THE FIJIAN OF TO-DAY. 95 



Government, on account of the good sense and practical 

 capacity for affairs therein displayed. 



There is no doubt that we should have been spared many 

 bloody colonial wars if we had always followed the course 

 which was adopted after mature consideration by Sir Arthur 

 Gordon, on the advice of those who knew Fiji and the Fijians 

 best, of encouraging the retention by the natives of their 

 original political economy. Mr. Carew, the indefatigable 

 Commissioner of Viti Levu, strongly urged this policy on the 

 Government in October, 1875, and a summary of his letter 

 to Sir Arthur Gordon will give a very clear insight into 

 the feelings of the natives themselves in this matter, and 

 also some of their social characteristics. He says in effect : 

 English law is quite inapplicable to the exigencies of the 

 native community, except to a certain extent in capital 

 offences. The natives have a perfect dread of English law: 

 they know nothing of it. We have no right whatever to tear 

 down the whole system of native policy based on centuries of 

 experience, and which they all understand, without being able 

 to substitute anything comprehensible in its place. The natives 

 insist on punishment for adultery. If unpunished, murder is 

 generally the result. A native's wife is his cook, his gardener, 

 his horse and cart, his water-carrier, his fish-provider, and the 

 bearer of children to him to hand his name down to posterity. 

 A native without at least one child is an object of pity to his 

 tribe. If his wife leaves him to go with another man, he is 

 totally undone. He is heart-broken, and regards himself on a 

 level with a pig. His house is uncared-for his food uncooked 

 his garden overgrown with weeds ; he has to rely on the 

 assistance of his friends ; the elders of his own and the neigh- 

 bouring tribes will cease to visit his house or to consult with 



