PILE-DWELLING VILLAGE: NEW GUINEA (RATZEL).
CANOE: NEW GUINEA (RATZEL).
The Fijians carved neat bowls and other vessels from wood. The kava bowls, though usually plain, were carefully cut and beautifully polished. The Fijians—almost alone of Pacific Islanders—made pottery; the vessels were in various strange though rather graceful forms, and were somewhat glazed. They made remarkable war clubs of fine, heavy, dark woods which varied much in form, were decorated with carving, and were handsomely polished. Fijians were not good sailors, but they made better canoes than some of those made by Polynesians, who were bold sailors. It is said that the Tongans (Polynesians) gave up their own style of canoe to adopt that of the Fijians. The canoes were, like those of many of the Pacific Islands, double canoes; two canoes of the same shape and size were placed side by side—with some little space between—and united by a platform of boards; one sail was sometimes hoisted; paddles were used for sculling and a great steering oar was employed. A much larger book than this would be needed for describing all the craft used on the water by Malayans, Melanesians, and Polynesians. The Fijians enjoyed music and had two or three kinds of drums, sticks that were beaten together, pan-pipes, a bamboo jew’s-harp, a conch-shell trumpet, and a little flute that was blown by the nose.
The Fijians were a polite people—that is, they had rules about greetings, behavior, and the treatment of superiors. One curious rule was that a servant or inferior, in case his master fell or got into some ridiculous position, must also fall or place himself in a similar ridiculous position. Afterward it was expected that he would be rewarded for his politeness. Mr. Williams tells us an incident that illustrates this practice:—
“One day I came to a long bridge formed of a single cocoanut tree, which was thrown across a rapid stream, the opposite bank of which was two or three feet lower, so that the declivity was too steep to be comfortable. The pole was also wet and slippery, and thus my crossing safely was very doubtful. Just as I commenced the experiment a heathen said, with much animation, ‘To-day I shall have a musket.’ I had, however, just then to heed my steps more than his words, and so succeeded in reaching the other side safely. When I asked him why he spoke of a musket, the man replied, ‘I felt certain you would fall in attempting to go over, and I should have fallen after you; and, as the bridge is high, the water rapid, and you a gentleman, you would not have thought of giving me less than a musket.’”
The tabu is one of the most curious habits of Pacific Islanders. Though it occurred in Fiji, it was Polynesian, rather than Melanesian. Tabu was forbidding persons to touch, or use, or make some object. Chiefs and priests set most of the tabus, but lesser people might sometimes do so. A man might tabu all the cocoanuts in a district, setting up some sign or mark to show that he had done so; no one might thereafter touch a nut there until the tabu had been removed. A chief might tabu a man’s working; he could not do work of any kind until the chief removed the tabu. A chief might tabu the building of canoes by the people of a certain village; the people thenceforth would need to secure canoes from others. Thousands of tabus were set, and they made much trouble and inconvenience. The man who broke a tabu was punished, sometimes by death.
The Fijians were dreadful cannibals. England governed Fiji for many years, and it was believed that the practice had disappeared. A few old men were considered almost as curiosities because they had eaten flesh of men and were called “the last of the cannibals.” Then suddenly in 1889 the old custom broke out again. A party of Fijians killed some victims and ate them in a cave. A party in pursuit found evidence of the dreadful feast. Among these were some of the curious wooden forks used because it was not proper that the flesh should be touched with the fingers!