A HISTORY OF FIJI 49 



der to his civilized companion. In other words, his knowledge differs 

 from ours in kind rather than in breadth or depth. His children are 

 carefully and laboriously trained in the arts of war and the chase, and 

 above all in the complex ceremonial of the manners of the tribe, and 

 few among us can excel in memory the priests of old Samoa, who could 

 sing of the ancestors of Malietoa, missing never a name among the 

 hundreds back to the far-off God Savea whence this kingly race came 

 down. 



One may display as much intelligence in tracking a kangaroo 

 through the Australian bush as in solving a problem in algebra, and 

 among ourselves it is often a matter of surprise to discover that men 

 laboring in our factories are often as gifted as are the leaders of abstract 

 thought within our universities. In fact the more we know of any class 

 or race of men the deeper our sympathy, the less our antagonism, and 

 the higher our respect for their endeavors. When we say we " can not 

 understand " the Japanese we signify that we have not taken the trouble 

 to study their tradition. 



It is a common belief that the savage is more cruel than we, and 

 indeed we commonly think of him as enraged and of ourselves in pas- 

 sive mood. Child-like he surely is, and his cruelties when incensed are 

 as inexcusable as the destruction of Louvain or the firing of Sepoys 

 from the guns, but are they more shocking than the lynching or burning 

 of negroes at the stake, events so common in America that even the sen- 

 sational newspapers regard them as subjects of minor interest. . 



Clearly, despite our mighty institutions of freedom, efficient systems 

 of public education and the devotion of thousands of our leaders to 

 ideals of highest culture, there remain savages among us. Mere cen- 

 turies of civilization combat the aeons of the brute. Within each and 

 every one of us, suppressed perhaps but always seeking to stalk forth, 

 there lurk the dark lusts of the animal, the haunting spirit of our gorilla 

 ancestry. The foundations of our whole temple of culture are sunken 

 deep in the mire of barbarism. It is this fundamental fact which de- 

 ceives us into the impression that a few decades of contact with men 

 of our own race will suffice to civilize the savage. True they soon learn 

 to simulate the manners and customs of their masters, but the imitation 

 is a hollow counterfeit, no more indicative of enlightenment than is the 

 good behavior of caged convicts a guaranty of high mindedness. To 

 achieve civilization a race must conquer itself, each individual must 

 master the savage within him. Cultured man has never yet civilized a 

 primitive race. Under our domination the savage dies,, or becomes a 

 parasite or peon. 



VOL. LXXXMI.— 4. 



