A HISTORY OF FIJI 299 



of the fourteenth century or the plague in London in the time of 

 Charles II. resulted in any permanent physical deterioration of the 

 races they affected. The Fijians may be a vanishing people, but in 

 physical appearance they remain superior as of old, and their superb 

 stature and mental attainments appear not to have declined even though 

 the race as a whole be dying. 



There is, however, one cardinal evil in the Fijian situation and that 

 is the severe strain of child-raising which falls upon the women in a 

 country wherein the proper food for the maintenance of lactation has 

 not yet been produced in sufficient quantity. The children, being 

 thus in a peculiar sense dependent upon their mothers, will be pro- 

 foundly affected by any conditions which produce injury to the women 

 of the tribe. 



Yaws, dysentery and whooping cough are now primary causes of 

 the decline of population. Among minor causes the committee men- 

 tions the abolition of polygamy; for under monogamy the mother must 

 not only tend her child, but gather the food and cultivate the soil, 

 whereas in polygamous days these latter duties were taken over by the 

 other wives during the early period of the infant's life. 



The report makes it clear that the decline is due chiefly to the high 

 death rate of children, and also that we must proceed very slowly and sym- 

 pathetically, using as little force as possible, in the introduction of civili- 

 zation. The old socialism must gradually be replaced by a certain 

 measure of individualism, and the warrior's ambitions must give place 

 to those of the craftsman. Hygiene as a subject of primary importance 

 must be taught not only in the schools, but chiefly by example, upon 

 the plan of the college settlement, by teachers living in so far as pos- 

 sible as the natives themselves now live, thus slowly changing the 

 habits of life of those around them, and indeed these teachers should 

 themselves be natives of the most enlightened type, and maintained in 

 government employ. 



A most interesting sociological experiment has been conducted by 

 the British in their government of the Fijians. It is one of the very 

 few instances wherein altruism is the key-note in the rule of the strong 

 over the weak, and its maintenance through all these years in the face 

 of much discouragement and expense is an honor to Great Britain, in 

 the pride of which all the world may share — it is a rare triumph of 

 idealism over selfishness. 



As Mr. Allardyce, then colonial secretary, said to me : 



We came here not as conquerors but through invitation, and the best we 

 have to give is none too good for these people who have entrusted their destiny 

 to our care. 



Indeed, if the South Sea Islanders are now to be saved new interests 

 and new arts must be developed by them, and new ambitions other than 

 the withered remnants of the old must be created. Industrial schools 



