112 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
Problems and Resources, by Major W. A. Chapple,’’ the most re- 
cent and authoritative publication I have found, and I am glad 
to quote from it. Speaking of the Fijians, he says, ‘‘ Nothing is 
ever seen to offend the eye of the most sensitive observer. There 
are not even overtures of affection between the sexes. The women 
are shy and diffident. The men never leer or follow. The Fijian 
people might be all of one sex for all that in public is betrayed 
to the contrary. Hyde Park and Brighton Beach would shock 
them to stupefaction.’’ 
‘‘The promiscuous love scenes portrayed in the pictures show 
the whites in an unfavorable light to the astonished Indians and 
Fijians, and if some precocious Fijian or agitating coolie on a 
visit to Britain were to undertake a ‘Report’ on the morals of the 
whites, it might be as lurid as other ventures of a like nature.”’ 
All this is so contrary to the stories brought back from the 
South Pacific by some of our popular writers that it is calculated 
to upset our preconceived notions regarding morality in the sunny 
isles of the sea. The writer does not challenge the veracity of 
these travelers, but does insist that their description does not apply 
to the Fijians. In this connection I was much interested in certain 
passages found in ‘‘Last Days in New Guinea,’’ by Captain Monk- 
ton, who describes the Binandere, one of the largest tribes, as a 
people who ‘‘though fierce warlike cannibals were also honest, 
truthful, and moral to the last degree.’’ It is interesting to note 
that it is very generally thought that the Fijians are derived in 
part from these people, and that some of their most commendable 
moral standards may have come down from a remote ancestry in 
New Guinea. It also reveals the curious fact that cannibalism 
may not be incompatible with good morals in other directions. 
Taking it all in all every one of our little party considers the 
Fijians the finest race of natives that he has seen, and some of us 
have had a rather extensive acquaintance with native peoples. It 
is quite evident, moreover, that the colonial officials have a real 
admiration for the Fijians with whom they, of course, have had 
long and intimate contact. And I have heard warmer commen- 
dation for the Fijians than for any other native people in the 
colonial possessions of Great Britain which I have visited. 
Nearly all of the Fijians live in small hamlets and villages which 
are, in fact, communes. <A study of these miniature communes is 
well worth while as here we have communism reduced to its simp- 
lest form. The biologist studies the ameba as illustrating the 
