THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 29 



religion, the nature of the people has been changed ; no longer is 

 the wild cannibal feast a possibility, and the great lali, or drums,, 

 which formerly sounded the dread signal of death, now serve the 

 purpose of church bells, their musical booming being heard in 

 every village as the call to the regular religious exercises. One may 

 now go anywhere in Fiji, and every evening at the regular hour 

 the lali will be heard, and the people collect to hold their evening 

 services. Schools and colleges in which the white missionaries, 

 belonging to the Wesleyan denomination, are ably assisted by 

 trained natives, are established at central spots for the training of 

 native missionaries and teachers. Every village has its school, in 

 which the little brown children are taught by native teachers who 

 have been trained in the colleges. These children are able to 

 read and write their own language quite as fluently and legibly as 

 the children of European peoples of corresponding age are able 

 to do theirs. The trained native missionaries read and write in 

 every respect as well as do Europeans. This may be judged by 

 an inspection of the letters exhibited, which were sent to me by a 

 native student whom I used to employ to assist me in collecting. 

 The one letter is written in Fijian and the other in English, and 

 both are explanatory of his being unable to keep appointments 

 which we had made. 



Although fully as intelligent and receptive a race as the Fijians,. 

 the Maoris were by no means as amenable to missionary influence, 

 nor as readily persuaded to abandon their barbarous customs. It 

 was only by the use of great tact and caution that the early 

 missionaries managed to gain any influence, and many and dis- 

 heartening were the rebuffs with which they met in their labours. 

 The Maoris always were suspicious of some ulterior purpose, and 

 it required much patient application on the part of the 

 missionaries to gain their confidence. The teaching of the 

 doctrine of love, aroha a te atua, was something quite new to the 

 Maori, and so much at variance with his own ideas and practices 

 as to be quite unintelligible. The law of revenge was his law, 

 and when the pakeha told him of a law of forgiveness he turned 

 away with scorn and contempt. Those tribes who were induced 

 to embrace the new doctrine were looked upon by their neigh- 

 bours as having grievously degenerated, and were subjected to 

 all manner of persecution. However, patience, enthusiasm, and 

 perseverance conquered in the end, and gradually this noble race 

 became amenable to the new order of things. Colleges and 

 schools for the Maoris are now abundant, and the great bulk of 

 the natives are very well educated. They have shown great 

 shrewdness as business men, and Maori members sit in 

 Parliament to represent the native interest. 



It is very sad to think that both Fijian and Maori are slowly 

 but surely decreasing in number. The advent of the white man 



