336 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



fowls. A voyage in an open boat has many discomforts, espe- 

 cially when the boat is crowded. The managing to sleep six 

 together in the confined space of the stern-sheets of a ship's 

 barge, was a difficult matter, especially as the available surface 

 was rendered extremely irregular by the various articles neces- 

 sarily stowed upon it, such as provision boxes and beer cases. 

 We all slept with our shooting-boots on, to ensure mutual 

 respect, as we lay packed like herrings in a barrel. On the 

 whole the trip was pleasant enough, and the inconveniences 

 as nothing compared with the interest of a visit to such places 

 as Mbau and Viti Levu. 



One feature of interest in the Fijis, which I have forgotten to 

 mention, arises from the importation of labour. At Levuka are 

 to be seen men from the New Hebrides and Solomon Islanders. 

 Further, the curious straight-haired most characteristically 

 featured Tokelau race, or Union Islanders, mostly girls: also 

 Tongans and Samoans and a few Negroes from the United 

 States. Eepresentatives from almost all Polynesia, assemble 

 here and may be studied by the Anthropologist. 



Nothing surprised me more than the great power of the 

 chiefs in Fiji, and the absolute subserviency of the lower classes 

 to them. The reality of the various grades of rank amongst such 

 savages, and the abject condition of the slaves, were facts which 

 I had not previously realized. 



Facial expression is far less marked in the Fijians than the 

 Tongans. Amongst the lower classes there is a remarkable 

 want of expression ; there is also, as far as I saw, entire absence 

 of gesticulation during conversation. The methods of affirma- 

 tion and beckoning are the same as in Tonga ; the throwing up 

 of the head in affirmation is common to many races, being used 

 by the New Zealanders, Abyssinians, and Tagals of Luzon* The 

 forehead muscles are little used, at least by the ordinary people. 

 Amongst the families of the chiefs there is much Tongan blood. 

 Thackombau wrinkled his forehead constantly during his con- 

 versation with our party, and one of the mountaineers, prisoners 

 whom I saw at Livoni in Ovalau, knit his brows frequently 

 when I was asking him about his eating human flesh. 



* C. Darwin, " The Expressions of the Emotions," p. 275. 



