394 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the latter country, the man who marries into another tribe or clan 

 takes up his abode in it, and is thenceforward reckoned with his 

 wife's family. It is also usual for the wife to raise her husband 

 to her own rank, while this is not done by the husband.* This 

 fact has been regarded as a survival of a clearly established fe- 

 male line, and a sign of the earlier pre-eminence of the wife ; but 

 it seems to me to imply precisely the opposite. Only the preva- 

 lent custom of ascribing the child to its father would induce the 

 kinsfolk of a woman of high rank to adopt her husband, in order 

 not to lose their hold upon the children. If the female line were 

 about to disappear, the growing claims of the husband would lead 

 to the adoption of his wife by his own family. 



It has been supposed that the strongest proof of the female 

 line is to be found among the Fiji Islanders, but here also the 

 spirit of mature criticism is wanting. We are told that the king 

 is succeeded by his brother, and by his eldest son only in the event 

 of his leaving no surviving brother. The mother's rank and some 

 other circumstances may, however, cause this rule to be violated, 

 so that the younger is preferred to the elder brother. \ The chief's 

 practice of extensive polygamy makes it desirable to establish the 

 child's rank by a reference to its mother. | The female line can not 

 be deduced from these customs, but a stronger proof is afforded 

 by the institution of the Vasu, which is described as follows : 

 " Most prominent among the public notorieties of Fiji is the Vasu. 

 The word means a nephew or niece, but becomes a title of office in 

 the case of the male, who, in some localities, has the extraordinary 

 privilege of appropriating whatever he chooses belonging to his 

 uncle, or those under his uncle's power. Vasus are of three kinds : 

 the Vasu taukei, the Vasu levu, and the Vasu ; the last is a com- 

 mon name, belonging to any nephew whatever. Vasu taukei is a 

 term applied to any Vasu whose mother is a lady of the land in 

 which he is born. The fact of Mbau being at the head of Fijian 

 rank gives the Queen of Mbau a pre-eminence over all Fijian 

 ladies, and her son a place nominally above all Vasus. No mate- 

 rial difference exists between the power of a Vasu taukei and that 

 of a Vasu levu, which latter title is given to every Vasu born of a 

 woman of rank, and having a first-class chief for his father. Vasu 

 taukei can claim anything belonging to a native of his mother's 

 land, excepting the wives, home, and land of a chief. . . . How- 

 ever high a chief may rank, however powerful a king may be, if 

 he has a nephew he has a master, one who will not be content 

 with the name, but who will exercise his prerogative to the full, 



* Thompson, vol. i, p. 176. Brown, p. 34. 



f Williams and Calvert, p. 18. Appendix xxvi. Rienzi, vol. iii, p. 286. Morgan, 

 "Systems," p. 582 ; "Ancient Societies," p. 375. 

 X Williams and Calvert, p. 26. Appendix xxvii. 



