Notes on the Customs of Mota, Banks Islands. 121 



perty — pigs, money, &c. — which descends to them. This 

 practice has become so established that of late, perhaps 

 from some admixture of European ideas also, a man insisted 

 on his right to his father's fruit-trees without paying the 

 usual redemption-money, and shot the legitimate heirs for 

 interfering. 



There is no right of primogeniture. Daughters inherit 

 land if there are no sons. 



Bequests. — A man will give directions before death as to 

 his personal property — what one son is to have, and what 

 another. He will also arrange as to what his sons are to 

 give to redeem the real property from his heirs — i.e., from 

 his sister's children. 



[In Fiji the tenure of land is distinctly tribal, and the title is vested in all 

 the fullborn members of the tribe. The land is of three kinds — the yavu, or 

 town lot; the nggele, or arable land ; and the veikau, or forest. The veikau 

 is common to all the members of a community, but the yavu and the 

 nggele are divided and sub-divided. Each owner, however, holds for the 

 household to which he belongs, the household holds for the clan, the clan for 

 the tribe, the .tribe for the community, and the community for posterity. 

 Each generation has the usufruct only, and cannot alienate the land. The 

 chiefs have overridden this rule, but most unjustly. 



The law of primogeniture exists in Fiji to the extent that the eldest son 

 succeeds to the headship of the household rather than the younger. In some 

 of the tribes the descendants of the elder brother are the elder brothers for 

 ever. 



Fruit trees are often held by persons who do not own the land, but there is 

 a curious distinction here. The property in this case is rather in the fruit 

 than in the tree, and is, therefore, not considered to be in the land. You may 

 take the fruit, but you must not cut down the tree without the landowner's 

 permission. A remarkable distinction was made by one of my Fijian in- 

 formants: — "He who has a tree on another man's land may cut it down and 

 take it away. His axe does not touch the soil. But he may not dig the tree 

 up by the roots, for his digging-stick would turn up the soil." 



Inheritance follows descent. Descent being uterine in Mota, the sister's 

 son inherits. As a general rule, this is not so in Fiji, excepting among certain 

 tribes who have uterine succession. But the tribes which have agnatic 

 descent still bear strong marks of the older line. The sister's son is vasu to 

 his maternal uncle, and can take extraordinary liberties with his property. 



Daughters can scarcely be said to inherit land in Fiji. Land is given with 

 them on their marriage, but it is not given to them. If they hold at all it is 

 only as a means of transmitting the land to their children. 



The Mota practice of " redemption of the inheritance" is very interesting. 

 It is a step towards agnatic succession; and I think we need not look to the 

 introduction of " European ideas" for the cause of the violent assertion of 

 ownership in the fruit-trees mentioned by Mr. Codrington. Uterine descent 

 works well enough among nomad hunters or herdsmen; but agricultural 

 settlement is sure to be fatal to it sooner or later. 



Bequests of personal property are made in Fiji as in Mota. — L. F.] 



3. Maeriage. 



A match is arranged generally by the relatives, and a pay- 

 ment is made to the father, who will give up his daughter 

 when it is thought desirable. There is no ceremony; but 



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