or be accounted by his fellows as a 
 thief and a rogue. These errors so often occur, that many 
 of the whites, judging severely, count all the Fijians as 
 thieves and lazy rascals, whereas the error is oftener than 
 not, through the lack of intelligence. 
 
 Like English schoolboys, the Fijians are full of merri- 
 ment, and are likewise extremely loquacious. Give them 
 biscuits, and a whole company will laugh and talk in the 
 loudest and utmost confusion. I had but to enter a native 
 village, show my butterfly net and its object, and my collecting 
 box with the specimens pinned out, and amidst greetings of 
 the loudest laughter, and most extreme signs of pleasure 
 and approbation, all would essay to assist me in my natural
 
 26 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 history search. And the young women especially, on cap- 
 turing a grasshopper or a spider, would triumphantly bring 
 the cajjture, the whole company simply screaming with 
 delight. 
 
 Like the schoolboys again, they are terrible beggars. 
 Share and share alike is not always satisfaction. A man 
 with a poor shirt will fancy a better one, which his neigh- 
 is wearing, and proposes an exchange, which it is neither 
 custom or etiquette to refuse. A man may earn a pound, 
 when this one fancies something, and that one needs some- 
 thing, until the poor fellow's pound disappears in shillings, 
 scarcely leaving one or more for his own use. And as a 
 further analogy to the public school boy ideas, tlie chief as 
 the dux, monitor or prefect, over the small boys or fags, may 
 and do come on the man for the tit-bits or lion's share. A 
 chief's rights by custom and law are ten per cent. And 
 thus it is, that the patriarchal communism destroys all 
 individual ambition among the Fijians. And without indi- 
 vidual ambition and emulation, there is no stimulus to 
 personal effort, either physical or mental, beyond what is 
 enforced by the communal, or beyond what may be suggested 
 by the requirements of the hour. Hence a Fijian with 
 plenty of food, with little necessity for clothing, passes his 
 life in an indolent dream. For, owing to his governmental 
 laws and customs, he is neither fired with the ambition of 
 amassing property, nor with the desire to rise in the social, 
 mental or political scale, beyond the place where birth and 
 circumstances have placed him. If he wants a new hand- 
 kerchief for a sulu, or if lie desires to buy bread, or a knife,
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 27 
 
 or a lamp, or a similar trinket, lie will dive for coral, or 
 searcli the reef for shells, and these he will offer for sale to 
 ships' crews or to white visitors. Others will sell bananas 
 or cocoa-nuts, while others again will work at manual 
 labour. But their needs satisfied, they are uncertain as to 
 their continuance as servants. Further, Fijians are proud, 
 and partly through pride, and fear of being satired by their 
 kinsfolk, even as school boys would act, they are exceedingly 
 diffident at working within their own township or tribe. 
 As children, they have little moral [courage, and cannot 
 bear ridicule or satire. But many, away from their native 
 village, are willing and ready to work, and prove able and 
 efficient servants. 
 
 Much has been said of the advancing and increasing 
 capacities of mankind. It is urged that the stone age men 
 are of vastly smaller capacities than are those of [these 
 civilized times. And some naturalists go so far as to 
 tabulate a Homo pygma?us, as precedent to the Homo 
 sapiens. In the South Seas we get the man of the stone 
 age ; we see others passing into the iron age. How, then, 
 do their capacities appear in relation with those of polished, 
 refined Europeans ? On the whole I believe the capacities 
 of mankind to be equal, that is in striking an all-round 
 average. And doubtless, this has been the case from the 
 beginning. I measured the heads of a boat's crew of 
 Fijians (eight men), round the temples. They measured 
 22^ to 25^ inches. Now this is a good English average* 
 The circumference thus measured, bore relation to the size 
 and weight of the whole body. It was not a key to the
 
 28 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 mental capacities, but it was tlie key to tlie nerve or brain- 
 centre capacities. The man with the smallest liead was 
 quite a genius for music, and was the precentor in tlie 
 Ciiurch of his native township, but he had the smallest body. 
 Tlie brain-centre capacities are developed according as they 
 are exercised or called into play in active life. They cannot 
 all be developed largely. The calling any particular centre 
 or centres into large development means a diminishing or 
 cramping the development of others. In the South Sea 
 Islanders of the stone age, the pliysical factors are from 
 generation to generation being called into play. Hence they 
 are largely developed, fine muscles, strong limbs, &c. 
 Particular features are most highly intuitioned. Riggling 
 through the bush with snake-like fleetness and quiet ; 
 climbing trees with the agility of a monkey ; using 
 the bow and arrow, or aiming Avith the ponderous club ; 
 resisting tlie influences of the weather in an almost nude 
 condition ; the powers of swinmiing and diving ; the arts 
 of rude navigation. But all these powers call up a certain 
 and that a large amount of the brain capacity. Then in 
 the mental arena, the native is intuitioned as a child of 
 nature. He notices the products of nature, studies their 
 uses, uses their similes in argument. Thus his capacities 
 are drawn upon both physically and mentally up to the 
 extent of those capacities. But when he passes on from 
 the stone to the iron age, he draws less on particular 
 capacities, the rude arts often so highly perfected, cease to 
 be a necessity, and so become lost. But in place of these 
 non-utilized capacities, he can begin to learn reading,
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 29 
 
 writing, and tlie simple rules of arithmetic. And as 
 generations pass, as shown by the negroes, the people 
 might become more highly and intellectually developed, by 
 a continued training in that direction, but at the loss of 
 physical prowess or rude astute perfections of former days. 
 In a word, the capacities of the people are the same in the 
 latter generation as in the former, but the relative develop- 
 ment of the various capacities are shifted. And doubtless 
 this has ever been the case with mankind. The physical 
 capacities of the wild man are developed far beyond those 
 of the scholar or the civilized man ; but tlie mental 
 capacities of the scholar or civilized man are far more 
 highly developed tlian those of the untutored savage. 
 Nevertheless on tlie average, the sum total of their re- 
 .spective developments indicate a like amount, on the 
 average, of all-round nerve or brain development, size for 
 size, according to the relative projtortions of the body. 
 There is no increase of brain matter necesssary to the 
 development of intellectual capacities. It is simply 
 developed to the full in tluit particular direction in preference 
 to others not tuitioned into play. 
 
 The whites complain that the Fiji man is lazy and many 
 call him or look upon him as a dog, fit only for eating and 
 sleeping and [causing trouble. But after all, they act ;js 
 the whites themselves would under the circumstances, only 
 ten times better. If the whites had all their wants 
 supplied, if personal possessions were an impossibility, and 
 if work brought little reward, they certainly would not 
 work. The marvel is not, why so many Fijians decline
 
 30 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 work, but how it i? that so many do work. They have 
 little need to work, theyjhave little reward for work, they 
 are often snubbed and treated as dogs, perhaps not 
 molested, but sneered at and snubbed, and satire is worse 
 than cuffs to tlie Viti man, by those for whom they do 
 work. What wonder then, that so many prefer the easy 
 trading and the independence, to the heavy manual labour, 
 and the too often servile bondage ! Yet because of this 
 state of things, rendered worse as we sliall shew shortly, by 
 the Government, the blacks are spoken of badly, and held 
 in contempt by the whites. 
 
 The patriarchal communal system in two ways specially 
 makes against the natives seeking to work or to amass 
 substance or wealth. When any work among themselves 
 is required to be done, all the men of a village or tribe will 
 be ordered out by the chief to assist in that work. When 
 in Eewa, I saw an instance of this. The chiefs were about 
 to return from a council which had been held. All hands 
 were set on to clear the village paths of weeds and grass. 
 It was ludicrous and most amusing to watch a company of 
 some 300 men, in schoolboy fashion, some with spades, 
 some with hoes, and others with any implement, even to a 
 stick or knife, whichever they could command, seeking to 
 clear the few weeds from a narrow road, of some ten or 
 twelve feet wide, for a distance of less than a quarter of a 
 mile. They set about it without any apparent order or 
 definite plan. Each one struck at a weed wherever he 
 might fancy, and this large band of able-bodied men, so 
 pompous in ceremony, would accomplish less real work than
 
 CIUES FUOM FIJI 31 
 
 two or throe sturdy Englislinien could have done in the 
 same time. And tliat in a mucli more slovenly manner. 
 But this to the Fijian mind is the correct method of 
 working, and hence for a European to ask him to perform 
 manual labour, and not himself and all hands join in, is 
 almost, if not quite, an insult to the native ideas. And 
 further, the communal system, which teaches them to beg 
 from and to give to one another, leads them on to try the 
 same with the English. The natives are however beginning 
 to learn that the English will not thus part with their 
 property. And that they for value requiie equivalent value. 
 But yet the idea is rooted in their minds by ti-aditiou and 
 custom, that goods should be in common. And if work 
 should be communal and goods communal, why should they 
 alone be asked to work, and for the benefit alone and the 
 amassing wealth alone to the white man. Trade is now 
 stepping in, but yet the natives, where they think they 
 can succeed, will beg. And it is only by satire or by return- 
 ing the compliment that they can be made to desist. I stayed 
 one night and was hospitably entertained at a native village, 
 one of the latest to lotu, and until comparatively recently un- 
 safe to visit. I was in the most cool manner asked for ray 
 watch. I nodded my head, laughed, and answered, " To- 
 morrow." Tlie joke pleased and I was troubled no further. 
 An Englishman living near related to me a most amusing 
 experience. He visited a chief, who professed very great 
 friendship and regard. But this man and his people proved 
 most irrational beggars. The more he gave, the more they 
 begged. This, viewed from the standpoint of the English
 
 32 CRIi;S FROM FIJI 
 
 scliool boy, was only natural. As children, tliey were glad 
 to get hold of the white man's, to them, curios. He found 
 himself in a fix, not deeming it policy, under the circum- 
 stances, to refuse the polite demands. His only remedy 
 was to imitate the traveller in his relations with the Indian 
 chief. That chief who protected and acted as a great friend 
 to the traveller would periodically relate, how that in his 
 dreams, the great spirit had awarded him various valuables, 
 possessions of the white man : and the traveller had in 
 policy to present him with them. At length, when the 
 dreaming became frequent and unbearable, he met the 
 Indian with a like complaint. He liad dreamed, and the 
 great spirit had directed that the best piece of land and of 
 large dimensions should be given to the traveller. On 
 relating this to the chief, his face witnessed the angered 
 and restrained feelings within his breast, when he answered, 
 " Take them, my friend, but let us have no more dream- 
 ing." And so the white man belaboured in Fiji, turned 
 round, gave no breathing time, but rapidly asked for every- 
 thing he saw in the possession of one after another. He 
 was never again subjected to begging in that township. 
 The joke was too practical. 
 
 Fijians again, as English school boys, do not appear to 
 know depths of sorrow or love. The finer heaven-like 
 passions are not strongly developed. They may and do 
 have paroxysms of sorrow, but they are neither lasting nor 
 deep. A woman in a native village Avhich I visited had 
 shortly before lost her child A gentleman, who hap- 
 pened to be present at the time, told me that she set .
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 33 
 
 up a hideous wail, and kept it up for two hours. Soon 
 after there was little or no sign of grief. And so it is with 
 English children. Their grief is paroxysmal and to them 
 for the moment crushing, but it is soon over. And in both 
 cases it is demonstrative. Whereas the deep crushing 
 son'ow, or the unassuaged lasting grief so frequently seen 
 in the more intellectually matured English, is wanting or 
 almost unknown among the South Sea Islanders. 
 
 And so with love. Here they do not seem to be demon- 
 strative, excepting in polite words. I saw a large number 
 of the inhabitants of a village return from a journey of 
 some days by sea. Their boat was laden with food and 
 other articles. They busied themselves, rather in carrying 
 their effects into the village, than in saluting their relatives 
 and friends whom they had not seen for days. A husband 
 would stop a minute to shake hands (an introduced custom), 
 with his wife, and each to pass a smile. A little lad of 
 seven or eight years ran to his mother. Both for a 
 moment showed their pleasure, the boy in dancing around 
 and looking up at his mother, the mother in putting her 
 arms round the lad and pressing him fondly to her breast. 
 But even this was temporary. I saw no kiss bestowed. 
 A sniff up the nose takes the place of the kiss in Fiji. A 
 person presses his nose against another's hand and sniffs ; 
 this shows respect. He acts the same against the cheek, 
 and this betokens affection. But, for the most part, 
 although I inquisitively watched the returning ones 
 come to their homes, the salutations were common-place, 
 or a formal shake of the hand. Plenty of talking,
 
 34 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 plenty of laughing, but little besides. And so with slight 
 exception, we find this state of things, little demonstration 
 of affection, among English school boys. It is stated that 
 these people have no word in their language for gratitude. 
 An English boy knows the word, but very seldom, or only 
 to a limited degree, understands or experiences the depths 
 of gratitude. A Polynesian expressed great fondness for 
 a white baby, and so was engaged entirely as nnrse. And 
 it is well-known tliat English children, from babies 
 upward, get on far better with the natives than with 
 white servants. Their sympathies are nearer akin. And 
 a native will quiet and amuse a cliild where a European 
 fails. This man was hired for a certain period, and 
 vowed that when his time was up, he would engage again, 
 as he could not leave his loved baby. But, alas ! when 
 the time arrived, his boasting was gone ; and, as if 
 ashamed of satire on his conduct, he departed unheralded 
 and by stealth. I was highly amused with a village of 
 native l)oys. Curious and prying, they came to me, got 
 me ferns, took my net and caught insects, and carried 
 some papers I had. Each one wanted to help. And for 
 every favor I bestowed, or notice I took, the recipient 
 would say " Tliank you ! " Thank you-s were numerous, 
 and doubtless as full of meaning as many a one uttered 
 by the more favoured English boy. Yet many white 
 people argue that, as the Fijians are so deficient in these 
 passions, that tliey cannot rise to the spiritual, and that 
 hence the efforts of missionaries are futile, except to 
 generate hypocrisy and to foster pride. This, at first
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 35 
 
 sight, might appear feasible. But a review of the scliool- 
 boy life, analogous, as we stated, with the Fijian, will 
 demonstrate otherwise. School boys and Fijians are both 
 higlily spiritual. They are both easily impressed, and are 
 not troubled with doubts and inimical pliilosophical creeds. 
 Both can love up to their capacities, and both can under- 
 stand the principle of vicarious propitiatoiy sacrifice as the 
 expression of, and as actuated by, love. Love, the sheet- 
 anchor of the Christian religion. And while the school boy 
 has not the capacities, either of intellect or of this noblest 
 passion, maturely developed, yet he can, and often does, 
 attain to a consistent profession and possession of true 
 godliness. And so the Fijian. He has not the capacities 
 of the educated, intelligent, and experienced Englishman ; 
 but he has a capacity to understand a plan so simple that 
 the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein. 
 
 But a possession of religion necessitates a keen struggle 
 and continuous effort to retain and increase. And it is 
 well-known to every observer that profession often belies 
 possession, and that, through weariness and unwatchful- 
 ness, even Europeans become lukewarm and careless, while 
 many altogether fall away. And in judging the Fijians, 
 allowance should be made for their less developed capaci- 
 ties, for their numerous temptations, for the hereditary 
 evil tendencies of their nature, and for their natural puerile 
 weaknesses. The example of the white people, whom they 
 know are higher in the social scale, is often most deleteri- 
 ous. The missionaries teach them, as children should be 
 taught, with Puritan severity and rule. The Sabbath is
 
 36 CEIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 for them in letter, as well as in spirit, a day of rest. But tlie 
 Europeans largely set a contra example, and so agitate the 
 minds of these little ones. 
 
 Taught by tlie missionaries,, tliey endeavour to an extent 
 unprecedented in civilised, nominally Christian countries, 
 to live as far as knowledge and capacities lead, Christian 
 lives. Eveiy morning numbers assemble for family prayer. 
 On the Sabbath, the churches are filled witli devout wor- 
 shippers. Anxious to see for myself, I attended the native 
 services. Immediately on the minister and white visitors 
 entering the church, the congregation, devoutly kneeling, 
 chanted a prayer, asking for the blessing of the Almighty on 
 the service, that they might be profited and blessed. After 
 the opening prayer, they chanted the Lord's Prayer and the 
 Apostles' Creed. Before the delivery of the sermon, they 
 chanted the Fourth Cammandment, Remember the Sabbath 
 Day, &c. The chanting was commenced by the women, 
 and then taken up and carried on by the men. The wliole 
 ceremony was most impressive and solemn. I listened to 
 a natiA'e local jjreacher or teacher, as he urged upon his 
 hearers, the value of tlieir privileges. " Not long ago," he 
 said, "we were like people shut up in a dark house — all the 
 doors barred, and no Avindows. We had no outlook. All 
 was dark. Prison darkness, which could be felt, surrounded 
 us all. And we were helpless, lost, and miserable. But 
 the light shone forth. The doors of the dungeon were 
 opened. The light shone in upon us. And now we see 
 the full sunshine of gospel-day. But many of us are 
 forgetful. We do not embrace this light. We prefer the
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 37 
 
 darkness. Or we like tlie twilight. Wherefore shoiUd we 
 neglect such glorious privileges ? And what punishment 
 shall we deserve if we allow tliis glorious liglit and liberty 
 to pass from us unheeded ?" I was simply astounded by 
 what I saw and heard. 
 
 Wlule at Mbau, I witnessed a number of mekes or 
 native dances. The men dance alone. Tlie women like- 
 wise dance with each other. The movements of tlie body 
 and of tlie limbs are in perfect symmetiy. Tliey are 
 extremely graceful and most artistic. 
 
 The strangers had to be feasted by the townsjieople. I 
 counted seventeen pigs, roasted whole, carried past me to 
 tlie meal. And yet, although there was so much excite- 
 ment, although it was a public holiday, the week-night 
 preaching service was attended by hundreds. 
 
 When at Ovalau, I received an invitation to attend a 
 natiA'e missionary meeting. Before the day in question, 
 the people of the village sent to their minister, and asked 
 permission for the meeting to be put off for a day or two. 
 They stated that tliey had not money sufficient for what, 
 in their hearts, they wished to give. Three steamers, one 
 a pleasure party steamer, were expected, and they wished 
 to secure these opportunities, so as to sell coral and curios. 
 And then they would have money for the missionary 
 meeting. As desired, the meeting was deferred. On the 
 morning of the day chosen, I had the pleasure, with three 
 other visitors, of visiting that village. The chief had made 
 a feast for strangers. The visiting natives were treated 
 according to their rank or precedence. A spokesman
 
 38 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 regretted that the feast was not more varied or clioice. But 
 the visitors were most welcome, and lie hoped they would 
 partake of the good things in the same spirit as that in 
 which they were given. A suitable reply and compli- 
 mentary speech was made. The feast began. Fish soup, 
 boiled fish, ndalo, yams, sweet puddings. Portions were 
 awarded to the whites. Afterwards the natives feasted 
 witli a will. After the feast came the missionary meeting. 
 A native gave a brief address. He stated the good they 
 themselves had received from the lotu. He drew attention 
 to the South Sea Islanders still in heathenism ; and he 
 wound up by urging them all to give liberally. 
 
 I expected to see a number of speakers get up with the 
 object, as is necessary in Eno;lisli. audiences, of inciting to 
 good works and to liberal gifts ; but I was mistaken. In 
 a business manner tliey looked at matters. The collection 
 was at once called. The chief got up, and in a stately 
 grace, as a child proud of success, put on the plate eleven 
 shillings. Then others stepped up with offerings. Then 
 the little girls, nicely decorated with flowers and ferns, 
 walked up and put their sixpenny and threepenny pieces 
 on the plate. There was joy among the poor people of 
 that native village, as, like the' Jews of old, they bi ought 
 up and poured fortli their gifts into the treasury ; almost 
 their all. Tlie collection amounted to three pounds nine- 
 teen shillings and sixpence. 
 
 The village was so poor, that the cocoa-nut trees had to 
 be tabooed (forbidden) to pay the Government taxes. The 
 English were anxious to taste the young nuts. But no ;
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 39 
 
 they were forbidden. No one dared to climb. At last, a 
 bonny-looking young woman said, " I can manage it for 
 you." And so she ran to the chief. In a few minutes 
 she returned, and stated that, in lionour of the white 
 guests, the taboo was taken from one tree. Permission given, 
 a native looked up, and judging of the nuts as they grew, 
 selected the tree with tlie finest fruit. He crawled and 
 climbed with the most perfect ease — a far better gymnast 
 than any English actor. In a few minutes, nuts were 
 thrown down, unhusked, opened, and the guests refreshed 
 by the beautiful cool milk. Such was tlie hospitality, and 
 such the liberality we witnessed in a poor village. Poor in 
 this world's goods ; but rich in gifts and graces too often 
 lacking in more refined and more higlily favoured commu- 
 nities. And like instances might be nmltiplied. 
 
 One tliousand and seventy teachers, and two thousand 
 and ninety-seven scliool teachers, are distributed among 
 the various towns and villages. These men are supported 
 by the natives, and get a salary of twelve to twenty 
 shillings a quarter. And often the towns are too poor to 
 pay even that moiety. And yet, such is tlieir love of 
 the work, that they remain at their posts, even though 
 poor, rather tlian be led away by promise of higlier wages. 
 
 In 1875 it was proposed to open a mission in New 
 Britam. The matter was laid before a number of Fijian 
 teachers. Nine volunteered to go. Seven of tliese were 
 married. The British Consul interfered, considering it 
 his duty to explain to tliem the dangers they were
 
 40 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 running. He sought to dissuade them from their enter- 
 prise ; but they were not to be moved from their purpose. 
 They stated that they knew the difficulties and dangers, and 
 if they got killed, well ; if they lived, well : Go they must. 
 One of the wives was tlien urged not to go — not to risk 
 her life. She answered : " I am like the outrigger 
 of a canoe — where the canoe goes, there you will 
 surely find the outrigger." And they went. Four were 
 murlered by the cannibals for the ovens. And yet the 
 gaps were soon filled up, and fresh teachers continued to 
 volunteer. When we remember that the Fijians are 
 naturally cowards, we are astounded at the valour and 
 heroism. No forces of civilization could work such 
 wonders. Their lives in their hands, and the club and the 
 ovens awaiting them ! Yet they go. Love to enemies. 
 Christian philosophy. Heavenly purity. And to-day 
 some 3000 more or less tamed cannibals witness to the 
 self-denying love of the white missionary, and of these 
 men in the New Britain Mission. 
 
 Altliough naturally of strong passions, considering their 
 surroundings, their weaknesses, and their temptations, these 
 people keep remarkably moral and temperate. They not 
 only abstain from intoxicating drinks, but many of them 
 have joined a " Blue Ribbon " movement to abstain from 
 the Yangona and tobacco. This Yangona is a native drink, of 
 which they are very fon !, and whicli simply renders the 
 legs helpless, without affecting the head, other than with a 
 pleasurable satisfied sensation. In travelling by boat from 
 Suva to the Rewa River, the wind was against us, and tlie
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 41 
 
 two natives, Kandavu boys, had to pull the whole distance 
 of twelve miles. A gentleman in the company had taken 
 bottles of beer for the whites, and had considerately 
 provided bottles of tea and milk for the natives. Seeing 
 beer, they were suspicious, and the one persistently refused 
 to drink the tea, Avhile the other was with great difficulty 
 persuaded to swallow a portion. They were assured that 
 the tea had been specially provided for them, but the 
 bottles of beer made them fear treachery or a practical 
 joke. And I was agreeably surprised and astounded to 
 see how the one refused any drink at all, lest he should 
 err, even, working liard as he was, under the discomfiture 
 of a tropical sun. 
 
 For a people, and this chiefly owing to tlie missionaries' 
 teaching, they are most circumspect as regards the 
 Europeans. The young women by their own regulations, 
 are only allowed to go out two and two. Those whites who 
 set the disgraceful example of living in concubinage, liave 
 to appropriate imported Tongan, Samoan, or Rotumah 
 women. While a Fijian prostitute is most rare. I only 
 heard of one confirmed case of an Euglisli girl being seduced 
 by a Fijian. And tliis was one of terrible retribution, and 
 occurred some little time ago. A young Englishman 
 visited Kandavu, and tliere lived prodigal and rakish. 
 Some time after, he was commissioned to get labour boys. 
 He went again to Kandavu, and, as an inducement, promised 
 wives, and among them the hand of his own sister. To the 
 astonishment of every one, in a very short time he returned 
 with a number of the boys. Some months afterwards, the
 
 42 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 young man's family found that the daughter had been 
 seduced, and furthermore by a Fijian. The man openly 
 aclcnowledged his guilt, gloried over his revenge, 
 stating that it was the avowed agreement of the boys, to 
 accept the labour bonuses, so as to gain an opportunity to 
 be revenged on the young man, for seducing women of 
 their township. And he dared the friends to bring the 
 matter forward before the Crown authorities. They thought 
 and adopted the wiser and more discreet plan of silence, 
 and sent the girl away to Sydney. 
 
 During tlie old regime, wviwan was powerless before a 
 Chief, but now that Christianity has enlightened the people 
 the matter is changed. Only a few days previous to my 
 visit, a Avoman of Christian profession fought bravely with 
 her fists, and beat off a very high chief and Government 
 official, who sought to tamper with her. In fact, the 
 Chiefs are the greatest sinners, I eing placed in power by 
 the Government, and armed witli ])rivileges (a permit to 
 drink alcoliolic drinks, to have many wives, &c.), which act 
 deleteriously to the small capacity intelligence. A little 
 power is dangerous, and puffs up weak intellect, and so the 
 ill-awarded powers damage the holders morally, socially, and 
 physically. But worst of all, the poor people have to suffer- 
 Thus when all things are taken into consideration, 
 it must be acknowledged that Christianity has done a 
 great deal for Fiji. And often in spite of bad examples, 
 where better should have been expected. Out of about 
 120,000 natives, the Wesleyan body have an attendance of 
 some 100,000, and a membership of 35,000. And although
 
 CRIKS FBOM FJII 43 
 
 there are black sheep among them as in every flock, yet 
 many of them are earnestly striving to live better lives and 
 to be true Christians. 
 
 Fijians, as schoolboys, have not highly developed me- 
 chanical minds. Their wants are few and simple, and 
 so the brain in this particular direction has not been led to 
 development. 
 
 Again like schoolboys they are highly inquisitive, and to 
 a fault. Perhaps this is now tlieir worst national failing. 
 They seem uneasy and unhappy until they can satisfy their 
 curiosity. A storekeeper commissioned one of them to 
 take eight business letters to Suva, a distance of a few 
 miles. The man asked to be told the contents of each. 
 He was curtly denied, but assured they were not about 
 himself. He refused to take tlie letters. The two natives 
 who accompanied me in my tour inland, asked a planter 
 why I collected ferns, insects and bii'ds. To make tea in 
 Sydney, was tlie planter's jocular reply. Scarcely knowing 
 whether it was so, or whether it was a joke, they asked no 
 further, but simply sought to read from his countenance, 
 what they were uncertain of in words. But though 
 extremely inquisitive, their inquisitiveness in only childish, 
 and a mere superficial explanation and comprehension 
 will satisfy their curiosity. 
 
 The Fijians are of a keen nervous temperament. They 
 seem to live very near the spirit land. Their gods in the days 
 of heathenism were spirits. It has been suggested in scientific 
 circles, that as the human brain becomes more developed, 
 second sight or impressions from the spirit world would be
 
 44 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 more easily aud often perceived. But here facts disprove 
 theory. Among the Fijians we get a far more keen per- 
 ception, through nervous influences, than we do in more 
 refined advanced intellects. Even the Australian abori- 
 gines could foretell the advent of a ship days before 
 sighted. A young Fijian student, anxious to become a 
 successful teacher, studied liard. He got some disease 
 which those around him could not understand. His head 
 was very hot, and he experienced great pain. Lassitude, 
 and so to speak, a giving up the ghost, a resigning all 
 energy and struggle after life, came on, and he apparently 
 died. He was gone so far as only to give a breath every 
 two or three minutes. Wlien all believed him to be gone, 
 and were preparing to jierform the last ceremonies, he 
 suddenly rose up and said: " I thought I was gone ; but 
 I liave come back again to urge you all to be watchful and 
 earnest in prayer." He then dropped back and died. 
 Another teacher, apparently in good health on the Thurs- 
 day or Friday, said : " I must get all things in order — I 
 shall preach my farewell sermons on Sunday ; give tickets 
 and arrange clmrch matters on Monday ; for on Tuesday 
 I shall stretch all sail and fly away." He carried out these 
 intentions. On Tuesday he ate a hearty breakfast, and, 
 after breakfast, lay down and died. A little lad lay on his 
 mat poorly. " Father," he said, " what day is it to-day ?"' 
 " Wednesday ! " " Oh, well," he said, "on what day shall I 
 die ? I would like to die on Sunday." When Sunday morning 
 came, he appeared better, and likely to recover. " Father," 
 he said, '* what day is it to-day ? " " Sunday ! " " Oh, father.
 
 CRIKS FROM FIJI 45 
 
 I shall go to-day. When the sun is at the full I shall pass 
 away." And so he did — died on Sunday at noon, A 
 woman in a distant village sent for a teacher, to see her, 
 as she felt she must die. She waited until the teacher 
 arrived, received his sympathy and offices, and directly 
 died. 
 
 An old man expected his son to come back from a 
 journey. He fidgetted at his delay, stating that he was 
 to die on Monday night ; but he must first see his son 
 and say farewell. His son did not come on Monday, and 
 so he said : " Well, he will be here to-morrow ; so I will 
 wait and see him, and then die on Tuesday evening." His 
 son did come ; he said farewell, and died on the Tuesday 
 evening. 
 
 And these are not solitary cases. They seem to get an 
 impression, and, unless very strong influences counteract, 
 the impression acts so on the nervous system as even to 
 destroy life. Just as the Frenchman, condemned to death, 
 agreed to be bled to death in preference to dying at the 
 hands of the executioner. He saw an array of surgical 
 instruments, was then blindfolded, scratched on the arm, 
 and water allowed, in imitation of blood, to trickle over 
 the limb, faster and freer, until the poor victim sank in 
 death — life destroyed or unhinged by nerve influences. 
 And so with these children of nature — all the South Sea 
 and Australasian aboriginals. But whence do they receive 
 the impressions. The presence, in his garden or camp, of 
 a certain plant said to be a death scavenger, has been
 
 46 CRIBS FROM FIJI 
 
 known to cause the death of the unfortunate finder. 
 Death-struck — bewitched — frightened out of existence. 
 
 The mind of a Fijian is highly philosophical. It is so 
 in two aspects — the argumentative and the deductive. 
 
 He is pre-eminently a child of Nature. His communings 
 are with Nature. He learns from Nature. He copies 
 Nature. He knows almost every wild flower of his district, 
 and can tell the stranger where each kind grows. He has 
 studied their uses. From some he obtains his food, which 
 is chiefly vegetable. From some he obtains his material 
 for clothing, for rope and twine for fishing and other nets, 
 and for all his primitive requirements. Among them he 
 discovers his angona, wherewith to cheer and delight his 
 lieart, and he finds medicines for the various diseases to 
 which he is subject. In argument, he draws his lessons 
 from Nature's pictures. Speaking of a profession of 
 Christianity, one of them compared a noisy and open pro- 
 fession to a mountain torrent. The still undemonstrative 
 profession, he compared to the silent spring. Now, he 
 said, to speak a fable, " The spring, which poured forth 
 silently, complained to the mountain torrent about the 
 great noise it made. See, said the spring, I go quietly on 
 my course, carrying water to the sea ; but you spend your 
 strength largely in roaring, foaming, hissing, and dashing 
 among the rocks." And so the spring remonstrated, and 
 many agreed that so much noise and show was not good. 
 But, by-and-bye there came a long drought, and then the 
 spring was dried up ; but the mountain torrent still rolled 
 on. The silence of the spring proved its feebleness. It
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 47 
 
 was not noisy in its flow because it had not the volumes of 
 water ; and hence, when the drought came, it soon dried up. 
 So, he said, it is with religion. If a person have a great 
 volume, he must be expressive and demonstrative. He must 
 be seen and heard. But if there be not much religion in liis 
 breast, there is no volume to demonstrate, and so the flow is 
 still ; and when adversity and trial, as drought come, then his 
 soul dries up. 
 
 Their public addresses — religious or otherwise — their 
 tribal and other debates, are all illustrated by the same 
 lines — the pencillings of Nature. And, from these, the 
 speakers draw analogies or impress lessons. 
 
 The Fijians are highly artistic. They take great pains 
 with their hair, and, on special occasions, that of a chief 
 will be got up in the most artistic fashion. Tliey adorn it 
 most tastefully with flowers and ferns. They plant the 
 most beautiful flowers in their gardens and around their 
 homesteads. The various species of hibiscus do not appear 
 to be indigenous, at all events to the southern Fijis, as 
 they are never found wild. They are always and only 
 found in inhabited or deserted villages ; and it is a puzzle 
 as to where and how they obtained them generations ago. 
 Some are found in Asia, others in New Guinea. Did the 
 Fijians obtain them thence ? Ferns are often planted, 
 and grow over the entrances of their houses. Their 
 churches are often neatly decorated with cowry shells and 
 other ornaments. Of old, their clubs and spears were 
 elaborately and curiously carved, and that with tools the 
 most meagre and primitive. Neat patterns are printed on
 
 48 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 their native cloth, and pretty, thoiigli simple, designs on 
 their rade pottery. 
 
 Necessity is the mother of invention, and Nature is 
 the uncivilised people's great teacher. Hence, in the 
 cultivation of ndalo (together with yams, their staff of 
 life), the Fijians note that it requires for growth, good 
 allmnal soil, continuous wet, and plenty of air and room. 
 And so a native, where he cannot utilise natural swamps, 
 ■will search the mountain stream until he finds a portion 
 of the bank where he can, by means of small boulders and 
 stones from the brook, build a series of terraces, over 
 which a portion of the waters may slowly trickle. With 
 great care and neatness he builds up these terraces, finish- 
 ing with small stones, and capable of retaining a necessary 
 proportion of rich soil. And, at a proper distance apart, he 
 plants his ndalo roots, from which, in due course, he 
 obtains an abundant harvest. And furthermore, he learns 
 the wisdom of giving the ground a rest, and so shifts the 
 scene of his operations, and periodically chooses new 
 gardens. 
 
 I saw some wide moats, which reminded one of the old 
 Britons of two thousand years ago. It appears that these 
 were dug out as defence works. They were fairly wide, 
 deep, and for some three or four feet filled with mud and 
 shallow water. In this mud were implanted stakes, with 
 their sharp ends upwards, and so thickly together, as to 
 leave no room for stepping between. I had always been 
 led to believe that the ancient British moats were filled with 
 water, but on seeing the Fijian, the question arises, was
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 49 
 
 tliat feasible ? The enemy, or a large proportion, could 
 easily swim across such a narrow obstruction ; but they 
 could not cross, and especially with naked feet, a planta- 
 tion of sharp stakes, spikes upward, and hidden and 
 rendered more slippery and disagreeable by a tliickness of 
 soft mud and shallow water. 
 
 We liave seen that tlie professed policy of tiie Govern- 
 ment is to preserve the native race. This object is most 
 noble and christianlike, if it be really intended. But 
 actions spealv louder than words ; and, from the acts of 
 the Government, only two inferences can be drawn — 
 either that the expressed policy is a mere blind, or tliat 
 the governing body is not competent to carry out its own 
 programme. 
 
 We have endeavoured to show that the patriarchal 
 government is deterrent to a people's advancement, antl, 
 in fact, to a people's civilization. It destroys the indivi- 
 dual manhood, by rooting out tlie very foundations of 
 independence, liberty, ambition, and wealth. And yet, the 
 Government who profess such a vast anxiety for the 
 preservation and protection of the natives, frames string- 
 ent laws for the maintenance of the })atriarchal rule. And 
 this rule is, in some respects, under tlie new reqime, more 
 grinding tlian uiuk'r their own old tribal sway. Tliere were, 
 in the olden times, some restraints on tlie powers 
 of a chief. He could — excepting as in Thakombau's 
 or similar cases, where, by extra trilial and other 
 means, he had obtaincil a more than solid footing 
 — be at any time cluldx'd ; (ir his people could leave 
 him and go and join another trilie. But now the
 
 50 CUIES FROM FIJI 
 
 English, as if afraid of an independent or straightforward 
 policy, raise the chiefs and sub-chiefs and crush the 
 people. They have the old power retained to them, and 
 fortified by the backing of the British Lion. They can 
 crush their people, and, though there may be nominal 
 redress, yet red tai)eism rendei's it of little or no effect. A 
 native, if he feels liimself aggrieved, has to come before 
 the British Government through the very chief by Avhoin 
 he is aggrieved. And justice then is very tardy, or not 
 forthcoming at all. It seems as if the chiefs kept the 
 Government in fear ; or it may be tliat the cliiefs 
 are pampered so as to save the trouble of dealing 
 directly with the })eople. 
 
 A company wants 20<) men. It opens relations with the 
 chief and the Government ; and the 200 men, as slaves, 
 have to go, leaving wives and liomes, whether tliey will it 
 or no. 
 
 A man fell in love with a girl — a rare tiling in Fiji, 
 where marriages are arranged b}' the friends. He had to 
 go to the lieutenant of the town — a petty sub-chief, and 
 had to pay a triHe to get the application registei'ed, and, if 
 there were no lawful objection, the marriage licensed. 
 The lieutenant, at the instance of a higlier chief, 
 refused the license. There was no lawful objection; 
 but the chief either fancied the woman himself (a 
 chief may have more wives than one), or he had a 
 grudge against the i>oor man. Amazed, anil at a loss 
 to guess the reason, the man wrote to the chief, 
 asking wliv lie should interfere, and to allow him what was 
 his rinhtful due — the license. The chief, in anger, had him
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 51 
 
 seized and sent to a town some miles away as a prisonei'. 
 After a time, the man returned home. On re-entering tlie 
 village, lie was again seized by the cliief and kept a 
 jprisoner — the chief saying the man was in his jurisdiction, 
 and not under that of the Englisli Government. Tlie 
 Government were communicated with, but they took }io 
 action. Slavery ! Cotild anything be more vile ; and the 
 man a peaceable British subject. Is it come to this, after 
 our glorious fights for freedom, that our Gracious Queen 
 has to rule over slaves? And yet tliis feeble British 
 ■Government allowed the man to be kept a prisoner by a 
 petty poA\erful. impudent chief. 
 
 Slaves ! Yes, the people are slaves. Lest the white man 
 should put upon them, they are not allowed to work of 
 their own free will. They belong to tlie patriarch or chief, 
 who must not be oft'endeil ; and so, if they desire work, 
 •or if planters or others wish to liire labour, they must go 
 to the chief or slave-holder. The law states that if a native 
 wish to work, he must register his name on a public notice 
 list ; he must obtain the consent of his tribal chief ; and 
 he must obtain the consent of the Government. AVhat a 
 vast red tapeism, and need it be wondered, that it is a 
 barrier, almost impenetrable, to the unsophisticated native. 
 
 But the man is to his town cliief and tribal chief, pro- 
 perty, and what is to compensate them for the loss 
 stistained, tor the time he may be away. The planter nee^l 
 to make this right by a bribe or present. Supposing all 
 these preliminaries, after many delays and repeated official 
 rebuffs, be sttrmounted, tlien the man goes for a certain 
 wage and for a brief period only. It niny lie a month,
 
 52 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 three months, six months, or even a year, according to 
 circumstances. If, out of his own district, further for- 
 malities have to be met, tlie man has to go before a 
 magistrate, and various difficulties and obstructions liave 
 to be removed. After doing his term of service, he may 
 engage again, provided tlie gauntlet be run as before. 
 And, after all this toil and working, he has to give a 
 portion — at tlie lowest, one-tenth — of his wages to the 
 chief, and submit to the begging of his friends, for to rid 
 himself of most of the remainder. 
 
 When desirous of taking a native canoe and a couple of 
 men for a tour of the river, 1 had to apply to the chief of 
 the town. He was very pompous, and stated that his de- 
 sire was to assist me, but he could not spare the time that 
 day ; he would see to it on the morrow. A secretary, wlia 
 was writing letters to tlie council of chiefs, then sitting, 
 said to him : " We must make commission out of this." 
 " No," lie said. " Tliis man is a doctor of medicine. He 
 has not come to buy or to sell ; but he has come to study 
 science. We know nothing of science, and he wants to 
 tind out the cure for diseases, and how to benefit us. You 
 shall not malce anything out of him. He shall pa}^ the 
 two men one shilling a day each and rations, and I myself 
 will lend him a canoe. I thouglit I liad certainly got hold 
 of a most sensible and liospitable chief, and shook liands 
 with him most cordially. Next day he spent the morning 
 in getting the boys and the canoe, and we at lengtli started. 
 The boys were everytliing that could be wislieil. They 
 worked willingly ; they climbed trees of their own accord 
 whenever tliey sighted a new plant or fern ; they took the-
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 53 
 
 g-reatest care of my belonging's ; tlicy explaiu(?d as well as 
 possible by signs, places, and matters of interest ; warned 
 me of dangers, and assisted generally in the collecting of 
 natural history objects. Tliey appeared happy and free, 
 chatting merrily, and laughing and singing the whole day 
 long. 
 
 On my return, after eleven days' absence, I paid each of 
 them the sum agreed upon, and made each of them a pre- 
 sent of tobacco for general good lieliaviour and assistance. 
 Next day the chief, with several attendants, visited me. 
 They had blackened their faces, and endeavoured to make 
 tluM'r visages look terrible. I was informed by an intei- 
 preter that the chief Avanted the money for the boys and 
 the boat. I answered that I had paid the boys themselves. 
 " Xo ! 'No ! You were to pay the chief. The bargain 
 was with him. He gave you the boys. And, moi'e- 
 over, he wants ten shillings for the loan of the boat."' T 
 explained that such an item was never mentioned, and the 
 alleged reason of the chief's liberality. Remonstrance was 
 useless. The interpreter then stated that the chief would 
 send for his policemen and have me arrested. On hearing 
 this, my anger was fairly aroused, and I told him, in 
 satire, to duck himself in the river — so contemptible 
 did I consider his double-dealing. The whole affair 
 ended in the boys coming forward with the money, and in 
 my having to pay the ten shillings for the boat. Two days 
 afterwards, this same chief came and endeavoi'ed to excuse 
 liimself, blaming misunderstandings to the interpreter. 
 After a time, putting his hand over his heart, he said : " I 
 cannot be right until we liccome friends, and shake hands :
 
 54 CniES FROM FIJI. 
 
 ami so I hod to Forgive and be friends ; glad to find, even in- 
 tliis man, wlio was everywliere spoken of as a villain, some- 
 effects of missionary example and teaching. As it was,, 
 tlie matter was legally entirely against me. I had not been 
 used in free England, or in equally free Victoria, to pay 
 the slave-Iiolder, and so I made a mistake, and paid the- 
 let-out-on-liire slaves. And I was really liable by English 
 hiw, and could liave been sued to Suva, tlie capital, and 
 made tri pay tlie cliief, the full amount due for 
 both boys. These latter, influenced by missionary teach- 
 ing, got me out of tlie difficulty by paying tlie chief 
 themselves. But how galling — paying the price of their 
 own labour, and trusting, if perhaps they might have a 
 moiety returned. And this law is administered so as to pro- 
 tect and preserve the native race ! Truly, protect them from 
 drinking the sweets of liberty : }ireserve them intact, in 
 l)ody and estate, to their hereditary holders. 
 
 The following practically proves the [)ower of the chiefs, 
 and the position of the English Government: — A chief,, 
 wisliing to obtain an object of value, levied a contribution 
 from his people of ten shillings per head. The levy was 
 paid. Soon afterwards he saw a fine boat, upon which lie- 
 also set his heart. He sent round to demand another ten 
 shillings levy. One of the towns was too poor to pay this 
 levy. They waited upon him. and stated that they coukl 
 not pay. He appeared to acce[)t their excuse. Shortly 
 afterwards, an application was made to him for labour.. 
 He sent the men from the offending town. On the com- 
 pletion of the work, the chief received the payment in full. 
 The men, on their return, applied to him for their share.-
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 55 
 
 He only laiiglied at them, and reinhided them that tliey 
 woiihl not pay the ten shillings levy, and so now he had 
 paid it for them. Aggrieved, the men appealed to the 
 Englisli Government ; but this milk-and-water body was 
 too timid or too cautious to interfere. Moreover the Govern- 
 ment officials aided tlie political leaders, by liaving the 
 news of the complaint lodged, made known to the chief. 
 He immediately acted with promptness, and had the 
 offenders arrested. They weie sent to a distant town, and 
 detained for some tliree months. An English pliilanthro- 
 pist let it be known to tlie chief, that if the men were not 
 released, he woukl openly hght the Government on their 
 behalf, and so tliey were released. But alas, for the stain 
 on tlie British flag, that outrage on British subjects has 
 never been riglited or avenged. Justice has been 
 withheld. And in numbers of other and similar instances, 
 England's flag of liberty has thus been trodden underfoot 
 by these feeble representatives of the British crown. 
 
 The Government affirm that tlie Fijians would not be 
 satisfied unless governed by their own chiefs. Why, then, 
 did they ask to be annexed under the British Throne ? If 
 the Fijian chiefs are to govern Fiji on the patriarchal 
 system, then what necessity is there for England to govern 
 as a Crown colony? What absurdity to run two lines of 
 Government, and so diametrically opposite, at one and the 
 same time ! The policy of the Government states, we must 
 make laws to preserve the natives intact, and to protect 
 tliem from the designings of the whites. Glorious philan- 
 thropy ! Worthy the highest commendation ! But does 
 if protect or jireserve ? It tlirows around them a cloak of
 
 56 ClilKS FROM FIJI 
 
 preservation and protection, but wliat are tlie d("stnu- 
 tive and deadly agencies which are concealed within I 
 The people, before a superior race, do need })rotec- 
 tion to hold their own. And judged from the past, 
 and from the various developments of the slave trade, they 
 need protection agai)ist intrigue and villany on the part of 
 some of the Avhitos. For again and again, unprincipled, 
 selfish whites have, by bribes and promises in times past, 
 got and retained natives wrongly. But it is the height of 
 folly, in seeking to avoid an evil, to fly from one extreme 
 to the other. In protecting a man from the oppressor, do 
 not rob liini of liis liberty by yourself manacling his chains. 
 Yet this is practically what the English Government are 
 doing. In protecting the Fijians, they cut off liberty and 
 make voluntary laljour a uon-potest. If I want a servant, 
 I must get the permission of chiefs, sometimes townships, 
 and friends, and Government. And so, if a Fijian is 
 anxious to come into my employ, he must obtain the same 
 permission. 
 
 It is urged in favour of the Government policy, that the 
 drafting men off" to plantations and mills would depopulate 
 the native villages, and thus at once scatter the peoi)le anil 
 prevent their natural increase. But is this theory valid ? 
 At present, in many villages, the women largely do the 
 field labour. The men nniy assist at times ; but, for the 
 most part, they take things easy. Again, a very few weeks 
 in the year are sufficient for all purposes of agriculture. 
 Their food is simple ; their wants are few ; and, at present, 
 a large number of men are often away for days or weeks 
 together, let out on hire by their chiefs; also on the
 
 CR11':S FROM FJII 57 
 
 Government lands, fanning ont the native taxes. But whj' 
 is it indispensal)le tliat the survivorship of the peo})le 
 should be dependent on the maintenance of tlie patriarchal 
 bondage. The natives cannot rise under such a bondage, 
 since individuality is crushed in the communal. And, 
 if this weaker race cannot rise, before and in the 
 presence of a superior race, they must in time become extinct. 
 It is thus the slieerest foil}' to imagine that patriarchal 
 rule and communal life, on present village sites, are abso- 
 lutely necessary to the protection and preservation of the 
 race. If such really were the case, then tlie Government 
 would be sacrificing the people, in allowing as they do, 
 such a number to leave for longer or shorter periods. Their 
 own actions in this matter belie their announced belief. 
 But is it necessary that the free and righteous service of 
 the men, further from or nearer to their liomes, should 
 really destroy their social and family life ? At the present, 
 the people are decreasing in numbers. Many foolish laws 
 prevent tlie increase of population. A man is so restricted 
 in marriage choice. He has to get so many people to con- 
 sent. Marriage is, Avith rare exceptions, simply an 
 alliance planned <iut I)y relations, or by the tribe. And, 
 altogether, there is a growing disinclination to marriage 
 on the part of the male population. The women also, as a 
 rule, object to the trouble of many children. Wives will 
 often leave their Jiusliands for months, or even years. 
 Abortion is freely practised, and not scientifically ; but in 
 such a manner as to damage and make prematurely old 
 the constitution and health. Diseases introduced by the 
 whites and labour lioys liave. and are still, lessening the
 
 58 CRIES i-uoM i-i.n. 
 
 numbers. And so we see really that village life does not 
 keep up the population. I was informed in official circles 
 that about 7000 able-bodied males were liired out to work. 
 How many of tliese are married ? Are not the greater 
 number ])ractically living as unmarried ? For where is the 
 family life to such as are married, while the husbands are 
 on the plantation, if the wives and cliildren remain in the 
 distant township. The great remedy is that already the 
 right of tlie Fijians — personal freedom. Will freedom tlien 
 decimate the numbers ? If a man be free to engage his 
 services, in any plantation or homestead distant or near to 
 liis own township, need that prevent Ins family life? If 
 the law have any [)ower or supervision at all for the pro- 
 tection of the native race, would it not be wiser in all ways 
 to enact that the Fijian, as a free man, might engage 
 himself as a labourer : but tluit it be essential for him to 
 take witli him a wife, and that such couple lie provided 
 with hut, and allowed a portion of lantl on which to culti- 
 vate their necessary vegetable provisions. It is not the 
 village, but the individual, married lite which enlarges a 
 nation. Thus, marriage and individual exertions would 
 be encoui'aged. But, as it is at present, married life is 
 discouraged, and all })arties discontented. 
 
 The labour traffic has for some time occupied the 
 attention of the British nation. It is nothing more nor 
 less than a veritable British slave trade. What means the 
 old song, 
 
 '• Britons never shall be slaves." 
 Where is all the glory of British liberty, battled for and 
 obtained l)y Wilberforce, IJuxton, and a host of others '^'
 
 OKIES FROM FIJI 59' 
 
 Where is the brightness and graiuleuv of the British flag, 
 whicli tlie Queen of tlie Seas displayed befoi-e all natioi:s and 
 peoples, " Destruction to slavery and to the slave trade 
 for ever." Who are those who stand in the places of the 
 heroes of the past, and who fear to speak out the national 
 watchword, '-England and liberty?" Is there no national 
 honour left? Is England to be cowed by any and every 
 opposing nation, while she herself descends to imbrue her 
 hands in the shed blood of the accursed slave trathc ? 
 Rise up ye spirits of the departed and weep for your sons L 
 Lament ye sages^ for England is once more a slave-holding 
 nation I 
 
 The reasons which have led to this are the desire of 
 aspiring British subjects to possess large estates, and the 
 difficulty of making those estates pay, excepting by work- 
 ing them at a labour price low enough, to allow competition 
 with similar estates and industries in other countries. 
 
 It is urged that Europeans cannot Vfork in the open air,, 
 and ill the sugar-fields of the South Pacific Islands. And^ 
 moreover, competition is so gioat that it is asserted the stigar 
 industry could not be carried on in Fiji or even in Queens- 
 land, if current wages, as obtained among Europeans, had 
 to be paid. The planters cry out : '• We must hare labour,, 
 and we must have cheap labour. We have vested 
 interests.' Thus the labour industry, as European, is 
 eftVctually closed. The climatic influences, as against stich 
 a hiliour in Fiji, are very greatly exaggerated. The tem- 
 perature averages 70 to 80 degrees for several months in 
 the year, and tip to 85 or 8() degrees, occasionally reach- 
 ing 90 de"-rees in the other niniUbs. The nights, in most
 
 60 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 parts of tlie group, are cooled by sea breezes. The rainfall 
 varies. At Suva, tlie capital, it averages 110 inches per 
 annum ; while up the Eewa, in the sugar countr}'^, it even 
 in one part reaches 19<) inches. Now the heat is greatly 
 below that of Australia in the summer, and there is not 
 the cold of Australia in the winter. The rainfall is largely 
 iluring night, and tlie sun soon dries the vegetation. 
 Even in Fiji, English mechanics, as carpenters, boat- 
 builders, and others, work liard for long hours, and out of 
 doors, and yet enjoy very good health. English overseers, 
 and others in authority, liave to superintend the labour in 
 the fields, and yet suffer little in consequence. The men 
 in the Englisli ironworks and foundries have to work 
 harder, and to be exposed to a far higher heat. They 
 have likewise to be subjected to the dust and fumes, 
 occasioned from their w^rk. They have not the fresh 
 island air to restore lost vigour ; and they are unavoidably 
 ■subjected to sudden changes of temperature, especially in 
 the outside chills of an English winter. And provided 
 that caution were exercised as to the hours and time for 
 cleaning the canes, which would require a comparative 
 small percentage of tlie whole time and labour, doubtless 
 Europeans could be enqiloyed. In England, agricultural 
 labourers used to get only nine shillings a week ; they can 
 now obtain twelve to fifteen shillings, and, if the proprie- 
 tors of }ilantations and sugar-mills can pay the black man 
 or coolie two shillings a day, he could probably, Avith e({ual 
 profit, pay an industrious Englishman, who would do 
 double the work, four sliillings per diem. But whether or
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 01 
 
 not tliis might be effected, and tliousands of the half- 
 starving Londoners be thus provided for, it has not been 
 (hme ; and tlic cry has been urged, " We must liave clieap 
 labour." 
 
 As noted before, the Fijians are averse to working on 
 their own lands, and for foreigners. And further, having 
 always led an easy life, unless they want to obtain some 
 commodity, they do not care to work at all. Tliis, no 
 doubt, in j)ast years led to many irregularities, the white 
 people thinking it essential to their interests to obtain 
 Fijian servants, and tlius, by stratagem, obtaining and 
 detaining such service. And so the English Government 
 stepped in and interfered, but, in legislating, went to the 
 other extreme, thus damaging both white man and black. 
 They, in seeking to prevent irregularities on the part of 
 the whites, put an almost effectual barrier against the 
 employment of Fijians, excepting as slaves lent out by 
 their chiefs, and that with circumscribed restrictions. 
 
 !N^o doubt, as it is now, the larger number of white 
 people having a stake in the country, would, if it were in 
 their power, force the Fijians to perform the necessary 
 manual and menial labour. This would be highly wrong. 
 These natives have land, they have food, and tlieir wants 
 are few ; and white men liave no right to consider them 
 as property, or bond-slaves, or servants. Service should 
 certainly be encouraged ; but service under a j^atriarchal 
 bondage is not service, but slavery. The patriarchal rule 
 should be sajjped, and then each man, as a free, independ- 
 ent JBritisli subject, should be encouraged to do something. 
 But, as it is now, the Fijian revolts against work, which is
 
 '62 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 to him of little vantage. And it is only because his mental 
 capacities are not awakened into the keen-sightedness of 
 Englishmen, that in any case he submits to work at all. 
 And thus the whites, judging the natives as lazy and 
 repugnant to work, and seeing their own interests suffer- 
 ing in consequence, condemn him most severely ; and too 
 many treat him as a dog, and not as a brother. 
 
 The Fijian Government, and, through them, the Englisli 
 ■Government, liave legalised the labour traffic. Queensland 
 also has taken her share in the same. Certain regulations 
 are enacted, ostensil)ly to prevent irregularities, and to give 
 the traffic an air of respectability. But tliose who make 
 the regulations have not the power to enforce, onLy in part : 
 ^nd they have not the means or the power to regulate 
 matters in the land of purchase, and even on the voyage. 
 
 To form a correct judgment as to the righteousness of 
 the traffic, I will make a comparison between tlie old slave 
 trade and this legalised labour traffic : — 
 
 SLAVE TRADE PRACTICES. LABOR TRAFFIC CUSTOMS. 
 
 1. Coast tribes hy war or kid- 1. Coast tribes, by war or kid- 
 
 napping, obtained people napping, obtain men from 
 
 tVom inland tribes, inland tribes. The whites 
 
 also buy and otherwise en- 
 tice unsuspecting victims 
 by promises and bribes. 
 
 2. These were sold as slaves. 2. These are sold to the labour 
 
 vessels. If they refuse to 
 go on board, the coast 
 people club and eat them. 
 
 3. They were overcrowded in 3. By regulation, only a certain 
 
 vessels with inferior accom- number are allowed on 
 
 modation. each vessel.
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 63 
 
 4. The}' had to be chained or 
 otherwise watched and 
 guarded on the voyage. 
 
 5. Many died on the voyage. 
 
 G. They were knocked down to 
 the highest bidder, to do 
 work on plantations, or for 
 domestic use. 
 
 7. Many died at an early pe- 
 
 riod, on the plantations, 
 from grief, work, hardshijjs, 
 and resulting diseases. 
 
 8. Families were torn asunder ; 
 
 but. if it suited the master, 
 family life was encouraged, 
 and children brought up 
 on the estate. 
 
 9. As far as p'ractieal)le, it was 
 
 to tlie interest of the slave- 
 owner tu feed his slaves 
 and to treat them well — 
 the more healthy the slaves, 
 the more tlie amount of 
 W(jrk to be got out of 
 them. 
 
 ■i. The boys, as they are called, 
 have to be watched ; so 
 many allowed on deck 
 at a time ; the hatches 
 guarded at night by men 
 with revolvers, and other 
 preeautionarj' measures 
 adopted. 
 
 5. A higli percentage, consider- 
 
 ing the time and numbers 
 shipped, die on the voy- 
 age. 
 
 6. They used to be handed over 
 
 to ready-money buyers : 
 i)ut now Government ap- 
 points them, securing a 
 year's wages, nominally 
 so called, beforehand. 
 
 7. Many die soon after arrival 
 
 (jii the plantations. Often- 
 times, and especially in 
 Queensland, the nnn'tality 
 is frightfully high. 
 
 8. Family life is not encou- 
 
 raged. The boys are 
 shipped alone, very few 
 women and no children ac- 
 companying the men. 
 !). It is the policy for the 
 planter to feed and treat 
 the labour boys well.
 
 64 
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 10. If the slaves quarrelled and 
 fought, the master or over- 
 seer took the authorative, 
 and chastised the culprits. 
 
 11. The slaves were free to 
 
 rove over the estate ; but 
 were not permitted to leave 
 it, excepting on plantation 
 business and with proper 
 precautions. 
 
 12. The service demanded from 
 them was manual or do- 
 mestic. 
 
 13. The black slave was looked 
 down upon by the whites 
 as an inferior being, and 
 was often snubbed and 
 treated discourteously. 
 
 14. Oftentimes, in the capture 
 of slaves, blood was shed. 
 
 1.5. Oftentimes the vessels were 
 unseaworth}'. 
 
 10. If the boys are refractory 
 
 or if they quarrel, there is 
 redress to be had by law ; 
 but oftentimes it becomes 
 almost imperative to use 
 timely physical force, and 
 otherwise to punish the 
 offenders. 
 
 11. The labour boys are free; 
 but are practically pri- 
 soners in the island to 
 which they are shipped. 
 
 12. The services demanded are 
 manual and domestic. 
 
 13. The labour boy is looked 
 down upon. He is not 
 respected, and is too often 
 snubbed, and ordered about 
 with oaths and threats. 
 
 11. Often, in the obtaining of 
 
 boys, blood is shed. 
 15. Oftentimes the vessels have 
 
 been, and even are now, 
 
 unseaworthv. 
 
 To review tlie above — 
 
 1 & 2. Tlie recognized rule anioiiy the Lihour vessels; 
 is, so to speak, to pay a bounty, anil practically to 
 bribe or to beguile tlic unsuspecting natives into selling 
 their own liberty. 
 
 If they de not sell themselves, tlie chiefs are tempted
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 65 
 
 by the offer of muskets, tobacco, &c., to press young men 
 into tlie ser\'ice. 
 
 But with labour vessels visiting the islands, the coast 
 tribes soon find it to their interest to obtain slaves or 
 prisoners of war and to give them in exchange for the 
 bounty. 
 
 The South Sea Islanders are in mental capacities and 
 development only on a par Avith the Fijian, and with the 
 English schoolboy. They look but to the hour. The 
 possession of a musket and a knife, and the promises of vast 
 gifts in the future, and too often of a Paradise of fabricated 
 luxuries lure them on their doom. People speak of this as a 
 bona fide engagement ! What ludicrous nonsense ! The 
 savage, free from labour and toil, suddenly becomes Avise 
 and loving, and offers for a paltry ^Jittance to carry his life 
 in his hands ; to work hard in the interests of the white 
 iman ; and to resign his liberty for a period ! Wonderful 
 phenomenon!. And so anxious is he, that he is ready to leave 
 his home and friends for a period of years, and to trust to 
 strangers for means of return. And if they cannot brace them- 
 selves up to the ordeal, the tribe, valueingtlie opportunities 
 given, bring chieftain and tribal influences to bear, and so 
 compel the young men thus to raise and improve themselves. 
 How discerning, these savage islanders ! Just as the 
 simple English country girl in London, in the liands of a 
 sharper, appreciates her position and tlie advantages to be 
 obtained, and so knowingly rushes into tlie snares 
 awaiting her ! The little ones went willingly ! And 
 so may the savages. But neither have the experience nor 
 intelligence to judge of tlieir doings. Tliey simply are
 
 6(j CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 enticed by the sweets. But oftener than not, these- 
 savages, as too often happens to little children, have their 
 liberty yielded up for them. In one instance, as an 
 example, I heard of four boys being purchased from a 
 chief for four rifles. And only last year a vessel was dis- 
 missed the trade because it was discovered that the pay 
 was to depend on the numbers obtained. 
 
 3. If fortunate enougli to obtain as many, 150 to 200 
 are packed or stowed away in a schooner of 150 tons. 
 They are kept in large bunks, several in a bunk, and in 
 the pitching and tossing of the vessel, fall into rough 
 usage through falling on, and rolling over each other. 
 These vessels are often abominably dirty, unhealthy and 
 unseawortliy, but such before coming into port are 
 thoroughly cleaned and renovated — the hold is white- 
 washed, probably fresh paint is utilized, and a thorough 
 scouring is administered. A clean ship, a good meal, 
 often a champagne festival awaits the Government official 
 — and on his passing his word — tlie scheming has suc- 
 ceeded and the men are ready for moneyed applicants. 
 
 4. As must be easily imagined in such a nefarious 
 traffic, the victims have to be guarded. It is not safe to- 
 allow many on deck at a time. Men are ready armed to 
 subdue a rush, if such be attempted, or to prevent escape,, 
 if any seek to jump overboard and swim ashore. In pro- 
 perly fitted vessels, on either side of the hatchway is a 
 large slab of iron and wood, which can be made to fall 
 down and effectually stop tlie hatchways. Two men with 
 revolvers need always to be on the alert to insure tlie 
 safety of the crew. The hatchways also have to be-
 
 CRIES FRO:\I FIJI. 
 
 specially guarded at night. In fact, how can it be other- 
 wise ? The \actims probably rendered more irritable by 
 sea sickness, rolling and ])itching, and goaded by the 
 defensive precautions of the crew, and after reflection filled 
 with remorse at leaving liome, friends, and fatherland, 
 would avail themselves of any opportunity which offered 
 for revenge or escape. It must not for a moment be sup- 
 posed that the labour boys are a group of happy, contented 
 lads, bent on a voyage of discovery and fortune-seeking. 
 Such ambition does not trouble the patriarchal-governed 
 savage. The majority of the boys are sold by others, or 
 are nefariously entrapped, bribed by a present bounty, and 
 lured by promise of future rewards. And most of them, when 
 on board, would most gladly flee to their own native shores. 
 And hence, as it is to the invested interests of the labour 
 hunters to retain them, there are two opposing interests. 
 Moral suasion would be comparatively feeble under such 
 circumstances. Might must maintain its rights, be those 
 rights ever so unjust. Where so many boys are shipped, 
 and from so many different villages, old feuds and fresh 
 quarrels often lead to squabbles and bloodshed ; and cases 
 have come to light where tl:e crew have had to use fire- 
 arms to enforce order and to secure the public safety. In 
 fact, looked at in all its bearings, it would not be either 
 safe or expedient for tlie labour crew to carry so many, slaves, 
 and savages, unguarded. And it has been asserted, 
 and no doubt is correct, that in many instances the most 
 refractory have had to be thrown into irons, and often, as 
 a precaution, on nearing their own islands. (Not much like 
 a free and optional service !)
 
 68 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 One young man, wlio was in the traffic for five years, 
 told me for a positive fact, tliat the boys are kept almost, 
 or entirely, naked during the voyage ; but on coming near 
 the port of purchase, they are clothed, receiving a pair of 
 trousers, a shirt, and a hat. They are generally fed well 
 on yams, taro, and cocoa-nuts, with every other day an 
 allowance of salt beef. Only dm'ing July of this year, a 
 labour vessel was seized by a British man-of-war, when a 
 number of the boys jumped overboard and swam for the 
 shore. What was it that prevented their doing so before, 
 unless the application of force ? 
 
 5-7. Many die. The Fiji Government report of this year 
 says : " The number of Polynesian immigrants introduced 
 from the first day of January, 1878, to the last day of 
 December, 1881, into the colony is 7,137. There died out 
 of this number, during the above period, 1,270 souls, who 
 had been passed by the medical inspector as fit for inden- 
 ture. The death-rate on shipboard in 1878 was set down 
 at 9-3 per centum : and this, most probably, was under 
 the mark ; so given for purposes of policy on the part of 
 interested parties. In 1879 the rate was again high, ten 
 dying in one ship while at sea, and 56 in the hospital after 
 landing. The rate was somewhat lower in 1882 and 1883. 
 In Suva hospital, containing 26 beds, the death-rate in 
 1882 was 235-53 per mille. Out of an estimate of 5,979 
 men, 603 deaths occurred, or 108*06 per mille. In five 
 plantations, employing 554 men, 264 died. And further 
 statistics show that where few men are allotted, the death- 
 rate is considerably lower than on the large estates ; thus 
 proving that on these large estates many are lost who, if
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI t)9 
 
 they had liad tlio care and attention n'iven to the few, by 
 small planters and others, would have recovered. On the 
 Colonial Sugar Company's three Rewa plantations, 
 employing some 471, some 240, or over r)0 per cent., died. 
 And it is for to develop this sugar industry that Polyne- 
 sian labour has been imported. The boys from some 
 districts, notably New Britain and other parts, die off in 
 very large numbers. The percentage is largely dependent 
 on the native habitat of the boys, on the character of such 
 habitat, on the former manner of life, on the varieties of 
 food used, on the habits generally, on the climatic influ- 
 ences, on the moral sensibilities. It is also influenced by 
 the character and hardships of the work imposed, by the 
 treatment of overseers and others, and by the chai'acter 
 and influence of individuals with whom the labourers come 
 to be associated. 
 
 One gentleman, partner in one of the large companies, 
 assured nie that he could not account for the heavy death- 
 rate. Referring to the comparing the labour traffic to the 
 slave-trade, he quoted as instance of what might be mag- 
 nified into brutality, the treatment of the sick. Many of 
 the attacked, under fits of desperation, or during the deli- 
 rium of fever, become very violent, and have to be bound 
 by force. Such, he remarked, might be construed into 
 slave-trade oppression, whereas it is for the poor fellows' 
 own good, and for the safety of all t!ie plantation hands. 
 
 Another gentleman, and one disinterested in the traffic, 
 explained as one reason of a high death rate in some plan- 
 tations, the failure of the overseer to discriminate between 
 illness and sulkiness. And hence, too often the sick boys
 
 70 CUIES KROM FIJI 
 
 are kept at work, or out in the field too lono-. And thus, 
 when really admitted for medical treatment, tlie case is 
 hopelessly incurable. Another reason is probably the 
 fear of the Government to allow fires at night. The 
 Fijians are most sensitive to the cold, and very often sleep 
 with their backs to a big fire. Natives from islands nearer 
 the Equator must feel the lowered temperature of the 
 niglits, and doubtless not being allowed to keep fires 
 through the night, and not being clothed, get cliills, and 
 thus lay the foundation of various diseases. 
 
 Change of food, eating unripe fruit, and probably the free 
 drinking of water when hot, are causes which induce dysen- 
 tery, a disease too often fatal. But again, the medical aid 
 is sadly defective and inadequate. Ten medical men are 
 provided by Government for all the Fijis. Tliese are 
 mostly young men of little experience, and who have a 
 small salary for a heavy amount of work. There is no 
 keen competition for success and fame. It does not pay 
 to give each case the most careful daily attention. And 
 further, the villages and plantations are too distant from 
 each other to admit of jiroj^er attention. While I was in 
 Fiji, the hooping cough was very prevalent. At one large 
 township, the doctor arrived after a few day's notification. A 
 mixture was ordered, but tlie Fijians had no faith in the 
 doctor or the physic. He was too distant in manner, and 
 had failed too often in practice to secure their respect or 
 trust. Hence they had recourse to their own remedies, but 
 being a new disease, it baffled them, and the children died 
 by scores. One day I heard a most strange noise in the 
 middle of the river, and on looking, perceived that it was
 
 CRIKS FROJI FJII 
 
 71 
 
 made by children, who came up to tlie surface (they were 
 diving and swimming) to cough. The doctor's visit over, 
 .and liis duty performed, he left for a township further on. 
 And this besides his regular plantation work. And so the 
 ■ comparatively unattended children died by hundreds. It 
 may be urged, as arguments of the gentlemen before 
 alluded to prove, that the labour boys have to suffer through 
 force of circumstances. But where is the right to make 
 them suffer these things. What is tlie reason — the in- 
 ducement — the first cause which brings about all these 
 circumstances which lead to all tliis suffering. Far better 
 answered one gentleman, "to be in a civilized country than 
 killing and eating each other." So argued the old slave 
 liolders and traffickers. '' Far better to be in Ch'-istian 
 homesteads than in heathen darkness." But is the remedy 
 any better than the disease ? And what power or 
 authority does the white man claim for applying the 
 remedy ! Is it not simply a matter of amassing wealth, 
 through these poor savages, by caprice, force and cunning! 
 How far would one of these professed humanitarians move 
 in the matter if it were not for personal profit ? Who are 
 •these savages, and of what use in the world, lazy dogs and 
 <;umberers of the ground ? 
 
 Dogs they are — clogs, and Tiothing more 1 
 
 No soul to love, no spirit to adore .' 
 
 But fit for slaves, as slaves they were at first ; 
 
 No mind to ken, though kickea, and cuffed, and cursed / 
 
 Depravity ! Well may the angels weep. 
 
 And sons of men in dust and ashes keep : 
 
 While He, who counts the sparrows as they fall, 
 
 In vengeance waits to hear each feeble call.
 
 72 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 8. Ill tlio old slave trade, one redeeming feature, and 
 whieli n\illy led to the eventual elevation and improvement 
 of the iiegTO race, was the permitted, and, to a degree, 
 protected, family life. But in Polynesian labour traffic,, 
 family life is destroyed. During one period of immigra- 
 tion, as calculated, 1 S women were imported to between 
 five and six thousand men ; and the full average propor- 
 tion Avas a little over 9 per cent., as women to men. This, 
 of course, is damaging to the races, and damaging to the 
 niorals. And thus, under this heading, the old slave trade 
 was really less baneful than the labour traffic. It may be 
 urged, in palliation, that the men chosen are mostly 
 young, and that at the end of three years, they are free to 
 return. But they are often induced to repeat the term of 
 service, and so to pass the flower of their existence away 
 from their kindred, and alone. 
 
 9. 1^0 doubt, many stay a second term of service 
 because they are well fed and fairly well treated. Many 
 also fear the return voyage, and their reception in their 
 native land. If landed away from their own villages, they 
 are often killed and eaten, and as they are not always 
 adepts at remembering the way by sea to their own parts, 
 or as it may not suit captains to lengthen the voyage, this 
 sometimes happens, and it is certainly not inviting to be 
 returned to a stranger village as provender. Again, doubt- 
 less, many remain because they do not like the warlike life 
 they have to lead at home, and because, on the whole, they 
 really prefer life as labour boys. At one house, where- 
 I was staying, was a boy of this class. He was naturally 
 thoufi-htful. He was a native of the Solomon Islands. He
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 73' 
 
 was a usoFul and quiet servant, rarely needing to be told a' 
 second time. One day he was sent with me to assist in. 
 collecting. As soon as I had succeeded in showing what 
 and how to collect, he displayed great acumen and dili- 
 gence, and found a large number and variety of specimens. 
 He could not stand chaff — the Fijians and other Poly- 
 nesians, chaffed him as they passed, I presume on his 
 position as labour boy. He showed great agitation at 
 times, and, at last, put down his load and gave chase to 
 three or four Fijian youths who had impudently saluted him. 
 On I the next Sunday, he was one of fifteen Solomon 
 Islanders who had a hand to hand fight, the cause 
 of the quarrel being over a woman. The police stepped 
 in, and gave this poor fellow two months' imprison- 
 ment. Speaking some time before about a native 
 meke or dance, he stated his views ; that such was folly 
 and waste of time ; that it needed long practice to prepare^ 
 and did no good when given. And this man a heathen, 
 and, before captured by the labour vessel, a great warrior. 
 And to avoid the troubles of warfare, and the follies or 
 waste of time, as he styled it, over other heathen customs, 
 he re-engaged for a second term of service. His mate and 
 special friend, who had also engaged for a second period, 
 was even more quiet and docile, not having such a hasty 
 temper. Both of these boys only needed the elevating 
 influences of the gospel of Christianity to make them 
 thorouglily good, useful members of society, and to civili- 
 zation. But although, on the whole, labour boys are well- 
 treated, the term must be qualified. A farmer treats his 
 horses, and cattle, and dogs well if he feed them well, leave nO'
 
 '7i CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 scars on the liide, and do not work them to deatli. But many 
 may be the blows dealt to the horse — many tlie kicks 
 applied to the doy. Tet, on the whole, they are treated 
 Avell. And so the Polynesians and Fijians may, in like 
 manner, and doubtless are, on the whole, well treated. 
 
 According to the Argus issue of July 5th, 1884, the 
 Agent- General of Fiji says : — " Assaults on the persons 
 of Polynesians are very numerous, and should be firmly 
 •discountenanced, especially in cases of new immigrants, 
 with whom apparent idleness or stupidity may frequently 
 be the result of weakness or disease. I have little doubt, 
 from my experience of Polynesians, that death, in 
 the case of more than one immigi'ant, has been greatly 
 accelerated by assaults ; though it would be most difficult 
 to produce sufficient evidence to secure a conviction for 
 manslaughter, the effects j^roduced being exliibited rather 
 in the form of mental despondency than actual bodily 
 injury." Thei-e is law^ for tlie Polynesian ; yet, since there is 
 so much formality as too often to deter a white man from 
 having resort thereto, how is it any wonder that the diffi- 
 culties deter savages, and especially savages who do not 
 comprehend or understand its meaning or provisions. But 
 with this drawback, in 1882 forty-eight complaints were 
 lodged against employers, resulting in 38 convictions. And 
 these, by savages against nominal Christians and civilized 
 men ! As stated before, one of my first sights in Fiji, onland- 
 ing was to see a Government official kick a Fijian. The 
 official had on light, 'soft boots, and so left no mark for tlie 
 law to lay hold of him. But tliere is a form of insult 
 which the Polynesian feels more severely than physical
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 75 
 
 torture, and tliat is cold and indifferent treatment, satire, 
 and calumny. And here the law, speaking generally, 
 cannot interfere. A master may treat his labom* boy as a 
 dog, and treat him well physically, but yet treat him badly 
 in a moral sense. And speaking generally, the master does 
 not seek to elevate his men, either by bringing them under 
 the influences of Christianity, elementary education, or 
 otherwise. All he wants is the largest amount of manual 
 labour out of them ; and, too often, he not only sets an 
 example of selfishness, but also of gross immorality. 
 
 10. Often, on board ship, the boys of tribes at vari- 
 ance, or even boys of the same tribe or township quarrel ; 
 ■and at times force has to be used to quell the disturb- 
 ance. And, on the plantations, disputes must naturally 
 frequently arise. The quarrelling parties oftentimes fall back 
 on their old tactics, and threaten to use knives or other 
 instruments to hand. One overseer told me he had had to 
 put down such disturbances by force, and by threatening 
 firearms. One man he had to cow by felling him to the 
 ground. In 1882 the masters brought forward 97 com- 
 plaints against Polynesians, and the convictions were 57. 
 But a single thought will show" to the reflective mind the 
 little likelihood, excepting in severe cases, of the masters 
 troubling to appeal to tlie law. A cuff or gentle kick is 
 often practically the more efficacious, and how can the 
 offender appeal against this when he himself was tlie 
 aggressor. Thus, there is a vast amount of the inner life 
 of this sad traffic which is hid len from the world. 
 
 11. Not only are the lal)our buys detained, and kept 
 practically prisoners until the expiration of their term of
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 76' 
 
 service, but tliey are under continuous Government super- 
 vision ; and, at -the expiration of their term, are not free 
 to live as tliey like. They must be subjected to a vast 
 amount of red-tapeisni — again agree to a further term of 
 indenture, or be shi])})ed back to their islands. And even 
 the Fijians, wlio, as Britisli subjects, are by national tradi- 
 tion and rights free, cannot leave the islands of their own 
 free will and accord. If they want to leave, they must get 
 a European, with property, to be bound for tlieni in the 
 sum of £50 or £l()(i for a period of six or twelve months, 
 when, if they wisli a prolonged term, tliey must return to 
 Fiji and go through the same official overhauling as 
 before. Now, we can understand the fear of Government 
 lest ill-principled men should take these simple-minded 
 away people for selfish motives only. And we could under- 
 stand a wise Government seeing it a duty to stop any 
 such emigration, if [or tlie purpose of slavery or rapine. 
 But when a family who has treated a native well is will- 
 ing, by the desire of tliat native, to take him as a servant 
 to Sydney or other Australian colonies, why make him 
 and treat him as a slave. In Sydney, and in Australia 
 generally, there is the protection of the law, and more 
 righteously than in Fiji. What, then, is there to fear in 
 allowing the native, of his own accord, visiting distant 
 lands. 
 
 12. The services demanded of the labour boys are- 
 manual and domestic. Field labour is scarce — domestic 
 servants cannot be obtained ; and, if at all, at a high 
 figure. And so these poor savages, so called, are required
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 77 
 
 rand pressed into service by tlie more powerful and knowing 
 whites. 
 
 13. Many planters, and others employing native labor, 
 will openly avow that these men are no higher than dogs ; 
 and, as before stated, believing, or feigning to believe 
 such, they treat tliem discourteously, and often badly. 
 " See," say these men, "there is no gratitude in the black- 
 fellow. He is a liar, thief, hypocrite, cheat, and villain." 
 And, if true, then thankful, truthful, honest, straightfor- 
 ward, and respectable civilized white man could not resjiect 
 such. But are these sweeping declamations true ? And 
 is civilized man thankful, truthful, straiglitforward, and 
 respectable ? 
 
 As far as experience teaches, man all over the world is 
 born in sin and shapen in iniquity The animal, or instinc- 
 tive, is naturally selfish. And it is only philosophy which 
 can raise him above these low degradations. And it is 
 only the Christian philosophy which in any degree can 
 purify his heart, as well as raise his moral trme and 
 character. Now, the English have been trained in this 
 philosophy for generations, and yet we see the most glar- 
 ing vice, the most clever frauds and wholesale SAvindles, 
 the most loathsome and debasing national drunkenness. 
 Civilized society is one continuous struggle for the pre-emi- 
 nence. Thousands make haste to lie rich by grinding down 
 their dependents and fellows. White lies, and especially in 
 trade, are fashionable. And looking at the professing 
 Christian community — those who, in tlieir respective 
 churches, profess to have turned their backs upon the 
 world and its fashions — where are the consecrated millions
 
 78 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 for carrying the gospel to every nation, and people, and 
 tongue ? Where are the hundreds of thousands spent 
 rigliteously in giving employment to, and in relieving the 
 wants of, tlie poor, the destitute, and the sick, and in 
 raising the people generally, socially, morally, and intellec- 
 tually. So strong is the animal selfishness of man, that 
 with rare exceptions, the Christianity of eighteen centu- 
 ries has produced a race, who put a small coin on the- 
 collection plate, or who, after a sensational or emotional 
 speech, may dole out a half-crown or a guinea in support 
 of the grandest objects ever brought before their notice. 
 The English owe everytliing to Christianity ; and yet, how 
 faults abound ! 
 
 But turn to Fiji — behold Melanesia. Naturally sunken 
 to murder and cannibalism and the lowest degradation !• 
 In the stone age. But Christianity comes in, and the 
 Fijians and islanders where the glorious philosophy is 
 carried, give up their murder and cannibalism. Some 
 may still lie, some may cheat. The lying and cheating 
 and thieving is most prevalent in tlie white settlements. 
 This is acknowledged even by the police authorities. In 
 my journey inland, I left my belongings loose in the 
 canoe, and often unguarded, yet I lost nothing. But in 
 the settlements, these children imitate bad white men. 
 Nevertheless a very large proportion are seeking to obey 
 the moral law. Look at the Sabbath in these islands of 
 Polynesia, where the gospel has penetrated, a larger per 
 centage of the black population keep the Sabbath, and 
 worship in the sanctuary, than is the case with the white 
 men. And in the matter of barter, these blacks are but
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 79* 
 
 as cliiklren, only lately having any civilized ideas at all of 
 commercial relations and of relative value. And what an 
 example the white man sets ! On my inland journey I 
 had to buy rations of biscuits. I received double the 
 number for my money, the furthest inland, and where the 
 item of carriage was vastly the heaviest. And repeatedly 
 as it is well known, the whites get a heavy price for poor 
 articles and give a mere nothing for valuable returns. In 
 one instance a man beginning with a bag of salt, and 
 bartering for yams, at length by trading, obtained huudreds 
 of pounds worth of curiosities and goods during his visits- 
 to some hill tribes. And naturally the blacks, seeing that 
 the whites only look upon such dealings as smart business 
 tact, retaliate. And as they begin to understand the 
 value of things, and to recognise the commercial acumen,, 
 they naturally seek to imitate. But as a whole, while in 
 Fiji, I found the dealings of the blacks more righteous,. 
 and less grasping arid unfair, than those of the whites. 
 In judging these children in intelligence, let him that is- 
 without sin, cast the first stone. It is too often as a 
 gentleman proved in Fiji that those to complain are the- 
 greatest sinners. A Chief was grumbling that the 
 Government had not discovered and punished a white- 
 offender for assault and violence. But answered the white 
 man, they instituted enquiries and could not find the' 
 criminal. Yes, he replied, we know all about it. It did 
 not suit them to find out. If it had been a black fellow, 
 he would soon have been discovered and punished. The- 
 wliite men are only deceivers and liars. After furtlier dis- 
 cussion and only likely to lead to high words or feelings,.
 
 80 CRIES FROM FIJI, 
 
 the white man replied. When people live near and see 
 a bad example continuously before them, is it any Avonder 
 that they copy and do likewise. Now if I lived here I 
 might imitate the bad example and should then l)ecome a 
 liar and a rogue. And what besides can you expect from 
 the whites, who you say have so acted, and who live so 
 close to yourself. The chief was noted as a black leg and 
 a scoundrel, and at once perceived the home thrust, and 
 with a loud laugh was glad to close the conversation. 
 
 As to the question of hypocrisy, levelled at the blacks, 
 who profess Christianity. In fair play, it should be remem- 
 bered that these people have just emerged from the lowest 
 degradation. It should also be remembered as before 
 stated, that in intellect and mental capacities they 
 are on an average with the English public schoolboy. 
 Why then judge severely. I was once at a meeting of a 
 religious body, where there were some children, who had 
 professed sorrow for sin, and a desire to lead new lives. Tlie 
 service was somewhat tiresome and heavy — and two or 
 three of these children began to play with a handkerchief, 
 folding it up as a doll and in other ways trifling and 
 forgetting the sanctity of the service. But shall I there- 
 fore at once damn these children ! Because they Avere 
 inexperienced and so not on their guard, and. because the 
 flesh was weak and the intellectual faculties feeble, am I 
 to say that those children had no desire to live a good 
 life ? Rise from this, a step higher, and compare self — 
 who never wanders in church — who is never frivilous — 
 who, in fact, has kept the moral law to the letter ! There
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 81 
 
 is none righteous — no, not one. But judsfe these Poly- 
 nesians by the spirit of their intents and conduct, and in a 
 very large percentage it will be found that they are often 
 a pattern to more highly favoured nations. Their feeble- 
 ness, as children, is against them. Like children, they 
 often lack moral courage to stand satire, and too often, 
 under the satire and bad example of the whites, they forget 
 their religion, and backslide. And as to the charge of 
 ingratitude : As mentioned before, the more refined pas- 
 sions are not perfected in children ; neither in Fijians. 
 And the expression of tlie same in adult Europeans 
 depends largely upon the constitutional temperament. 
 Some are emotional and demonstrative ; others are philo- 
 sophical and cold. Some are thoughtful and reflective ; 
 others are flighty and superficial. But taking civilized and 
 Christianized people all round, how often, comparatively 
 speaking, do we find real gratitude ? Politeness and 
 refined acknowledgment often give the lie to the feelings 
 of the heart. And it still too frequently is, as it was 
 eighteen centuries ago. Ten lepers were healed, and one 
 returned to give thanks ; but where wei*e the nine ? Let 
 the philosopher look at the Fijian, then at the English 
 public school-boy, and then at himself ; and let him who 
 is blameless, ever thankful and righteous before God and 
 man, blame and denunciate the Fijian. 
 
 14. Often, in this labour traffic, blood is shed. Num- 
 bers of cases never come to light, being, in the mutual 
 interests of all concerned, hushed up. 
 
 One young man in the trade related to me an instance 
 in point. He said : "I don't like the missionaries ; they
 
 82 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 are no good." Somewhat surprised, I asked why. " Be- 
 cause," he said, '' I was in a boat's party, and we visited a 
 distant part of the coast, from where we were anchored, to 
 buy four boys on a Sabbath. Tlie people of the missionary 
 village, near where we anchored, were highly indignant 
 with us for trading, and on the Sabbath. In the evening 
 of the day, we were rowing in a boat for the shore, towards 
 the Christian village, when we were met by a party who 
 fired at us, wounding me in the leg. And we were obliged 
 to return to the ship to bind the boys we had got, to pre- 
 vent them jumping overboard ; and we had to sail away 
 to prevent an attempt at rescue. Now," he said, " what 
 was that for missionary teaching?" I think my readers, 
 unbiassed, will say, " Serve the traders right." They had 
 by foul means — buying from a chief — got possession of 
 four of the islanders. They had openly made light of, and 
 trangressed the keeping, of the Sabbath. And now they 
 were adding insult to injury by making for the Christian 
 village to get hold of more labour men. Trading and 
 seeking to decoy or kidnap on the Sabbath evening. Was 
 it any wonder that these poor fellows, believing to defend 
 their sons and neighbours, and angry because of the trans- 
 gressing of the Sabbath, should have recourse to arms. 
 But such is not Christian teaching. Nevertheless, many 
 would urge that, as a nation or a village, they would be 
 justified, even on the Sabbath, in repelling the man- 
 stealers. Probably other tactics might have been adopted 
 successfully ; but what will not a man do when excited, 
 on the spur of the moment, to defend himself, and those 
 near and dear to him, from danger. .Atall events, the
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 83 
 
 white men were the aggressors, and under England's flag. 
 
 This young man stated that on all voyages, as a rule, 
 one or more lives were lost by firearms. He said : " I 
 went through the love of adventure, and I have been 
 engaged in it for some years ; and it is, to all intents and 
 purposes, truly the slave trade. In it, he had been 
 wounded three times — once in the foot and twice in the 
 leg. 
 
 Another labour man on his death bed regretted his evil 
 deeds, and only desired " to live to publicly expose the 
 villainous slave trade." 
 
 In the official report of the Fiji Government for the 
 last year — occur some passages thus — 
 
 Shots were fired over the head of two recruits who were 
 attempting to «scape from the boats of the Lord of the 
 Isles, and a female native who was in the bush was 
 alleged to have been killed.' '" Curio," the boat steerer, 
 and two Fijians from the Taviuni were killed at Santo, 
 and on enquiry before a Deputy of the High Commis- 
 sioner, the strong presumption appeared, that the incen- 
 tive arose out of Curios tampering with native women !' 
 ' A second case of the foolish use of firearms took plac« 
 on board another vessel. In this instance, though several 
 native women were greatly frightened by it, it was satis- 
 factorily established that it was improbable ( ! ! ) that any 
 more serious result had been occasioned.' 
 
 Now these three reports put the thing very mildly. 
 The use of firearms simply to frighten a few native women! 
 Perhaps one woman killed ! Simply Curio's tampering 
 with the native women !
 
 84 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 At all events, it tloes allow that with all the legislation, 
 with all the supervision, lives were lost by violence. 
 Murder was committed. The poor captives did try to 
 escape. And no doubt this is and has been oftener the 
 case than otherwise. 
 
 And to render the thing much more terrible and dan- 
 gerous, a bounty has been giren in the shape of a musket 
 — and the wages of the men have been paid by a musket, 
 an axe, and a few minor trifles — and so a number of fire- 
 arms have been gradually introduced into the recruiting 
 grounds, until the natives have felt strong enough to 
 attack inland tribes, and even to fight the man stealer 
 and pirate. 
 
 But doubtless many die from violence after capture, 
 and the matter is hood winked. One sailor without shame 
 acknowledged to killing a labour boy off New Caledonia. 
 Two of these boys were talking and insolent. The one 
 told his mate not to do what he was told, as the white 
 man would not dare to touch him. Hearing this and 
 understanding, the sailor ordered him to fill up the cracks 
 between the boards with tar and oakum. He feigned to 
 attempt. The sailor showed him how he wanted the work 
 done and again ordered him to do it. He blankly refused. 
 With that, the sailor daubed the tar brush across his face. 
 She black immediately flew at him, seized a piece of wood 
 and struck at him. He warded off the blow, but received 
 a sacond on the thigh which knocked him down. Re- 
 covering himself, he wrested the piece of wood off the 
 black, and belaboured him with it, and in doing so, knocked 
 him backwards on to the side of the vessel. The fall
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 85 
 
 broke his back. Perceiving the state of affairs, the white 
 man shot his antagonist dead. The matter was reported 
 to New Caledonia, but a plea of self-defence was argued, 
 and a high official said, you did the proper thing, if you 
 had not succeeded, he would have had your blood. 
 
 The above speaks for itself. If it had been a bona fide 
 master and man engagement, the servant would not have 
 been insolent, and the master would not have been insult- 
 ing. As it was, it was simply one example, of evils insepa- 
 rable from the veritable slave trade. But, in this instance, 
 they were pushed to extremes. 
 
 As to the labour yessels : Only a short time ago, one 
 was stopped by the Government as un seaworthy ; and 
 another I saw myself specially prepared for the trade, was 
 simply a fraud and a swindle. But another evil presents 
 itself in this slave trade which did not in the olden time. 
 As one of the notes of the Fiji Government report states : 
 " Two cases of time-expired labourers being landed at the 
 wrong spot were reported during the season." Then it 
 adds : " How difficult it is, from the ignorance of the 
 expirees, to guard against this mistake." Of course it is ; 
 and the wonder is that so many ever do get back. Now, 
 is it possible for men who perhaps have never been to sea 
 before, or, at all events, rarely far from their own village 
 to tell after three or more years the exact spot of coast 
 where their native village is situated. But the Govern- 
 ment report does not, we think, give the outcome of this 
 mistake — the probability of being killed or eaten ; or, if 
 this fate be escaped, the chances of a perpetual slavery for 
 life. Now, who in their sober senses can call this traffic
 
 86 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 a righteous commercial dealing. Thousands are obtained, 
 transported, and subjected to bondage. A large number 
 die in the getting ; a large number die during the voyage ; 
 a very large proportion die on the plantations ; many die 
 by violence vphen again transhipped to their own group of 
 islands ; and few, comparatively speaking, return home 
 safe and sound to their race and kindred. 
 
 Morever, by the traffic, diseases are intercommunicated, 
 and thus the physical prowess of the race is lowered and 
 degenerated. A Fijian chief remarked a short time ago : 
 " The English are killing us. We are all dying off, and 
 will soon be gone. They bring diseases, measles, hooping 
 cough, and contagious diseases ; and they introduce Poly- 
 nesians, who bring in and give us other (notably skin) 
 diseases ; and we are all dying." And when it is remem- 
 bered the tliousands who died from measles, and the hun- 
 dreds cut off this very year by hooping cough, and the 
 damage to many by contagious and skia diseases intro- 
 duced, is it any wonder that he so cried ? 
 
 The numbers who die, and are thus prevented returning 
 home, naturally opens the eyes of the various islanders. It 
 too often causes suspicion of foul play ; so that now it 
 takes a long time for a labour vessel to recruit. The boys 
 are not so easily caught with chaff ; and the large intro- 
 duction of firearms leads them to be more independent ; 
 while the wrongs inflicted, directly or indirectly, by the 
 whites lead to retaliation. So that, during the last few 
 years, we have continually been horrified by the ncAvs of 
 terrible massacres of white men. 
 
 But further : This slave trade, as that of old, by
 
 CRIER FROM FIJI 87 
 
 the muskets given and earned, and, at times, by actual 
 assistance from tlie whites, enables certain tribes or 
 ambitious chiefs to fight against and lay desolate large 
 numbers of peaceable villages. And such devastation is 
 followed by wholesale murder and cannibalism. 
 
 The following, Avhich appears in tlie July papers of this 
 year, proves the above assertion : — 
 
 " By the arrival of the schooner George Noble from the 
 Gilbert Group, news has been received of a brutal outrage 
 which has been committed on the natives of I^ai Monte 
 Island, by a chief named Abaniama and his followers. A 
 number of the Nai Monte islanders are said to have been 
 killed in the conflict, and the stores of English traders 
 seized. The crew of a British schooner, belonging to 
 Auckland, have assisted the chief of the Abamama in the 
 affair." 
 
 And it is chiefly to prevent such outrages that philan- 
 throjjic Britain ought to throw a protectorate over the 
 South Sea Islanders. 
 
 Again, in the papers of August Gtli, 1884, we liave 
 another terrible revelation : 
 
 " The mission schooner Ellengowan arrived at Port 
 Moresby to-day, bringing news from New Guinea to I'^th 
 July. On the 9th July, the schooner met with H.M.S. 
 gunboat Swinger, at anchor at an island off East Cape. 
 The Queensland labour vessel. Forest King, was there, 
 and had been inspected by tlie Swinger's officers, and her 
 papers passed, no interpreter being obtainable. On the 
 mission boat coming alongside with an interpreter, it was 
 found that out of fifty men and boys on board, sixteen
 
 88 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 had escaped in the night by swimming. The magistrate 
 reported this to the commander of the gunboat, who sent 
 the second lieutenant with a crew to take the vessel a 
 prisoner to Cooktown. It is reported that thirty-eight 
 natives have been shot by the crews of the labour vessels 
 on the main land. Besides the Forest King, the Clara, 
 Hojjeful, and Lizzie had been there. A village had been 
 burnt, and a canoe capsized, and the occupants captured. 
 From one vessel twenty-four natives had attempted to swim 
 ashore, three of whom were drowned. In all cases, even 
 where the natives have voluntarily shipped, the engage- 
 ment was understood to be for three moons only. The 
 Swinger towed the EUengowan for three days round Milne 
 Bay and the Engineer Group, and then proceeded alone 
 to Metape, New Britain, to join the H.M.S. Diamond. 
 The natives, so far, had proved friendly, but were suspi- 
 cious.'' 
 
 A Queensland labour vessel, and not Fijian. But all 
 one system ; only up to the present time under a more 
 lenient supervision in Queensland than in Fiji ; and so less 
 vigilance exercised to give matters a legal, respectable 
 appearance. And the papers passed by a man-of-war ! 
 And how often are the ship's papers passed, and villany 
 legalised, by the Government agents ; bribery accomplish- 
 ing what impudence cannot. But even the irregularities 
 which the Fijian Government do stop, all prove the same 
 nefarious dealing. And how can we expect otherwise than 
 nefarious dealings in a nefarious traflfic ? What irregula- 
 rities, almost in a sentence ! Village burned ; people cap- 
 sized out of a canoe, and captured ; the labour boys
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 89 
 
 swimming ashore when the relieving man-of-war and 
 interpreter came to the rescue. Why then, and not before ? 
 What had been the kind and amount of force used to 
 detain them ? For it must be apparent to the most casual 
 observer that these poor fellows embraced the first oppor- 
 tunity that offered for regaining their liberty. But more 
 casualties — natives drowned ; natives shot ; natives de- 
 cewed ; and, on other islands, the natives hitherto friendly, 
 but now becoming suspicious. And was it any wonder ? 
 This labour vessel, without any interpreter, and so with- 
 out the means or power to barter, had got together a 
 number of ignorant, wild savages. How could she do this, 
 excepting by kidnapping and entrapping ? 
 
 A letter from the first mate of a labour vessel, and for 
 five years in the labour trade, says : " There has never 
 yet been a true book written on ' the slave trade.' I say 
 I have been in the trade a long time, and know that what 
 they call the ' labour trade ' is nothing but the old ' slave 
 trade^ as they bribe them into the boat under false pre- 
 tences. Often tliey jump into the water to try and swim 
 ashore, for which they are caught and put in irons. Auck- 
 land, New Zealand. — (Signed) Thomas C. Kerry." 
 
 Shortly after the above occurrences, we read again : 
 " The labour scliooner Ethel was ordered back from the 
 South Seas by the Government agent on the ground of 
 illegally recruiting, firing on the natives, ill-using the 
 passengers, &c." In fact she had been out for some months 
 on this diabolical mission before she was thus ordered 
 back. 
 
 Such like recitals might be multiplied. They speak for
 
 90 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 themselves. Philosophically and righteously, only one 
 judgment can be deduced. England's flag has been stained, 
 torn down, and trampled upon, by these impudent slave 
 traffickers of the South Seas. 
 
 Future Policy, or the Remedies. 
 
 It is easy, comparatively, to mark out national faults 
 and failings, but it is a difficult matter to suggest and 
 create reforms. Where various and varied interests have 
 to be taken into consideration, and where these interests 
 appear more or less to clash, then it needs collective 
 wisdom and experience to steer the State barque safely 
 over all the shoals and quicksands which threaten to 
 destroy. 
 
 We have in the South Pacific a number of beautiful 
 islands, peopled by races who, in intelligence and know- 
 ledge, are on a parallel with the English public schoolboy. 
 These races, by nature, have sunk to the lowest animalism, 
 degradation, and vice. Since humanity, as a whole, is a 
 common humanity, it behoves philanthropic and civilized 
 nations, if possible, to seek to raise and reform these 
 peoples. It is only possible to reform such fallen people, 
 or, in fact, any morally and socially sunken people, by the 
 means of two powers — fear or love. The former may 
 change the surface, but only the latter can touch the 
 heart. The gospel of civilization is helpless to succeed 
 by means of the forces of love. Selfishness is specially 
 the characteristic of the civilization of the nineteenth 
 century. Commercial competition is too keen to be the 
 pioneer of love, and the pioneers under the flag of
 
 CRIES FROM FJII 91 
 
 civilization are, for the most part, commercial adventurers. 
 They have no powers or forces by which to apply the 
 influences of love. It is against selfish interests to 
 crucify nature and self, by the disinterested propoundings 
 and exhibitions of love. Self suggests to profit upon the 
 ignorance of the savage, by keeping him in the dark as 
 to even a knowledge of the fair value of goods, judged 
 according to the circumstances of the case, and the 
 relations of the parties interested. Men, as civilized 
 commercials, are not very likely to invest their thousands, 
 for the elevation and advancement of the heathen South 
 Sea islanders. From a civilized and worldly view it 
 would not pay, and, in the wisdom of this world, a man 
 so to invest his thousands would be a fanatic and a fool. 
 
 It would be but idle words, to urge the savage to 
 imitate commercial civilized ways, and to give up cannibal 
 and other evil practices. He would not see the wisdom 
 of the argument. He would not see the advantages to be 
 gained. He would see no good motive, but only fear and 
 selfishness in the civilized man thus addressing him. 
 
 Moreover, a great proportion of the pioneers of civiliza- 
 tion, being adventurers, have little character or position 
 to lose. Excepting in murder and cannibalism, they are 
 too often greater blacklegs than the barbarians them- 
 selves, and hence any oratory or recommendations from 
 such to reform, would be simply lost on the hearers. 
 
 CiviUzation may conquer barbarians by fear ; but it 
 is powerless to impose rule and dominion over such 
 savages excepting by force. It is powerless to pioneer. 
 
 This is well iUustrated on the squatting stations in
 
 92 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 Queensland. One gentleman, who had bought a station, 
 was continuously being annoyed by raids made by the 
 AustraHan aboriginals on his cattle. At last matters 
 came to this issue : he must either lose all or else kill 
 the blacks. Conscience would not allow him to do the 
 latter, and so he had to sell his station at a loss. 
 
 Another gentleman sought to show his good intentions, 
 by giving parties of blacks a couple of bullocks whenever 
 they visited his station. One day a larger party came, 
 to feast and make merry. He gave them four or five 
 bullocks. After the feast they became extremely excited, 
 and appeared as if possessed with demons. They rushed 
 forth and wantonly speared 150 head of cattle ; and for 
 no purpose, as they simply left them dead where struck 
 down. The issue of civilization, under such circumstances, 
 is that the whites too often become so exasperated, that 
 Lhey kill off these savages whenever they can ; and, 
 consequently, the Australian blacks are fast disappearing. 
 
 In fact, the only successful Tnethod that could be 
 adopted by pioneers, simply as civilized, would be the 
 rifle and the sword. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that the rifle and the sword may 
 strike terror for the time, and in the immediate district ; 
 but they will not prevent revenge, and revenge in the 
 nature of the savage is the strongest passion, and means 
 blood for blood ; and revenge, without power and 
 courage, means cunning and snake-in-the-grass scheming 
 and treachery. Hence, the only way for civilization com- 
 pletely to subdue uncivilized thousands, is to spread terror
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 93 
 
 everywhere by fire and sword, and to tyrannically hold the 
 residue in bondage and slavery. 
 
 On the other hand, it has been proved again and again 
 that the Gospel of Christianity can and does transform 
 the savages. There are present no selfish commercial 
 interests to thwart the magic power of the forces of love. 
 The great secret of love's success is self-sacrifice, and in 
 heralding the Gospel of Christianity men and women have 
 to sacrifice self, while they proclaim and lead the intel- 
 ligences to a higher and heavenly Sacrifice. And thus 
 fortified, they go invincible as a host, until the heathen 
 yield to the power of the lotu, and give up their vile customs 
 and their debasing national sins. 
 
 And this is not mere assertion. In Fiji the power of 
 love, as manifested under the banner of the Christian cross, 
 has ridded the islands of murder and cannibalism, and 
 transformed the lowest villains into a peaceable. God-fearing 
 people. Rotumah, Samoa, Tonga, all prove the wonderful 
 power of this invincible, irresistible, heaven-born agency ; 
 and, wherever, in the Pacific, Christian missions have been 
 established in philosophic, self-sacrificing philanthropy, the 
 same results have invariably followed. 
 
 But note the contrary in New Zealand. There, as in 
 other groups of islands. Missionaries of the Gospel of 
 Peace were the first permanent visitors and settlers. 
 Success attended their efforts. Hundreds of the natives 
 were beginning to lotu, and as a proof of their sincerity 
 may be narrated an incident as experienced by the Rev. 
 S. Ironside, one of the pioneer missionaries to New 
 Zealand. At a certain village, where he was the pioneer,
 
 94 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 and the first wliite man to penetrate inland, the people 
 in large numbers joined the Church. More than three 
 hundred were admitted in a single year, and that after 
 several months on trial as catechumens. The British 
 and Foreign Bible Society sent out the first issue of 
 New Testaments, printed in the Maori language. Mr. 
 Ironside distributed them among the natives. 
 
 One morning, some short time after, he was awakened 
 early by a native urging his presence. Having dressed, 
 he went to see why he was wanted. The man took 
 him outside, and pointed to the hills. There he beheld 
 a stream of people making towards the settlement. 
 Again the native bade him look towards the sea, and, 
 from a distant part of the coast, he beheld a number 
 of canoes also making for the settlement. His astonish- 
 ment and curiosity were aroused, but the native simply 
 bade him to wait in patience. After a time the different 
 parties arrived, laden with foods, pigs, potatoes, and 
 other articles of commerce. They proceeded to the 
 Mission premises, and there deposited their loads. Then, 
 getting their missionary, Mr. Ironside, to come and 
 inspect them, they told him that they wished to pay the 
 good and thoughtful men in England, who had sent out 
 to them the Word of Life, and so they had brought 
 the goods, that he might sell them and send the money 
 to London. The goods were sold, and realized £35, 
 a sum more than sufficient to pay for all the 500 
 Testaments. And this was the spontaneous offering of 
 newly-reformed cannibal barbarians. Love begat love. 
 Love created gratitude. Love vitalized the intelligence.
 
 OKIES FROM FIJI 95 
 
 Love kindled in the hearts of these rescued savages a 
 fire which burst into hallowed flame, reaching unto 
 heaven. And to produce such a glorious result, civilization 
 would strive for ever and in vain. 
 
 Too early, civilization did come to New Zealand — too 
 early because before the people (excepting in a small 
 minority, and in favoured localities) were Christianized. 
 And what was the issue ? Selfish interests warred, and 
 eventually civilization had recourse to power of arms. 
 And in the two ISTew Zealand wars the civilized man, as 
 the stronger, crushed the weaker, and from that period 
 to the present, difficulties have been continuously arising 
 between the two peoples. And the Maoris were not 
 conquered by love, but simply kept in subjection 
 by fear. Civilization here had the most favourable 
 opportunities to transform the Maoris into a peaceable, 
 civilized people. And how miserable the failure ! And 
 how more apparent the failure, after the previous 
 successes of Christianizing effort ! 
 
 And in the islands of the Pacific, civilization is power- 
 less to reform the cannibal, the murderer, the thief, and 
 the vicious ; and if civilization have to accomplish the 
 work of transforming, it can only succeed by the aid of 
 physical force, and by a transformation from the 
 barbarian and free to that of the bond and slave. And 
 such will not tend to elevate. Civilization may by such 
 means gain the power to insti-uct and give knowledge, but 
 knowledge with oppression and discontent is dangerous. 
 And civihzation without the Gospel of Christianity means 
 a wider latitude for selfishness and villany, than would
 
 96 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 eveu be decent at home, and a substituting the civiliza- 
 tion polite vices, for the ruder and coarser barbarian evils. 
 Witness French civilization in New Caledonia, where 
 are evils unfit to mention, and where the national 
 ting is disgraced by encouraging the natives to capture 
 and destroy Frenchmen — escaped convicts ! Since then, 
 it is to the interests of a common humanity that murder, 
 cannibalism, and internecine wars should cease. It 
 behoves England to see if it be in her power to 
 prevent or mitigate such evils. Civilization alone 
 is too feeble to reform these fallen races, 
 therefore, before civilization be allowed to lay hold on 
 these islands, the Gospel of Christianity should be 
 heralded from shore to shore, and from island to island, 
 and this as a matter of expediency as well as of righteous- 
 ness. Whether England believe in Christianity or not, 
 facts are facts, and wise men and able politicians will 
 accept facts as such, and frame their actions accordingly. 
 And since Christianity can and does tame the wild 
 savage, and thus renders him harmless and humane, 
 while civihzation is powerless to reform or to better his 
 condition, therefore it is wisdom and philosophy to apply 
 the restorative for this human woe. But it may be 
 answered : how does the matter affect England, and what 
 right has she to interfere? It does affect her, and that in 
 many ways. As the leading Christian nation, it is her 
 duty to use her best endeavours to raise fallen humanity, 
 and to prevent war and massacre. As the home of 
 freedom and philanthropy, it behoves her to spread her 
 wings of protection and goodwill over the weak and
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 97 
 
 oppressed. As a commercial nation, it behoves her to rid 
 the South Seas of pirates and man-stealers, rogues, and 
 vagabonds. As a nation of colonies, it behoves her, 
 in the true interests of her Australian possessions, and 
 through them her own interests, to throw a protectorate 
 over all the islands of the South Pacific. This is 
 necessary to the preventing other nations officiously 
 interfering, and introducing all the evils of a mere 
 civilization. It is also necessary to prevent the unjust, 
 rapacious dealings of many so-called traders, and the 
 unrighteous acts of the labour traffickers. Look at the 
 effects of a mere civilization. Look at the sensual vices of 
 Noumea, the Sodom of the South Pacific. Is it any 
 wonder that within the last fifty years the native 
 inhabitants of New Caledonia have decreased fifty per 
 cent ? And wherefore this French colonization — not for 
 the national honour, not for the national advancement of 
 France, but as a cesspool wherein to throw all her 
 abominations and villany, and that close to the doors of 
 England's largest colonies — Australian, Tasmanian, and 
 New Zealand colonies. And as contiguity to a seething 
 cesspool means an exposure to deadly disease germs, 
 so the contiguity of the Australian colonies, to this abode 
 of vices and crime, must mean the inoculating the 
 healthy atmosphere of these southern climes with noxious 
 germs. And hence we see English adventurers growing 
 rich by popularizing vice, and seducing simple-minded 
 unsuspicious girls, from the colonies, to the lusts and 
 villanies of these Frenchmen ; while the criminal classes 
 of the colonies are augmented and vilified by the addition
 
 98 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 of numbers of escaped convicts and libe'res. If, then, 
 one civilized spot already cause so much evil by its 
 foulness, what would be the effect of a multiplication of 
 similar evils, and under the ordering of different nations, 
 and this evil augmented by the intricate workings of the 
 slave trade ? Further, the English being the true 
 colonizers, have the trade with New Caledonia mostly in 
 their hands. The mining and other enterprizing com- 
 panies are English or Colonial. This gives rise to great 
 jealousy and bad feeling on the part of the French. Only 
 a few weeks ago, the Governor who has just left, tore down 
 from the wall of a native hut, the portrait of the Queen of 
 England, as presented in the " Graphic" newspaper. And 
 this he did, with words and acts unfit to mention in con- 
 nection wath such dealing. 
 
 The wrongs committed by the slave hunters and 
 too often unscrupulous traders, upon the various 
 islanders have, in too many instances, led these people 
 to seek redress by vengeance upon the innocent. 
 Whites committed the wrong, whites must be punished 
 — blood for blood ; and thus often such retribution 
 has led to further complications. A man-of-war, looking 
 at the matter one-sidedly, has punished the peoples for 
 exercising, as they believed, righteous revenge ; and this 
 is going on until now it is uncertain whether the natives, 
 on many a coast in the different groups, will be friendly 
 or hostile to any visiting whites. Thus matters are 
 continuously becoming more complicated, the savages are 
 being rendered more savage, commercial deahngs more 
 hazardous, the reforming these islanders a more difficult
 
 CRIES FKOM FIJI. 99 
 
 matter, and the safety of life and property more uncertain 
 in these Seas ; and in the future, unless the evils be 
 crushed in the bud, and especially if other nations come 
 in, serious complications must arise affecting the 
 Australian colonies, and, through them, indirectly or 
 otherwise — even directly — England herself. Americahadto 
 learn the lesson of humanity through a baptism of blood ; 
 England, through her West Indian colonies, had to pay 
 the price for the same by a score of millions of pounds. 
 Will she need another lesson, or will she now in wisdom 
 crush the evils in the bud, stop the slave trade altogether, 
 throw a protectorate over the South Sea islands, and in 
 boldness and righteousness declare to all nations, for once 
 and all, the fundamental basis of a peace-preserving and 
 unselfish foreign policy ? Annexation, without previously 
 taming the wild men, would incur endless difficulties. 
 In fact, as shown, it is impossible to tame and elevate the 
 islanders, by a mere civilization annexation ; but let 
 missions be established under a British protection ; let 
 the heathen lands be flooded with native teachers from 
 Fiji, Tonga, and other Christianized groups. And such 
 men and true can be found, and willing to face death and 
 danger, in seeking to take the Gospel of Christianity to 
 heathens and camiibals. 
 
 And these men can be fitted out and sent for the 
 small sum of £20 each per annum. 
 
 To show the true heroism resulting, even in native 
 
 character, from the revealed and taught philosophy of 
 
 the Gospel of Christianity, I may relate the following : 
 
 In one of the heathen islands, a chief wishing to
 
 100 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 embrace Christianity sent for a teacher. The greater 
 part of the people were opposed to the change, and 
 declared the teacher, when sent, should not land alive. 
 In Lakemba the superintendent minister laid the state 
 of affairs before the quarterly (one of the Church's) 
 meetings. He depicted the terrors of the heathenism 
 and its surroundings, and then asked specially for a 
 volunteer to carry the Gospel to the village where the would- 
 be murderers lived. A man named Moses got up and, 
 with his eyes full of tears, cried, " send me." He 
 was urged to reconsider his decision. It was pointed 
 out to him that the going almost meant certain death 
 — that he would need to bid farewell to his country and 
 his friends. But remonstrance was useless, and, with 
 the tears now streaming down his face, as he spoke of 
 the love of his Saviour to himself, and his desire to 
 give his life, even to the death, in sacrifice to Him, 
 he declared that he must and would go. He went. 
 As the ship neared the shore and cast anchor a boat 
 was lowered. But the boat had to be kept back. The 
 shore was lined with natives in hostile attitude, and, 
 from their gestures and screams, together with the goodly 
 array of spears and clubs, and bows and arrows, there 
 could be no mistaking their feelings and intentions. 
 Word was given to sail away, and express command not 
 to allow Moses to go on shore. Moses pleaded in vain : 
 the captain would not risk his life nor the lives of the 
 crew. But Moses was not to be done, and so, holding 
 up a New Testament in one hand for the natives to see, 
 and having wrapped his garment about his waist, he
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 101 
 
 sprang thus defended, and yet defenceless, into the sea 
 and swam for the shore. The natives were awed — an 
 unseen influence rendered them helpless — a mighty power 
 preserved Moses from harm. And thus, armed and yet 
 unarmed, mighty yet weak, feeble in culture and educa- 
 tion, yet strong in faith and valorous by grace, he over- 
 came a multitude, and by the forces of love conquered the 
 terrors of evil. Moses conquered. What heroism ! 
 What valour ! What a halo of glory appears to descend 
 upon his noble brow, as we see him struggling with the 
 waves and swimming for the shore ! 
 
 Yes, Christianity, even through the instrumentality of 
 an unrefined, uncultured Fijian, can work wonders ; and 
 wonders, such as civilization could never effect^a complete 
 and a bloodless victory. 
 
 In the beautiful island of Viwa, the most horrible canni- 
 balism prevailed. The Kev. John Hunt and others wrought 
 and lived continuously for the moral elevation of this people. 
 But they seemed hardened as hard as stone. Revolting 
 scenes were continuously enacted before his very door, 
 and the lives of himself and wife were often in jeopardy 
 and danger. But the heathen, although so depraved and 
 fallen, were keen judges of character. They could not 
 but perceive the self-denying character of the mission 
 families' lives and works. And at last a mighty power 
 came over them. The strong nxen fainted when they 
 beheld in the hght of heaven the heinousness of their sins. 
 For a time they were prostrate, overwhelmed in 
 physical weakness. Whole towns were laid low in sorrow 
 and anguish. But at last there came a mighty peace — a
 
 102 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 calm trust on the full efficacy of the sacrificial atone- 
 ment. And from that time heathenism ceased. What a 
 wondrous power, this manifestation of love, as preached 
 to the cannibals in the lives of the mission families, and 
 as manifested to them direct from heaven ! It rooted out 
 the degrading vices of heathenism. It tamed the wild 
 men of Viwa. And in all history the same experiences 
 are repeated. Christianity can subdue by the powers of 
 love ; but civilization can only hold in check by fear, and 
 crush by force of arms and bloodshed. 
 
 If England then act wisely, philosophically, and philan- 
 thropically, she will send missionary agencies to all the 
 islands in the Pacific, and in such numbers as soon to 
 thoroughly Christianize and evangelize all the populations. 
 
 Then, and only then, excepting by recourse to arms^ 
 and in continued danger of loss of life, will communication 
 and intercourse with these peoples be safe. 
 
 Let Christianity first tame the savage, and then civiliza- 
 tion under, a righteous government, may safely follow in its 
 train. 
 
 But further, civilization, as understood by Europeans, or 
 the training the South Sea island natives into European 
 ways, is dangerous, even if preceded by the teachings of 
 Christianity. These natives have only capacity equal to 
 the public schoolboy, and to lift them up to the ways of 
 EngUsh refinement, is to deteriorate from their moral worth. 
 A native squats on the matting on the floor, but put him 
 on a chair and he at once manifests the faults of a spoilt 
 child. He becomes too big for himself or for anyone else.
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 103 
 
 Put him iu European clothes and he is simply beside him- 
 self. Give him a knife and fork to eat witli, and lie becomes 
 superior to you, and allows impudence and foppishness 
 to drive away good manners and self-respect. His boy- 
 like capacities cannot bear the too sudden exaltation or 
 excited strain. His brain becomes turned with foolish pride 
 and the man becomes offensive, impudent, and useless. 
 And even as too much learning may make the physically 
 weak European mad, so too much civilization makes the 
 Polynesian morally and socially mad. Such a one com- 
 pletely loses his head, and becomes a fool. He cannot bear 
 the (to him) too sudden elevation. 
 
 To succeed, then, the truest philosophic and philan- 
 thropic policy is first to tame the wild man by means of the 
 forces innate to the Christian Gospel, next to give him 
 the simplicities only, or the alphabet of civilization, raise 
 him from the stone age to the iron age, give him knives, 
 hatchets, spades, and other simple implements for agricul- 
 ture or the minor arts. Teach him reading and writing 
 in his own language, as well as the elements of arithmetic, 
 history, and geography. On no account teach him 
 English. The knowledge makes him too uppish and 
 disagreeable. Discourage European clothing, excepting 
 a light shirt for the men, for the Sabbath and festivals, 
 and a light bodice for the women on like occasions. And 
 it is astonising how becoming the natives look, simply 
 wearing the sulu round the middle on ordinary occasions 
 and working days, and with a light shirt or bodice on 
 extra occasions — worship or festival. In a word, without 
 interfering with harmless native customs, elevate them
 
 104 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 spiritually, but put them in a position so as to raise 
 themselves in civilization by natural efforts from within — 
 efforts growing from necessity, or as the outcome of 
 increasing knowledge and developing capacities — efforts 
 entirely created within their own native community, and 
 thus natural, gradual, and stable. It should be always 
 remembered that civilization, as matured and refined 
 amongst the English, is a dangerous thing for Fijians or 
 Polynesians, until generations of experience shall have 
 reframed their characters, and developed various mental 
 capacities. But, in the meantime, let England throw a 
 protectorate over the groups of South Sea islands, for various 
 reasons — 
 
 1. For staying the so-called labour traffic, or, in its 
 
 true term, the slave trade. 
 
 2. For giving a certain amount of moral protection to 
 
 the missionary pioneers and agents. 
 
 3. For preventing tribal wars and systematic invasions, 
 
 devastation, and cannibalism. 
 
 4. For restricting white settlement, excepting judici- 
 
 ously, and when to the advantage of both peoples. 
 
 5. For seeking to establish central governments, with 
 
 more or less nominal power, sufficient to prevent 
 or punish massacres, murder, and rapine. 
 
 6. For seeking to regulate trade and preventing piracy 
 
 and marauding. 
 
 A Pacific commissionate should be over the whole, with 
 ships of war cruising between the various islands, with 
 power to punish offenders and redress grievances. 
 
 In the above recommendations I have simply named a
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 105 
 
 protectorate. Of course, circumstances might arise in 
 which it might be desirable in the interests of peace and 
 mutual advantage, where annexation would be the wiser 
 policy ; but such must depend upon the circumstances. 
 Each plan has its advantages. In a protectorate the 
 native government would necessarily be patriarchal, and 
 thus the advance of the people slower, while difficulties 
 might arise from time to time, which would not occur 
 under annexation. 
 
 Annexation would demand an increased outlay. It 
 would, however, enable the gradual undermining of the 
 patriarchal system and a raising of the people by 
 encouraging individual efforts, and by establishing and 
 protecting individual rights. It would make the position 
 of the peoples safer fr'-m the attack or caprices of foreign 
 nations or evil-disposed whites. But, to secure all the 
 benefits, it would need to be preceded by Christianizing 
 the people generally, and this could be the better brought 
 about under a protectorate. To annex the islands with- 
 out previously taming the wild man, and to seek to civilize 
 under such conditions, would lead to endless difficulties 
 and troubles, and would necessitate the use of arms and 
 a greater or less loss of life and concomitant evils. A 
 nominal annexation, without allowing; white settlement — 
 excepting official — or colonization, would be a step in 
 advance of a protectorate. But to make it successful, 
 it should be worked harmoniously with the Christianizing 
 missions — the savage taming agencies. 
 
 Most assuredly, the labour traffic, as it is politely 
 called — but, in truth, the slave trade — should be put a
 
 106 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 ■toi? to at once, and England should be true to her 
 colours and keep to her former proclamation and flag 
 — to sweep the seas of such traffic, no matter under what 
 national flag, or however fictitious the colours under 
 which the traffic exists. The natives have not the 
 wisdom and understanding, to be in a position, to engage 
 as hired servants. The Government cannot^ by laws 
 or regulations, ivash a black spot ivhite. They cannot, 
 with ignorance on the part of the blacks, and with self 
 interests and unscrupulous cunning on the part of the 
 traffickers, prevent injustice, man-stealing, man-buying, 
 rapine, and murder. Therefore, the sooner they put a 
 stop to the whole system, the better for all parties, 
 though, in doing so, present interests should be respected; 
 and, at the expiration of the period of service, the 
 Polynesians should be free to return home or re-engage 
 as they pleased. But how is labour to be obtained ? 
 The Government are bringing in a number of Indian 
 coolies, but, unfortunately, the agents are not careful 
 to hire respectable men, and hence many bad characters 
 and most immoral, are turned loose in Fiji. It can, 
 doubtless, be easily proved that the Chinese are better 
 workers than the coolies. But there are two draw- 
 backs with John and his followers — his opium 
 smoking and his open immorality — to say nothing of 
 his uncleanly domestic habits. But, as Fiji is a Crown 
 colony, a law could be framed forbidding the use of 
 opium to the Chinaman. Reliable agents in China 
 could engage married men, and men not addicted to
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 107 
 
 opium smoking, and with the knowledge that opium 
 would be a thing forbidden in Fiji. 
 
 And, as regards the domestic arrangements, the 
 difficulty occurs also with the coolies, many of whom 
 are terribly slovenly and uncleanly ; but the giving 
 them commodious houses, and the general supervision of 
 their domestic arrangements, would quickly and largely 
 mitigate this evil. Too often the coolie is not only 
 slovenly, but lazy, and will feign illness — screaming, 
 doubling up, and by other manoeuvres seeking to deceive the 
 doctor and to be put on the sick list ; whereas, perhaps, and 
 certainly under tropical skies, there is not a more patient, 
 quiet, industrious worker than the Chinaman. 
 
 The question of importing white labour is most difficult. 
 White men are ambitious, and the working man would 
 as a rule, rather starve on nothing than work for four 
 instead of five shdlings a day. Then, again, the market 
 question must in future seriously disturb the sugar 
 industry of Fiji. There is now such a sugar craze that 
 the rivalry between companies and interests in Mauritius, 
 Queensland, and other sugar producing countries will 
 lead to a large fall in the price of sugar. The manu- 
 facture of beetroot sugar also enters into competition- 
 A broker assured me a few days ago that sugar selling a 
 short time ago at £31 per ton had dropped several pounds 
 pel ton, and, as demand and supply act and react upon each 
 other, when the supply is over the demand, prices drop ; 
 and the large creation of the industry in Queensland 
 and Fiji, in addition to those previously established in 
 other countries, and which have hitherto satisfied the
 
 108 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 demand, must — and especially as it develops — lead to a 
 surplus supply. And, as the weakest first go to the wall, 
 Fiji and Queensland must be the first to suffer. 
 
 In the interests of all parties, it behoves the Fijian 
 Government to regulate the sugar industry, by not allow- 
 ing large monopolies of land, by encouraging other 
 industries, and by legislating wisely with a view of right- 
 ing all classes of peoples. 
 
 As matters stand at present, they are most unsatisfac- 
 tory. The sugar companies holding mills are a cause of 
 strife instead of a blessing to the country. They get 
 their commodities from the Australian colonies or direct 
 from England, and so do not, by trading, benefit Fiji. 
 In fact, they stand in a position that, excepting the 
 actual cost of the sugar-cane, and a small percentage of 
 Fiji labour, they bring little or no money into Fiji. 
 On the other hand, they are continuously harvesting 
 money and sending it abroad, draining the country. 
 Again, they made an agieement with the small planters for 
 a supply of cane for ten years, at the price of ten shillings 
 a ton. Labour then rose in price, and so the planters 
 gay they cannot sell, without ruin, for the money. Then, 
 again, the planters reckoned on raising three crops of 
 cane in two years, but the sugar companies, on the 
 advice of experts, leave the cane some months in the fields 
 to mature, and hence the planters look upon this as 
 an injustice — the keeping their lands idle so as to secure 
 a better article and at no higher figure for the seller. 
 But, farther, it is reckoned that at present rates and with 
 all drawbacks the planters may make £2 (two pounds)
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. 109 
 
 per acre per annum out of their land. But small planters 
 consider this insufificient to pay them for outlay, cost of 
 living, and their own supervision. And what must it be 
 as, after a short time, the land will need deeper ploughing 
 or manuring ? And amid all the exigencies of the case — 
 the rising of wages, the dearness of provisions, the falling 
 in prices for sugars, and other difficulties, what guarantee 
 has the grower for comparative comfort, to say nothing of 
 the great probabilities of losing all his little capital and 
 settled home? 
 
 I was informed for a positive fact that a high govern- 
 ment official, who had been largely instrumental in 
 securing the establishment of colossal sugar companies, 
 had acknowledged that, instead of a benefit, they had 
 brought a bear into the country. Be this as it may, the 
 fact remains that by them the resources and wealth of the 
 country is largely drawn upon, and exported to other lands 
 instead of benefiting the country itself. It is necessary 
 to profit by received lessons. In the time of the 
 American war a cotton mania seized upon the people, and 
 for one year, when they could obtain 4s. a pound, the 
 growers did very well, and the cotton was doubtless the 
 finest in the world. But when the war ceased and 
 cotton could again be run into the English markets at 
 Is. 4d. (sixteenpence) a pound, then the Fijian growers 
 were ruined. 
 
 Little attention has been as yet given to agriculture, 
 but there is a quantity of beautiful grass all the year 
 round in Fiji, and cattle appear to thrive well. Pigs, 
 also, as is well known, flourish in Fiji, and yet the whites
 
 110 CRIES FRO M FIJI. 
 
 import bacon and salt pork, paying twopence per pound 
 duty. Taro (ndalo) and yams, similar to our potato, 
 can be cultivated, and at a high remuneration ; yet the 
 whites almost entirely trust to the natives for the supply, 
 or else import potatoes. Cocoanuts might be grown to a 
 much greater extent than at present, as nuts or copra 
 would always find a good market. Bananas and pine 
 apples could be grown in any number, and a trade 
 secured with the colonies by employing small, fast 
 steamers, specially built for carrying such fruits, and with 
 the least destructive loss. Poultry might be bred in large 
 numbers, and so supply to a great extent the necessary 
 change required, from the continuous use of imported 
 tinned meats. Fish swarm in the rivers and seas, but 
 are neglected as an article of diet. Maize might be 
 grown in much larger quantity than at present. In fact, 
 the white people generally do not pay the careful and 
 scientific attention to diet which they ought to do. They 
 live too artificially considering the climate ; they seek to 
 follow the luxurious diet of the Australian colonies — meat 
 three times a day — and that meat too often tough, fresh- 
 killed beef, or haggard, shrunken, sea-sick, half-starved 
 mutton. When this is not available all sorts of tinned 
 beefs, mutton, kidneys, salmon, &c., have to do service. 
 Vegetable production is neglected, and the scarcity or 
 absence of such is a serious item. Fruits — such a natural 
 diet in Fiji — are too often plucked before ripe, and thus 
 give rise to dysentery, a sort of low fever, and other ail- 
 ments. While staying at an hotel shortly after my arrival 
 I indulged in a large Fiji orange. It was quite sour.
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI. Ill 
 
 I afterwards went to the shore for a walk, and examination 
 of sea-side treasures. Gradually I felt myself losing 
 power and strength. The sun was more oppressive to me, 
 than at any other time while in the islands. I was in 
 a burning heat, and, although I had only proceeded about 
 half a mile, it was with the greatest difficulty that I got 
 back to quarters. For two days I was unfit to get about, 
 or to collect specimens, and, no doubt, all owing to my 
 eating an unripe orange — ^the proper way, we are told, to 
 eat fruit in Fiji ! Some time afterwards, in the garden 
 of a native village, I was able to feast upon any number 
 of luscious, ripe oranges, and with no ill effects. The 
 matter of diet is noticeable more especially among tlie 
 children. They grow up winey, puny, pale-faced — thin, 
 weak, and fragile — and not so much because of the 
 climate as because of the diet. I observed one such 
 youthful hope. His daily routine was — 
 
 Breakfast — Fries or stews, vegetables, preserved fish, 
 jam and bread (not bread and jam), and a finish up 
 with bananas and oranges. 
 Lunch — Soup, stewed rabbit, cold meats, sweets, jam 
 
 and bread, bananas, and oranges. 
 Dinner — Soup, hot joints, prepared meats, tarts, jam 
 
 and bread, tea, bananas, and oranges. 
 And, between meals, a walk of perhaps two hundred 
 
 yards, a loll, and a nap. 
 But, of course, for persons arrived at maturity, must be 
 added their beers and grog, and we must not forget the 
 billiards and card-playing, and accompanying late hours. 
 On the other hand, look at the natives. They live
 
 112 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 chiefly on a vegetable diet, undisturbed in digestive 
 activity by beers and grog. At times they vary this 
 diet with pork, poultry, and fish. They go to 
 rest early, and rise with the dawn of day ; and, probably, 
 a finer race of men physically cannot be found on the 
 face of the earth. They are roundly developed, 
 without obesity. Their muscles stand out in bold 
 relief. Their digestion is excellent, and they are 
 jocular, jolly, and void of dull cares. No liver com- 
 plaints appear to cause nervousness or harassing 
 anxiety. They eat well, they sleep well, and they look 
 the pictures of happiness. 
 
 It is astonishing how rapidly severe wounds heal. 
 Nearly all the natives exhibit long scars, chiefly on 
 the muscles of the back and shoulders, less often on 
 the legs and arms. These were self-inflicted, or inflicted 
 by the person's consent. They were bantered or dared 
 into thus hacking themselves — bantered to prove them- 
 selves game to bear the suffering, and like children, 
 without moral courage, afraid of being laughed at. 
 They are acute enough to select the fleshy parts of the 
 body. But it is a wonder how they avoid cutting or 
 wounding the various arteries. They not only cut 
 open, deep, and long gashes, but also keep open the 
 same by irritants. Thus the wound heals slowly, 
 granulating from the base and forming broad, conspicuous 
 scars, which, ever after, proclaim to all, their pluck and 
 power of endurance. Certain it is that the punish- 
 ment which they thus undergo would kill many 
 English people — yet these islanders are not even laid up.
 
 CRIKS FROM FIJI 113 
 
 I wag highly amused at the result of medical advice in a 
 disabled English islander. The medical adviser stated 
 that his patient wanted more vegetable diet, and ordered 
 him, whenever he got the chance, to indulge freely in salads 
 and green stuff ; a glass of spirits to aid digestion. I had 
 the pleasure or pain of dining with this said gentleman, 
 and was somewhat amused to see the onslaught which he 
 made on the lettuce, onions, sliced beetroot, etc. In the 
 course of the afternoon I found him helplessly helpless, in a 
 half-comatose state, unlike drunkenness, and unlike the 
 symptoms of a fit. I learned that he had followed the 
 doctor's instructions to the letter, and really sought to cure 
 his sluggish liver by the salad and grog prescription. As he 
 was on the verge of a fit, and as I expected a case, I certainly 
 thought that at last doctors were copying lawyers, in 
 making work for each other. 
 
 No doubt Fiji is an enervating climate, and the 
 European should have periodic change, either in a 
 good sea voyage, or by a visit to the colonies or 
 to England. But, as a whole, the evils of the climate 
 have been greatly exaggerated, and many of the ailments 
 consequent on diet and drink are blamed on the climate. 
 Oftentimes the air is damp and much rain falls, but 
 the temperature generally ranges from 78 deg. to 84 deg., 
 rarely sinking to 68 deg. or rising to 90 deg. ; and in 
 the day the sun dispels the dampness, and at night breezes 
 from the sea cool the air. Such a climate should not 
 tell seriously upon Europeans, with ordinary care, and 
 attention to diet and clothing. Meat once a day, and varied 
 by poultry, fish, and game, would be sufficient to give
 
 114 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 tone and energy, while a liberal, varied vegetable and 
 ripe fruit diet should give muscle and strength. Absti- 
 nence from intoxicating liquors is specially needful in 
 the tropics, as, where life lives so fast, man has no 
 strength to waste in exchange for the pleasurable sensa- 
 tions produced by alcoholic stimulants. l!^ot as an old 
 Scotchman put it to me. He witnessed my buying a 
 flask of whisky. " Yes," he said, " you will require 
 some of the needful to stay the inner man when on 
 your hunting expeditions. As it was, I found my speci- 
 mens of spiders, bugs, beetles, etc., needed it more than 
 myself, and so I unselfishly divided it among them. 
 Taken as a whole, Fiji is a beautiful place for a wealthy 
 Australian to winter. It has numerous drawbacks, 
 social and political, and it is certainly not the place for 
 a man with a little capital to go to, if he expects to sit at 
 ease, waited upon by black labour, and to make a rapid 
 fortune. But, with all its disadvantages, a family with a 
 little capital, and capable of honest work and thrift, can 
 doubtless make a comfortable living in a small way. A 
 limited number of storekeepers and little traders can here 
 find scope ; and small farmers, in keeping banana, 
 cocoanut, and orange plantations, or in growing pine- 
 apples and other fruits and vegetables, should make a fair 
 business. But while labour is so uncertain, and while 
 government is so feeble, the fewer the better, the white 
 people who risk to lose a fortune in Fiji. 
 
 Many of the Government laws need reforming. A 
 very beneficial law, and a wise one, is that the natives
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 115 
 
 shall not be supplied with or treated to alcoholic stimu- 
 lants, excepting under a penalty of fifty pounds (£50). 
 But the feeble policy, either of fear or of fawning to the 
 chiefs, comes in, and a clause provides that a permit may 
 be given by the Government to a chief. Of course, if 
 they are afraid or jealous of the chiefs, they could not 
 adopt a better plan to get rid of them ; but such policy is 
 feeble, and ill-becoming the representatives of her Majesty 
 the Queen. An amusing and yet sad illustration of the 
 jumbling together of evil and good regulations occurred 
 just previously to my visit. A man who was friendly 
 with a chief, and had received favours from him, gave this 
 chief, when visiting him, some drink. The report got 
 abroad ; the man was brought up and fined the fifty 
 pounds. Now, it is stated that the chief told hia host 
 that he had a permit, and so the host, perhaps by this 
 thrown off his guard, had to suffer through the permits 
 being one part of the law. Another most foolish clause 
 permits natives to fetch alcoholic liquors if they carry a 
 written order. But a person was fined the fifty pounds 
 a short time ago for selling to a native, because — so report 
 guarantees — there was no date uiion the written order. 
 Now the wisdom which does not know, that the allowing 
 children to play with matches, has often led to a fire and 
 the burning down a house, is not the wisdom needed to 
 give laws to Fiji, under the name of the British Crown. 
 And are not Government, in forbidding Europeans to give 
 natives drink, and yet allowing natives to go for the same 
 and to carry it away, but playing a childish game? Is it 
 really a fact, that the Europeans are become so enervated,
 
 116 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 that they cannot order their own liquors or go for the 
 little at a time themselves ? Let the sale or gift of 
 alcoholic drinks to the natives be punishable with the 
 severe penalty of £50, but let the chiefs also enjoy the 
 blessing, and do not let the law be a dead letter, by giving 
 the carriers of drinks the opportunity to take a little drop, 
 even under the onus of stealing what does not belong to 
 them. 
 
 The open licentiousness of the whites, and especially of 
 many of the Government officials, should be stopped by 
 law. As it is, owing to the small salaries given, the 
 imagined drawbacks of the climate, the distance from 
 home, and for other reasons, Fiji has to be satisfied with 
 an all-round inferior class of Government officials. Many 
 are seekers of employment, who failed in the Civil Service 
 examinations in the old country, and who, in answer to 
 friendly influence and numerous solicitations, are dotted 
 down on to this out of the way colony. Of course there 
 are some few exceptions, and where the Government 
 servant lives and behaves as a gentleman ; but the 
 general conduct is pompous, affected, uncivil, and domi- 
 neering, as far as they dare, to the whites, and especially 
 so to the natives. Many of them are better adepts at 
 their beers, and at billiards and cards, and at late hours, 
 filthy conversation, and swearing, than' they are at their 
 business. But, be this as it may. Government cannot inter- 
 fere with a man's private life, excepting by removing or 
 degrading him, if his habits prevent his attention to busi- 
 ness. But, in Fiji, where the British Government have 
 agreed to act, as guardian and protectorate to the natives,
 
 CRIES FROM FIJI 117 
 
 drunkenness should be most severely punished, and the 
 open licentiousness, in keeping concubines of the Poly" 
 nesian women, should be stopped. In a free land the 
 government are not justified in interfering with a man's 
 private and domestic life ; but in a Crown colony, specially 
 instituted for the safeguard of the natives, it becomes an 
 imperative duty to stop the evil example of open licen- 
 tiousness. Why should an impudent, selfish fop, if even 
 he may come of a good family, be allowed to set a most 
 debasing example of animal sensualism, before the native 
 races, and openly and boastfully ? and why should he be 
 relieved from the honourable relationships of marriage 
 and allowed to overflow the country with half-caste and 
 illegitimate children ? The thing is most monstrous ; 
 and, as if to countenance and legitimize such practice 
 the chiefs are allowed to do the same. At the council 
 lately held one chief, shocked by such Hberties being 
 granted, spoke of the matter, and was quietly answered, 
 it was the ancient custom of the country. But wherefore 
 has England come, to enable the chiefs to live at ease, to 
 drink fire water, and to brutalize their women in sensual 
 concubinage ? Is it to permit rakeish young good-for- 
 nothings at home, to fly into a Moslem's fools' paradise ? 
 Certainly not ; such is a disgrace to England's flag, and 
 the sooner the law steps in the better. 
 
 The tax of £1 per head to be paid by the natives may 
 be looked upon as an equivalent to a house and land tax. 
 But here again the freedom of the native is interfered with. 
 As a bondman, he is compelled, under the power of the 
 chief, to grow vegetable products, which are to be collected,
 
 118 CRIES FROM FIJI. 
 
 sent to Government stores, and sold ; the natives to be 
 debited at the small sum of £1 per man, and the 
 remainder, if any, to be handed over to the chiefs. Now, 
 it very often^ happens, that the produce goes to decay, or 
 depreciates in value before Government sell it. The result 
 is an injustice to the natives, who have to supply another 
 consignment. Again, when an overplus is paid, instead of 
 being distributed equally among the contributing villages, 
 it is largely shared with the chiefs, lieutenant of the town, 
 and other officials, and so the poor natives may really often 
 pay twice or thrice the value of their pound in kind for taxes. 
 Provided £ 1 (one pound) per head is paid, why should Govern- 
 ment interfere with the liberty, communal and individual, 
 and compel each district to keep the public garden, and to 
 waste an amount of time, as the whim or caprice of the 
 public gardener may suggest, in growing produce for taxes ? 
 The Wesleyan missionaries obtain a large free-will offering 
 for the maintenance of foreign missions in coin, and by 
 simply appealing to the good instincts of the people. If 
 righteous, certainly levy a poll-tax of £1, but, so long as 
 it is paid, do not render the burden heavier by red-tape 
 interference ; and, when paid, secure to the natives advan- 
 tages commensurate with the value received. Let them see 
 it is an impost for their own good, and no doubt it wiU be 
 willingly forthcoming, and without the interference and 
 injustice as at present. 
 
 In a Crown colony, and offering such a number and 
 variety of difficulties as Fiji does, it behoves the English 
 Government to secure, and to send:out the best political 
 and statesmanship talent obtainable ; and such talent
 
 CRIKS FROM FJII 119 
 
 should receive its rightful remuneration. Moreover, the 
 Civil Service should not be a mere playground into which 
 to send inferior class youths. All offices should be well 
 filled and well paid. 
 
 The medical service should be revised. At present the 
 chief medical officer is often not available, inasmuch as 
 he has to steer so many of the offices of State. He 
 receives a name for skill, but of what avail is a name, if 
 the personage be hampered with political offices and 
 duties ? The pay given to medical officers — of whom 
 there are ten for all the Fijis — is absurdly sulall, and so it 
 cannot be expected otherwise, than that youths without 
 experience or practice, would for the most part be the only 
 gentlemen available under such circumstances. 
 
 One small piece of terrorism, a disgrace to England 
 and to the profession, came under my notice. A chemist, 
 as chemists sometimes will, placed a stethoscope to the 
 chest of a man, and gave a bottle of medicine. He 
 received a sharp letter, telling him not to repeat such 
 practice, or he would be deported ! So far, so good. But, 
 not content with this, patients were ordered not to give 
 him their prescriptions to maiie up, under the pain of 
 having those prescriptions torn up ; and a club for which 
 he put up medicines was threatened to be left without 
 medical attendance, unless they transferred their patronage 
 to another chemist. The man was simply persecuted and 
 hounded, until he took to drink in his anger and despera- 
 tion. Such meanness ill becomes the medical profession. 
 There is "great need of a thorough reformation in this 
 line, and registered medical practitioners should have free
 
 120 CRIES FROM FIJI 
 
 scope to practice, separate from Government influence in 
 Fiji as a Crown colony. 
 
 Sir Arthur Gordon, it appears, started witli the belief 
 that it was essential to Fijian life, and to the safety of 
 the English colonists, that the chiefs should be kept in 
 power. Hence they were appointed to offices under the 
 English Government, but politicians, as well as phi- 
 losophers, know that two governments, and on different 
 lines of policy, cannot run parallel and smoothly together. 
 A man and bis wife, even though joined in matrimony, 
 cannot rule their household wisely and successfully if 
 their policies clash, and unless they rule as one. Partners 
 cannot make a business succeed, if their views and acts 
 contradict each other. And so the English Government 
 and the Fijian chiefs cannot rule side by side in full 
 authority. Consequently, too often through fear, or 
 through mistaken policy, the English Government give 
 up their position, and leave matters in the hands of the 
 chiefs, who, it is thus hoped, will consolidate the people to 
 British rule ; and by this policy the patriarchal bondage 
 is upheld, and the people are, in truth, socially and 
 politically slaves. A most absurd issue of the Govern- 
 ment tactics was witnessed a few weeks ago. It appears 
 that a native Fijian to be allowed to work for Europeans 
 must exhibit his name on a public roll before his fellow- 
 townsmen. He has then to get the consent of the various 
 chiefs, and lastly of the Government. A number of 
 hands were required for labour. The Government sent a 
 messenger to Kandavu. Knowing his way about, this 
 able young man, by a promise of a pound a
 
 CUIKS FROM FIJI. 121 
 
 liead prosent linunty, soon projurod the hands. By 
 dint of management and making it worth their 
 wliilo, lie obtained the consent of the chiefs. The 
 boys were sliipped and landed at Suva. All 
 appeared ready, but upon the Government incpiiry, 
 Were these men registered as seeking for employment .'' the 
 answer was, no. Then send them all back, as the Govern- 
 ment cannot allow such an irregularity. But, though 
 not registered, at the seeking of Government, and with 
 the consent of the chiefs, the boys wished to come, and 
 iiave come. Send them back at once, was the imperative 
 reply. The men on the beach met the Government 
 recruiter, and stated their repugnance to going back 
 under the circumstances, and asking to be allowed to take 
 any work in Suva ; but no, although British subjects 
 they were denied British liberty, and the poor fellows, as 
 sheep, had to be marched back, so to speak, after 
 inspection, to please the whims of a red tape, facetious 
 ( government. 
 
 Here, then, is an anomaly — British subjects sla\-es on 
 British soil ! What is the remedy ? A righteous, bold 
 and inde])endent policy. Let the Fijian, as the Briton, 
 and himself a British subject, be free. Let the inde- 
 pendent power of the chiefs gradually wane. Let the 
 British Government, as supreme, perform their duties, 
 but righteously. Let the offices under Government be 
 elective and periodic, so as to allow the natives to put in 
 their best men. Let the Fijian commoner, as the English 
 husbandman, be at liberty to take work in his own 
 neighbourhood, without the interference or )"»ermission of
 
 122 CRIES FROM PlJJ, 
 
 his town or tribal chief ; let him, \vith propor safeguards, 
 he free to take work at a distance from home in his own 
 or neighbouring islands, provided he takes with liim ]ii.-> 
 wife and family. Then the whites, as English employers 
 of labour, cannot ask more, and the family relations will be 
 maintained, and further, the people will be begin to 
 understand and to value the possession of property ; and, 
 as to breaking up the present villages, the planters would 
 not be able to obtain the men by bribery, or promises of 
 such, for it would only pay tliem to seek for Imnest 
 labour — man with man •, and, labour and wages being 
 efjualized, value for value, the probability is that at first.- 
 very few would go to any distance from their own villagcy 
 but if at any time they should migrate in any large 
 proportions, and probably only to good masters, then it 
 would simply be the removal of the village site, and to 
 •he protection and shelter of the plantation and habitations 
 ?>f the whites^ But, while giving the Fijian these privi-- 
 leges, remember his childhood, and guard him |>ersonally 
 avKl socially, 
 
 1. By having the compact under Government supervis- 
 ion, 
 .2. By regulating the hours of labour, and thus securing' 
 to the man, if near enough to his home, a residence 
 and time with his family, 
 ?), If distant from his native township, to guarantee :f 
 native liouse and parcel of garden ground sufficient 
 for his own requirements, and the maintenance and 
 residence of his wife arki familv on tlie estate.
 
 ITilKs KHOM I'l.Tl. ]2"> 
 
 ■4. To have all the estates under Government supervis- 
 ion, with authf)ritv to receive complaints from 
 master or man direct, ami power to adjudge and 
 deal with the same. 
 6. If necessary, to grant a holiday periodically, as 
 Saturday afternoons, or otherwise as required, for 
 the transaction of private business, family, and 
 sociaL 
 8v That the compact be to the advantage of l)oth parties, 
 that the wages be paid to the labourer every Satur- 
 day, and that the service be free, notice of cessa- 
 tion to be given by either side so many days ctr 
 weeks beforehand, as agreement according to the 
 nature of the work or the interests of the parties. 
 »■. That the natives be not answerable to the chiefs, 
 either as obtaining their consent, or as iu paying 
 to them the whole or any of their wage. 
 8. That a native may hire himself out at any time for a 
 day, or on piecework, and without the consent of 
 the chiefs. 
 Thus the native would be free and independent. The 
 "chieftain bondage broken in this and other ways would 
 gradually give place to the righteous government of the 
 English, and under the flag of religious, social, and 
 political liberty. 
 
 A council should be formed-, nominated or electe(3 
 periodically by the natives themselves, for the framing 
 and keeping in vogue such laws as, under English juris- 
 diction, would tend to elevate or benefit their people ; and 
 these laws, approved by the EngliS'h Government, and
 
 124 CRIES FROM IMJI. 
 
 com})atible witli English institutions ninl charters au I 
 Fijian rights, sh )ul(l \)?. carried out by tiie Government 
 in tlie interests of tlu^ natives. Their Sahhatli should he 
 respected : tlnnr r.'ligious creeds should l)e ujiheld and 
 dei:"cnded : their religious services and innocent national 
 customs should he respected : and, as a Jinule and 
 sunnning up, rigliteous laws should be framed and 
 administered for the joint benelit and protectorsliip, as 
 well as for the separate interests, of both white man anil 
 black. Not needles-5 interference and dogmatic dnmi- 
 iieering, but th(> caring for the connnnuiry as a whole, 
 and for each race as a people, and with the object of 
 guarding and still further advancing each individual 
 memiier of each race socially, morally, and intellectually : 
 but above all, to secure and iip/iohl the (iloi ies of 
 f England's name in social, j.olitical, and religious tibeiti/ ! 
 
 i. G Mitchell, Printer, South Melbol'une.
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 
 
 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed.
 
 3 1158 00670 9058 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 ||||||l| II III !|l III 11 I III I IN 
 
 AA 000 978 505 6