October 9, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



505 



during the whole period while the mission- 

 aries were, with a rashness only justified 

 by the circumstances, testifying against 

 the natives of Fiji not one of these was 

 killed, till at a much later period, when 

 European influence was all but predom- 

 inant in Fiji, Baker was killed and eaten 

 under very special circumstances. 



If it were possible to ascertain in each 

 case the facts as to the reception by "sav- 

 ages" of the first white men they saw, it 

 would almost certainly be found that the 

 reception was apparently kindly, though 

 this kindness may really have been due to 

 fear and not to charity. It was, however, 

 quite probable that at any moment the sav- 

 age might find that his dread of the white 

 man was unfounded, and in that ease he 

 might kill him {i. e., separate his soul from 

 his body) without hesitation, and after 

 doing this his fear — he probably never had 

 any affection for him — of the disembodied 

 spirit of the white man might be as great, 

 or even greater, than before. 



Incidentally it may here be noted, as a 

 further curious point, that a Fijian who thus 

 quite remorselessly set free the soul of a 

 stranger from his body would probably not 

 often and not for long in his dreams be 

 revisited by his victim, if a native; and 

 perhaps not even if the victim were a white 

 man, unless very remarkable. In other 

 words, the victim survives only just so long 

 as he is remembered. Captain Cook, we 

 know, survived for very long, perhaps 

 does so still; few, if any, of such beach- 

 combers as were later killed in Fiji sur- 

 vived for any length of time; and the in- 

 numerable natives who were drifted or 

 washed to one or other of the islands must 

 for the most part have passed from mem- 

 ory soon after they were killed. 



It has been suggested that the killing of 

 strangers may have been for the purpose 

 of preventing the introduction of disease; 



and it is certain that, perhaps even before 

 the coming of white men, the islanders 

 recognized that the advent of strangers 

 was curiously often and most disastrously 

 followed by the introduction of new dis- 

 eases, either real diseases or at least some 

 queer, unexplained influence which has 

 so often made life not worth living for 

 savages where white strangers have been. 



The Fijians were hardly more notorious 

 for cannibalism than for theft — and al- 

 most as undeservedly. There is hardly an 

 account of the visit of a European ship in 

 early times to any of the islands which 

 does not mention that the islanders who 

 came aboard took whatever they fancied, 

 either quite openly or if furtively then 

 without evincing anything like shame when 

 discovered. This habit, which the explor- 

 ers naturally called theft, was but the 

 manifestation of a South Sea custom, due 

 to the entire absence of any idea of per- 

 sonal property, which in Fiji is called 

 keri-keri. To keri-keri was to take what- 

 ever you wanted and could take without 

 the previous holder of the property pre- 

 venting you. In old days no Fijian 

 doubted his own absolute right to keri- 

 keri, nor did he feel the very slightest 

 shame in thus (as we should say) "de- 

 priving another of his property" or 

 "stealing"; and even to this day the 

 Fijian, provided that he is not really 

 Europeanized, will keri-keri without 

 shame. In short the idea of ownership and 

 individual property never occurred to the 

 natural Fijian. He took what he wanted, 

 and was strong enough to take. But, on 

 the other hand, he yielded up, practically 

 without reluctance, whatever another 

 stronger or cleverer than himself wanted 

 and was able to take from him. 



Of the many other charges of "sav- 

 agery" made against Fijians, I can, in the 

 time at my disposal, deal with but one 



