NATURE 



THURSDAY, JULY 28, i88i 



MISS GORDON GUMMING' S ''FIJI" 

 At Home in Fiji. By C. F. Gordon Cumming. In Two 

 Volumes. With Map and Illustrations. Second 

 Edition. (London : Blackwood and Sons, 1881.) 



MISS GORDON CUMMING is a most indefatigable 

 traveller, daunted by no hardships or discomforts, 

 ready to push her way anywhere, and as happy and con- 

 tented almost in a Fijian dwelling as if at home. She has 

 travelled over most of the world, and being a most skilful 

 draughtswoman, has, like Miss North, brought back with 

 her a vast series of large coloured sketches of all the 

 principal points of interest visited by her. Whilst how- 

 ever Miss North's fine and most instructive collection is 

 executed in oils, the author of the present work sketches 

 in water colours. Miss Gordon Cumming's drawings are 

 very beautiful and, as all those who have been fortunate 

 enough to see them can testify, e.xtremely faithful repre- 

 sentations of the scenes which they depict, and she has 

 sketched some of the most interesting scenes existing, 

 such as the hot springs and geysers of New Zealand, the 

 ruined ancient cities of Ceylon, the summit of Adam's 

 peak at sunrise, with the curious coloured edged shadow 

 then cast by the mountain, and the ever-surging lava lakes 

 of Kilauea in Hawaii. She went to Fiji as companion to 

 Lady Gordon on the appointment of Sir Arthur Gordon as 

 first governor of the islands in the beginning of 1 875. She 

 stayed there more than a year and a half, seeing a great 

 deal of the people and constantly travelling in various 

 parts of the group. The present book is a bright and 

 pleasant account of what she saw and did. She made a 

 large series of sketches, and seven of these, reproduced 

 by the autotype process, illustrate the present work. 

 Any one who knows Fiji will at once recognise the minute 

 accuracy with which they represent the scenery of that 

 beautiful group, though they are, of course, but feeble 

 substitutes for the coloured originals. 



It is pleasing to learn that the Wesleyan missionaries, 

 to whom the entire credit of the civilisation of the Fijis is 

 due, expressed their satisfaction at the annexation when 

 it actually took place. They certainly had very serious 

 apprehensions as to its effect on the well-being of the 

 native population some years before, when the matter was 

 only under consideration. It is a pity indeed that the 

 hoary old cannibal Thackombau was taken down to 

 Sydney to bring back the measles to his islands and thus 

 destroy a third of the population. The difficulties of the 

 problem with which Sir Arthur Gordon had to deal at the 

 outset of his governorship were greatly enhanced and 

 complicated by the effects of this terrible mishap. It is 

 pleasing to learn that old Thackombau is still as fond of 

 his bible as when we saw him seven years ago ; he cannot 

 read it, apparently, but, as our authoress tells us, " it 

 makes him feel so good." No doubt if he could read 

 some of the battle scenes in Kings he would feel better 

 still. 



Fijians seem to be rather a failure as domestic 

 servants. 



" Day after day you must show them exactly how 

 everything is to be done, and may be certain that each 

 time it will be done wrong, and that the moment your 

 Vol. XXIV. — No. 613 



back is turned they will proceed to bruise up a bit of 

 tobacco in a banana leaf and deliberately smoke their 

 cigarette before touching the work you have given them. 

 Probably they will follow you to ask where the matches 

 are, and the only answer to any remonstrance is ' malua ' 

 (by and by), a universal principle which is the bane of 

 Fijian life. They are honest, though sometimes they 

 cannot resist borrowing large English bath towels, which 

 make most tempting sitlus (kilts), and nice cambric hand- 

 kerchiefs are a tempting covering for carefully dressed 

 hair. It would be right and proper that they should use 

 things belonging to their own chiefs, so we need not 

 wonder that they cannot always discriminate." 



The authoress was especially struck by the absence ot 

 flowers in the island, and describes this fact as all the 

 more striking to her after a vogage direct from Australia 

 (Sydney), where the whole country was aflame with 

 blossom. She walked day after day till she was weary 

 without finding as many flowers as would fill a small vase. 

 She bears testimony, on the other hand, to the profusion 

 of ferns. Mr. Wallace has dwelt in his work on " Island 

 Life " on the causes to which this absence of flowers in 

 oceanic islands is due. Miss Gordon Cumming's testi- 

 mony on the matter is interesting. 



Sir Arthur Gordon was punctilious in matters of native 

 etiquette, and constantly attended kaava yangona drink- 

 ings. It is quite new to us to learn that the process of pre- 

 paring kaava by chewing in Fiji was imported from Tonga, 

 and that in the interior the old custom of grating the 

 pepper root survives. If this statement is correct the pro- 

 cess must have come from Tonga some time ago, for the 

 root is only grated there now by order of the missionaries, 

 who introduced this method in order to prevent the 

 spread of disease occurring in consequence of the chewing. 

 As chewing was the method adopted originally all over 

 Polynesia, it would be strange if Fiji had been an exception 

 in the matter. 



Some remarks are made in the work on the so-called 

 ortJtodox mode of Fijian spelling, that is to say, the 

 strange mode of spelling which the missionaries have 

 thought fit to adopt. According to this spelling Thackom- 

 bau is spelt Cacobau, c being used instead of //;, and an n 

 sound, whi' h invariably occurs before d, g, and q, being 

 omitted in the spelling. There seems nothing to be 

 gained and all to be lost by this arrangement, a mere 

 going out of the way to create a difficulty, unless indeed 

 it be a device to prevent the Fijians when taught to read 

 and write Fijian from being able to read English. 



Amongst the crowds of plantation labourers from all 

 parts of Polynesia the authoress specially mentions the 

 Tokelau islanders, "with their long straight hair, large 

 dark eyes, and sallow faces." There is something ver>' 

 peculiar in the Tokelau race, and we believe there is 

 much of importance yet to be made out with regard to it. 

 Every visitor to Levuka cannot help being struck at once 

 by the very marked difference in appearance between the 

 Tokelau men and women and all other Polynesians and 

 Melanesians taken together amongst the labour popula- 

 tion of the place. They alone of all the islanders can be 

 recognised in any crowd at once by any one without any 

 fear of mistake. They have a Mongolian look, and we 

 cannot help thinking there is something remarkable in 

 their origin, although their language is very closely allied 

 to Samoan. 



A lively account is given of a Palolo fishery, which 



