AMONG THE FIJI ISLANDS. 651 



proportioned from head to foot — no falling away abont the calves, 

 or spur-like heels, as one sees in some of the finer India^n races. 

 Then such a carriage — broad shoulders, with the head well set on 

 and thrown back. The mop head of hair, composed of long, sepa- 

 rate spirals carefully tended and frizzed out, which is so special a 

 characteristic of the race that till lately it was thought a natural 

 peculiarity of the hair, is now unfortunately going out of fashion. 

 It gives a very imposing appearance to the wearer, like a gigantic 

 Guard's " bear-skin," but is now curtailed to the modest dimen- 

 sions of four to six or seven inches in length. It is often dyed to 

 a yellowish brown by a weekly plastering with lime, which also 

 stiffens it, and is very becoming, though its primary use is to de- 

 stroy the superabundant insect colonies. Any actor wishing to 

 acquire the gait of conventional majesty should come out here 

 and watch the ordinary Fijians walking up and down, every inch 

 a king, and, in quaint combination with this majestic strut, hold- 

 ing each other's hands like little children. In color some few are 

 very black, but the great majority vary from a dark bronze to 

 chocolat Menier ; and one is often inclined to wonder whether the 

 ancient use of bronze in statuary was suggested by the coloring of 

 some such race. Certainly in this color humanity may go naked 

 and not be ashamed. The costume proper is only the sidu, or 

 waist-cloth ; and there can be no better proof of the Fijian's nat- 

 ural dignity and look of breeding, than that the too frequent addi- 

 tion of a dirty flannel shirt does not always transform him into a 

 ruffian or a snob. When a black coat and trousers are superadded 

 — ^happily this is still very rare — as much can not be said ! 



The mysterious question of a general decline of these races has 

 often been discussed, and has been ascribed to many causes, all of 

 which contribute something, and some of which, as drink and 

 debauchery, are obvious. Hardly less so, perhaps, the going to 

 church in a full suit of European clothes, and sitting naked in a 

 draught to cool themselves afterward ! For this reckless intro- 

 duction of clothing, not less deleterious than unsesthetic, the more 

 ignorant missionary of former days has to answer, and disease 

 has not unfrequently been introduced, besides, in second-hand 

 clothing. 



One hopes against hope, and against such experience as one 

 has, that the decline of the Fijians will be arrested. The disap- 

 pearance from the earth of these very fine races — for the Poly- 

 nesians are finer still, perhaps the finest-looking race anywhere — 

 is a distinct loss to the world, and not merely from a sentimental 

 or antiquarian point of view. The experiment of preserving such 

 a race has certainly never been tried before under such favorable 

 circumstances, for the workers have had carte blanche; but it 

 would not be surprising if, feeling they are fighting a losing bat- 



