SOME NATIVES OF AUSTRALASIA. 613 



selves at their expense. In 1800 the Tasmanian race was reduced 

 to sixteen souls ; in 18G9 the last man perished, and in 187G 

 " Queen " Truganina, popularly known as Lalla Rookh, followed 

 her people to the grave. But there still survived a few half- 

 castes, and in 1884 a so-called " Tasmanian " woman obtained a 

 grant of land from the Colonial Parliament. 



The Fijians present affinities both with the western Melane- 

 sians and eastern Polynesians, and are at least partly of mixed 

 descent, although the majority approach nearest to the former 

 group. They are tall and robust, very brown and coppery, some- 

 times even almost black, with abundant tresses intermediate be- 

 tween hair and wool. Half-breeds are numerous and are often 

 distinguished by almost European features. Till recently they 

 went nearly naked, wearing only the loin-cloth or skirt of vege- 

 table fiber, smearing the body with oil, and dyeing the hair with 

 red ochre. The women passed bits of stick or bark through the 

 pierced lobe of the ear, and nearly all the men carried a formidable 

 club; now they wear shirts, blouses, or dressing-gowns, or else 

 drape themselves in blankets, and thus look more and more like 

 needy laborers dressed in the cast-off clothes of their employers. 

 They display great natural intelligence, and, according to Williams, 

 are remarkable for a logical turn of mind, which enables Europeans 

 to discuss questions with them in a rational way. Their gener- 

 osity is attested by the language itself, which abounds in terms 

 meaning to give, but has no word to express the acts of borroAving 

 or lending. Compared with their Polynesian neighbors, they are 

 also distinguished by much reserve. Their meke,ov dances, al- 

 ways graceful and marked by great decorum, represent little land 

 or sea dramas, sowing, harvesting, fishing, even the struggles be- 

 tween the rising tides and rocks. 



Cannibalism entered largely into the religious system of the 

 Fijians. The names of certain deities, such as the "god of 

 slaughter," and the " god eater of human brains," sufficiently at- 

 test the horrible nature of the rites held in their honor. Religion 

 also taught that all natural kindness was impious, that the gods 

 loved blood, and that not to shed it before them would be culpa- 

 ble ; hence those wicked people who had never killed anybody in 

 their lifetime were thrown to the sharks after death. Children 

 destined to be sacrificed for the public feasts were delivered into 

 the hands of those of their own age, who thus served their appren- 

 ticeship as executioners and cooks. The banquets of " long pig " — 

 that is, human flesh — were regarded as a sacred ceremony from 

 which the women and children were excluded ; and while the men 

 used their fingers with all other food, they had to employ forks of 

 hard wood at these feasts. The ovens also in which the bodies 

 were baked could not be used for any other purpose. Notwith- 



