296 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ment of heathenism, for licentiousness formerly kept down by the 

 chief's club is now merely forbidden. 



Seeman states that the natives were shocked when he told them that 

 English women frequently bore children at intervals of a year apart, 

 and upon reflection they decided this accounted for there being so many 

 "shrimps" (small men) among Europeans. 



In common with some other primitive races, the Fijians looked 

 frankly upon those problems of sexual relations which we attempt to 

 ignore or to cloak under a mantle of secrecy, too often pernicious to 

 the welfare of our race. The average European is too apt to be horri- 

 fied when he hears a spade called by its simplest name, and to his mind 

 morality implies an unnatural hypocrisy respecting the physiological 

 facts of life. He forgets that acts and words are in themselves inno- 

 cent unless their intention be otherwise, and in many matters of this 

 sort the missionary has unfortunately made cowards and liars of his 

 converts, and it is undoubtedly true that the influence of civilization in 

 the Pacific has tended to increase rather than diminish all forms of 

 clandestine sexual depravity. 



I have heard competent and unprejudiced observers state that the 

 Fijians were fully as affectionate in heathen times as at present. Fam- 

 ily affection fortunately springs from nature itself and is not a product 

 of our system of life, however cultured or barbarous. One sees the 

 naked women of Australia, whose bodies are covered with self-inflicted 

 scars, gaze rapturously upon their children and exhibit maternal love 

 as truly as could any European mother, and even Wilkes, who refers to 

 the Fijians as " the most barbarous and savage race now existing upon 

 the globe," states that he saw " engaged couples walking affectionately 

 arm-in-arm as with us." 



One of the saddest, because the most apparent change that has af- 

 fected the lives of the Pacific islanders is the needless decay of their 

 arts. War, and the ceremonies and obligations of religion once pro- 

 vided the major motive for the maintenance and development of varied 

 crafts. In fact, the intent of practically every piece of decorative work 

 was either to propitiate the gods and tribal spirits, or to frighten a 

 real or imaginary enemy. Nor is this peculiar to savage tribes, for all 

 the complex ornaments which adorn the yokes of horses in Naples are 

 " evil eye " charms which have come down almost unaltered from Roman 

 times. 



The missionary soon saw that most of his so-called converts had 

 only added the white man's god to those of their ancestors. In order, 

 therefore, to obliterate old beliefs, he discouraged the making -of all 

 "symbols of heathenism," and, as these were displayed in almost every 

 implement, art fell at once under the awe-inspiring ban of his dis- 

 pleasure. 



Yet the decline of native art was to some degree inevitable even if 



