A Racial Study of the Fijians

by Norman E. Gabel

	Absent	Subm.	+	++	+++	Total
	No. %	No. %	No. %	No. %	No. %
Total sample	0 0	234 29	370 44	208 26	1 .01	813
Interior	0 0	22 14	67 44	64 42	0 0	153
East	0 0	45 38	59 49	16 13	0 0	120
Coast	0 0	60 29	94 45	54 26	1 0	209
N.W.	0 0	22 28	30 38	27 34	0 0	79
Fiji II
cheeks	27 21	2 2	44 34	46 35	12 9	131
skin	9 7	0 0	52 40	56 43	14 10	131
Solomons
cheeks	21 25	0 0	42 49	22 26	0 0	85
chin	7 8	0 0	53 62	25 29	0 0	85
Tonga
chin	0 0	0 19	0 31	50 0	0 0	0
lower chk.	0 4	0 37	0 18	40 0	0 0	0

Moderate beard quantity is shown by 44 per cent of Fijians; the remainder are fairly evenly divided between the submedium and pronounced categories. Howells' series, which records beard quantity for the cheeks and chin separately, shows a higher frequency of pronounced and very pronounced designations. However, his data includes many individuals who have no beards at all. Both series are doubtless influenced by the fact that they contain a preponderance of young adult; a greater proportion of older men would have greatly raised the incidence of the pronounced categories.

Nearly all modern Fijians have adopted the Western practice of shaving. Examination of earlier pictures and written description of Fijians leaves no doubt that the majority of mature men possess luxurious beards when nature is unrestrained.

The natives of the Solomon Islands, according to Howells, are a little less bearded than the Fijians.

The Tongans are a little more heavily bearded than the Fijians.

Some geographical variation is indicated by my data. The interior people of Fiji have the highest incidence of face hair; 42 per cent are recorded as pronounced. Least endowed are the eastern Fijians, where 13 per cent have pronounced beards and 38 per cent are submedium. The coastal and northwestern series conform more closely to the overall distribution.

Body Hair[17]

	Absent	Subm.	+	++	+++	Total
	No. %	No. %	No. %	No. %	No. %
Total sample	0 0	243 30	328 40	162 20	80 10	813
Interior	0 0	31 20	56 37	41 27	25 16	153
East	0 0	55 46	45 38	14 12	6 5	120
Coast	0 0	57 27	82 39	46 22	24 11	209
N.W.	0 0	16 20	36 46	19 24	8 8	79
Tonga	0 0	23 29	0 26	0 22	0 0	0

The body hair endowment is also not unimpressive. Forty per cent show a moderate condition, 20 per cent are pronounced, and 10 per cent very pronounced; none are totally devoid of body hair; 30 per cent are submedium. Chest hair among the Tongans is somewhat less in evidence; although the majority range from submedium to pronounced, 23 per cent are described as hairless.

The provincial distribution in Fiji follows that of face hair: the interior groups are hairiest and the eastern people least so.