A Remarkable Example of Decline. 



innocent enough, and very interesting, both to 

 the missionaries, and to the onlookers, who were 

 in sympathy with them ; yet there were others 

 who viewed these proceedings with far different 

 feelings than those of approval. Pessimists, 

 some perhaps will say, yet subsequent events 

 showed that there was reason in their pessimism. 



I mentioned before that this universal matri- 

 mony was a new idea, and, like all new ideas, it 

 was carried to an extreme. With what results ? 

 Within twelve months of the annexation, the 

 Fijians were overtaken by a great calmity ; an 

 epidemic of measles ravaged the whole group of 

 islands, carrying off some forty thousand natives. 



This was all the more significant, as such a 

 disease as measles was quite new to them. 



Many of the more superstitious looked upon 

 this as a judgment on them for changing their 

 mode of life, and giving up their lands, so they 

 fled to the mountains, and some time and trouble 

 were involved before they could be prevailed 

 upon to return. 



Following the measles, they were attacked 

 with catarrh ; then with whooping cough among 

 the children. 



These seemed to be but the commencement of 

 their troubles, and when the census of 1881 was 

 taken, it was found that the native population 

 had decreased in numbers to the extent of about 

 fifty thousand. The estimated population at the 

 time of the annexation in 1874 was 150,000 ; in 

 1897 the native population was 99,773. 



As the Europeans prospered in wealth, so the 

 Fijians deteriorated in physique, until at length, 



Q ? Q3 



