794 REPORT — 1891. 



hair, lie says, is fine, very closely curled, and frizzly. Their colour is dark, but 

 not absolutely black. Their features possess little of the most marked and coarser 

 peculiarities of the negro type. The projecting jaws, the prominent thick lips, the 

 broad and flattened nose of the genuine negro are so softened down as scarcely to 

 be recognised. 



But let us hear now what Mr. Man has to tell us about the social, moral, and 

 intellectual qualities of these so-called savages, who had been represented to us as 

 cannibals ; as ignorant of the existence of a deity ; as knowing no marriage, except 

 what by a bold euphemism has been called communal marriage ; as unacquainted 

 with fire ; as no better than wild beasts, having heads, teeth, and eyes like dogs — 

 being, in fact, like big mastiffs. 



' Before the introduction into the islands of what is called European civilisa- 

 tion, the inhabitants,' Mr. Man writes, ' lived in small villages, their dwellings 

 built of branches and leaves of trees. They were ignorant of agriculture, and 

 kept no poultry or domestic animals. Their pottery was hand-made, their clothing 

 very scanty. They were expert swimmers and divers, and able to manu- 

 facture well-made dug-out canoes and outriggers. They were ignorant of metals, 

 ignorant, we are told, of producing fire, though they kept a constant supply of 

 burning and smouldering wood. They made use of shells for their tools, had 

 stone hammers and anvils, bows and arrows, harpoons for killing turtle and fish. 

 Such is the fertility of the island that they have abundance and variety of food all 

 the year round. Their food was inyariablj' cooked, they drank nothing but water, 

 and they did not smoke. People may call this a savage life. I know many a 

 starving labourer who would gladly exchange the benefits of European civilisation 

 for the blessings of such savagery.' 



These small islanders who have always been represented by a certain class of 

 anthropologists as the lowest stratum of humanity need not fear comparison, so far 

 as their social life is concerned, with races who are called civilised. So far from 

 being addicted to wliat is called by the self-contradictory name of communal 

 marriage, Mr. Man tells us that bigamy, polygamy, polyandrj', and divorce are 

 unknown to them, and that the marriage contract, so far from being regarded as a 

 merely temporary contract, to be set aside on account of incompatibility of temper 

 or other such causes, is never dissolved. Conjugal fidelity till death is not the 

 exception but the rule, and matrimonial differences, which occur but rarely, are 

 easily settled with or without the intervention of friends. One of the most 

 striking features of their social relations is the marked equality and affection which 

 exist between husband and wife, and the consideration and respect with which 

 women are treated might, with advantage, be emulated by certain classes in our 

 own land. As to cannibalism or infanticide, they are never practised by them. 



It is easy to say that Mr. Man may be prejudiced in favour of these little savages 

 whose language he has been at so much pains to learn. Fortunately, however, all 

 his statements have lately been confirmed by another authority. Colonel Cadell 

 — the Chief Commissioner of these islands. He is a Victoria Cross man, and not 

 likely to be given to overmuch sentimentality. Well, this is what he says of these 

 fierce mastifis, with feet a cubit in length: — 



They are merry little people, he says. One could not imagine how taking 

 they were. Everyone who had to do with them fell in love with them (these fierce 

 mastiffs). Contact with civilisation had not improved the morality of the natives, 

 but in their natural state they were truthful and honest, generous and self-denying. 

 He had watched them sitting over their fires cooking their evening meal, and it 

 was quite pleasant to notice the absence of greed and the politeness with which 

 they picked off" the tit-bits and thrust them into each other's mouths. The forest 

 and sea abundantly supplied their wants, and it was therefore not surprising that 

 the attempts to induce them to take to cultivation had been quite unsuccessful, 

 highly though they appreciated the rice and Indian corn which were occasionally 

 supplied to them. All was grist that came to their mill in the shape of food. The 

 forest supplied them with edible roots and fruits. Bats, rats, flying foxes, iguanas, 

 sea-snakes, molluscs, wild pig, fish, turtle, and last, though not least, the larvoe of 

 beetles, formed welcome additions to their larder. He remembered one morning 



