Are We a Declining Race ? 



creased. ^Being released from the barbarous 

 club-law, and with no healthy public opinion 

 among themselves on those matters to deter 

 them, many have abused their liberty, using it as 

 an occasion for lasciviousness." 



He recommends that a pamphlet should be 

 written in the native language and be distributed 

 among them. 



This is most assuredly a practical admission 

 of the failure of missionary enterprise, after 

 twenty years of unopposed influence, and the 

 apparent conversion of the whole race to Chris- 

 tianity. This recommendation also shows the 

 weakness of our moral code ; verbal demonstra- 

 tion in such matters is tabooed, and recourse 

 must be had to an obscure pamphlet ! 



What a difference between this picture and 

 that of Dr. Seemann ! " It is quite against Fijian 

 ideas of delicacy that a man ever remains under 

 the same roof with his wufe, or wives, at night/' 

 The Fijian as a savage was in many respects 

 much superior to the Fijian as a British subject. 



Another missionary (Rev. H. Warrall, Wes- 

 leyan, Rewa), writes : " As a missionary in 

 charge of the largest circuit in Fiji, I am brought 

 in contact with more than 2,800 natives, so, in 

 considering the environments of these, I am pro- 

 bably considering what fairly applies to the 

 whole race. I say, without doubt, that the most 

 alarming factor in the sum total of the problem 

 before us is the rapid increase of immorality. It 

 is also impossible for me not to recognise the 

 very alarming fact that a large percentage of 

 this evil is to be laid to the charge of the high 

 68 



