If the present barrier reefs were at their | Pyramids and other great ruins, but how commencement border reefs attached to utterly insignificant are the greatest of land since submerged, there appears no these when compared to these mountains satisfactory reason why the law, in obedi- of stone accumulated by the agency of va ence to which these corals attached their rious minute and tender animals! This is structures to the land in the first instance, a wonder which does not at first strike the should not have caused them, as it subsid- eye of the body, but, after reflection, the ed, to carry up their perpetually-rising eye of reason.'*" structures in continuous contact with it. Or, if any law required the original builders to continue perpendicularly the wall which they had begun, others at least would have commenced new foundations at the point where, by subsidence, the unfringed land attained the same condition in regard to depth as that on which the first corals began their labours. The continued operation of the causes in which the structure commenced would have kept the corals in contact with the land, and have prevented the wide and sometimes deep spaces of water which interpose between the barrier reef and the shore; more especially as some of the corals found in shallows within the barrier appear to be of the same species as those composing the outer reef, although many of them are of smaller and less massive kinds. In addition to the low islands and reefs, there are higher coral islands, such as Henderson's Island described by Capt. Beechey; Rurutu, one of the Austral Islands, where coral rocks rise 300 feet above the sea; Maniaa, among the Harvey Islands, and others of equal elevation, all of which are of submarine coral formation, but have since undergone several changes, and present new arrangements of the calcareous matters. A scientific examination would probably furnish valuable additions to our present knowledge. But enough is already revealed to fill our minds with wonder at the myriads upon myriads of almost invisible living agents employed, and the imperceptible, but ceaseless processes by which the Divine Architect of the universe rears these vast and beautiful structures. Captain FitzRoy, says Mr. Darwin, found no bottom with a line 7200 feet in length, at the distance of only 2200 yards from the shore; hence this island (Keeling's) forms a lofty submarine mountain, with sides steeper even than those of the most abrupt volcanic cone. The saucer-shaped summit is nearly ten miles across; and every single atom, from the least particle to the largest fragment of rock, in this great pile, which however is small compared with very many other lagoon-islands, bears the stamp of having been subjected to organic arrangement. We feel surprise when travellers tell us of the vast dimensions of the There are several works which treat of these islands, and which are rich in the aid they afford for the study of human society under some of its extreme and almost incredible aspects. The journal of The Cruise of the Havannah' is the work of an able officer, and is as honourable to the service to which he belongs, as his considerate proceedings must have been advantageous to the people with whom he came in contact. Fiji and the Fijians,' especially the first volume, is replete with valuable information, some of it of a startling kind, respecting the people of whom it treats, and who seem to form the connecting link between the inhabitants of Eastern and Western Polynesia, partaking in some respects of the peculiarities of both, though in others different from either. The second volume adds another page to the history of the remarkable moral and social changes which the introduction of Christianity has produced in numbers of the most superstitious as well as the most barbarous races of men, proving that the Fijians, whose ferocity was at one time invincible, can, by means of religious teaching, attain a considerable amount of spiritual enlightenment, and by the use of letters and the stimulus of commerce acquire a good degree of civilization. The languages of the people inhabiting the several groups of islands are curiously interwoven with each other. In some respects they bear a resemblance to the languages of antiquity. Their double dual, and plural pronouns, viz., using one word for the speaker and the party spoken of, and another word to signify the speaker and the party spoken to, is a perfection which belongs to few other tongues. These peculiarities, together with the connexion which exists between the dialects of the lighter coloured races of Polynesia and those of the races inhabiting the Asiatic Archipelago on the one hand, and the inhabitants of the remote island of Madagas car on the other, if not also with some of the tribes of South America, render the philology of these regions unusually important in our endeavours to trace the migrations of the human family. In this depart * Darwin's 'Naturalist's Voyage,' p. 465. ment the missionaries have led the way, and by their elementary books, grammars, dictionaries, and translations, have afforded essential aid to other labourers who may extend their researches far beyond what the missionaries have attempted. A commencement has been made by Sir George Grey, now Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, from whose extensive collection of works in the native language of the New Zealanders, and of other Polynesians, as well as from his specimens of the languages of Southern Africa, good results may be expected. The ethnology of these tribes presents a number of features of great interest. Physically considered the Polynesians are a fine race. Few are below the middle stature, most of them above, especially the chiefs, many of whom are more than six feet high. On this account it has been supposed by some that the latter belonged to a race distinct from that of the general population; but the difference is probably due only to the superior care taken of them in childhood, and the better quality and more regular supply of their food. Besides the chiefs, there are in most of the tribes a number of tall and stout men. Of eleven persons belonging to ten different tribes in Polynesia, only one was so short as five feet two inches, one was six feet ten inches, and their average height was five feet ten. The biggest men are not the strongest. In general their frames are well proportioned, their limbs firm and muscular, the joints flexible, the head not too large. The face, sometimes, though but seldom, flat and approaching slightly to that of the Tartar and the Hottentot, is usually oval. The forehead is good, the features moderate-sized, the under-lip rather projecting, the teeth exceedingly white and regular, and the hair black. Many shades of colour occur amongst them. The prevailing hue is an olive-brown. The fairer tribes, viz. the Marquesans in the east, the natives of Phoenix, or Union Groups, in the west, said to be the fairest in the Pacific, and perhaps some of the families of the eastern islands, might compare with the inhabitants of Southern Europe; while amongst the darker-skinned tribes in Western Polynesia some are nearly as dark as negroes, or the natives of Mosambique. The deep tint of others, as the Fijis, is almost a bluish black. Many of the Polynesians, especially among the Marquesans, are perfect models of symmetry, and are singularly graceful in their movements. Some of the women, more particularly among the chiefs, are handsome; but in this respect they are far inferior to the men, probably on account of their coarser food as well as their greater exposure and toil. Numerous instances of the dignified and portly bearing of the chiefs of these islands have been recorded. Admiral Erskine thus speaks of a king of the Fijis. The chief himself, the most powerful, perhaps, of any in the Pacific, and certainly the most energetic in character, was seen seated in the attitude of respect to receive us. He rose, however, as we entered, seeing that it was expected, unfolding, as he did so, an immense train of native cloth, eight or ten yards long, from his waist, and invited me to occupy the one chair he possessed, the others taking their seats on rolls of cloth, or, like the natives, sitting cross-legged on the floor. It was impossible not to admire the appearance of the chief: of large, almost gigantic size, his limbs were beautifully formed and proportioned; his countenance, with far less of the Negro cast than among the lower orders, agreeable and intelligent; while his immense head of hair, covered and concealed with gauze, smoke-dried, and slightly tinged with brown, gave him altogether the appearance of an eastern sultan. No garments confined his magnificent chest and neck, or concealed the natural colour of the skin, a clear but decided black; and in spite of this paucity of attire-the evident wealth which surrounded him showing that it was a matter of choice, not of necessity-he looked "every inch a king."* The Polynesian ethnology points out the kind and degree of relationship which, in physical organization, in language, in mythology, traditions, and social usages, exists between these small communities widely separated, long excluded from intercourse with each other, and all of them isolated for ages from every other portion of the human race. The present state of these people shows the tendency of men to descend lower and lower in the social scale as they become more widely scattered and separated into small isolated bodies. The Fijians are represented as equal, if not superior, to other tribes of Polynesia, not only in strength and courage, but in industry and skill, as their weapons, pottery, and other articles of native manufacture, abundantly testify. They are also as numerous as any other tribes living within distances which admit, by the means at their command, of frequent intercourse; yet their wanton destruction of human life equals that of the worst types of humanity, Erskine's Voyages, p. 186. and their cannibalism far exceeds all that | food. When a chief has wished to have had ever been imagined as possible amongst the skull of an enemy for a soup-dish or beings bearing the semblance of men. drinking-cup, orders have been given not Other races in Polynesia have sunk as to strike the victim on the head. The low, and perhaps lower, in some kinds of butchery was sometimes rendered more debasement which outrage the instincts of horrible by the infliction of tortures--such our nature; but in feasting upon human as cutting off the limbs of the victim while flesh, the Fijians surpass them all. This still living, cooking and eating them before practice was not an occasional, but almost him, and even making him partake of his universal habit; and the various means own flesh. The number of bodies conused to enhance the horrible pleasure it sumed by some of the chiefs appears also afforded elevated it among them to the almost incredible. rank of an art. Human bodies,' according The abandonment of this and other to Mr. Williams, were eaten in many of hateful usages of the South Sea Islanders the frequently occurring events of life: on-the approach of men so circumstanced building a temple, commencing the structure of a canoe, launching the canoe; and men were sometimes killed to furnish blood with which to wash the decks of a newlymade canoe, and the bodies of such men were eaten.' On the arrival of a new canoe at an island, fourteen or fifteen men have been killed and baked to make a feast. The same frightful orgy has taken place on lowering the mast for the first time. On one occasion, when the number of bodies procured was more than could be consumed, the legs and arms were cooked, and the trunks were thrown away. Two days were occupied in cutting off and cooking the limbs. In the year 1851 fifty bodies were cooked at one time on Namena. Prisoners taken in war, and those who escaped from shipwreck, were usually eaten the former being first offered to the war god, and then prepared for food. Sometimes the body was baked whole, and, when removed from the oven, was fixed in a sitting posture. It was then covered with black powder, and carried about as if alive. Revenge was the frequent, but not the only, cause of this revolting practice. The sole motive was often the relish for human flesh. A Fijian has been known to lead his wife to the plantation, and, when the work was finished, has sent her to fetch fuel for the oven and a bamboo knife to cut up the victim. His orders having been obeyed, he killed and baked her. Young women were sometimes placed alive amongst heaps of vegetables and other food presented to the chiefs before being cooked. The victims were confined to neither age nor sex: grey-headed persons and children of both sexes were all devoted to the purpose. Some of the chiefs never ate human flesh, but they were exceptions to the mass of the people; women seldom touched the unhallowed * Fiji and Fijians,' vol. i. p. 206. even to the borders of civilization under the influence of Christianity-are amongst the most remarkable events of modern times. Contrasting strangely with these sources of encouragement is the fact of the rapid depopulation of the islands since they have been visited by white men. This diminution of numbers has extended to all portions of the race, from New Zealand to the Sandwich Islands, and appears to be in some respects as unaccountable as it is ominous. The natives themselves state, that after the departure of the earlier ships with which they had much communication, and after white men had become residents amongst them, some disease unknown before generally appeared amongst them, affecting a large portion of the population, and proving fatal to numbers. They add that this has happened when no sick person had been taken on shore, and when, so far as they knew, the disease had not existed among the foreigners at the time of their visit. The ravages of such diseases have, however, been of but short duration, and after a season the inhabitants have recovered their wonted health. The depopulation, therefore, can be ascribed only in a small degree to the introduction of European maladies, and indeed has taken place where no active disease was manifest. In When the Sandwich Islands were discovered in 1778, their population was estimated by Cook at 400.000. This was more than double its actual amount. 1825 it was estimated at 142,000; and when the census of 1836 was taken, the number was reduced to 108,579. The decrease of the people has continued. The mortality every year has been in excess of the births, much beyond what the occasional epidemics could have produced. In 1857 the deaths throughont the whole group were 2007, and the births during the same period only 1615. In some years the disproportion was greater still. Captain Cook estimated the population of Tahiti at 200,000, Forster stated it to be 121,000; both were greatly beyond the mark, for the missionaries residing there did not believe that the island contained, in the beginning of the present century, more than 8000 inhabitants. At present the number is less than 7000. These instances are sufficient to show the rate at which depopulation has ad vanced among these islands, and, considering the former social condition of the Polynesians, their infanticide, human sacrifices, cannibalism, wars, and excessive debauch ery, together with the introduction of intoxication and other vices, as well as maladies of foreign origin, it was not surprising that their race should have seemed verging towards annihilation. But the wasting away of the people has now continued for years after all the causes connected with their heathenism have ceased, while the vices and maladies of foreign origin affect only a portion of the population. Nay, the process goes on in spite of improved social habits, better food, better clothing, more comfortable dwellings, and notwithstanding that an appearance of health amongst the young would warrant the expectation of increased vigour. The amount of mortality is not now so disproportioned to the entire population as is the fewness of the births. Numbers of the marriages are not prolific, even where the couples are bale and in the prime of life, of moral and comparatively industrious habits, and in circumstances which secure the means of comfortable subsistence The depopulation appears to have been greatest where there has been the largest infusion of the white people, and it is also under these circumstances that the indications of a favourable reaction begin to appear. Various causes for the phenomenon have been assigned. Some suppose that it may have been produced in part by the altered mode of life among the females, by the exchange of the severe labour of the garden or the plantation, the exposure on the reef in fishing, and the accompanying coarse fare, for quieter and more sedentary occupations. It has also been ascribed to the long perpetuated consequences of gross licentiousness aggravated by excessive intoxication. But to whatever cause the decay may be attributed, which has threatened at no remote period to sweep the natives from the face of the earth, it would seem that the process is an inevitable condition of the transition from a state of barbarism to one of comparative civilization. It is but reasonable, therefore, to expect that, as their new modes of life be come fixed, the wonderful powers of adaptation with which the human constitution is endowed will arrest the evil, and ultimately lead to an augmented popula tion. There is no ground for concluding that the vitality and means of self perpetuation are extinct. On the contrary, we believe that with constitutions matured under the principles of religion, a higher state of morals, improved social habits, extended education, the stimulus to labour, and the rewards of enterprise which the advancement of commerce and industry will supply, the Polynesians may yet become an important portion of the population of that part of the world of which they have hitherto been the sole inhabitants. While these changes are in progress, commerce is extending its influence over these distant regions. The political disasters which have in recent years befallen Tahiti and the Society Islands will suffi ciently account for its decline in these localities. But though the traffic has been stationary, if not retrogade, since they have been under French authority, the increase of trade and the concurring signs of social advancement in some other parts of the Pacific have been astonishing. Forty years ago, when the last heathen ruler of the Sandwich Islands died, commerce had scarcely found its way to their shores. They were occasionally visited by a ship from the north-west coast of America, or an English or American whaler, and vessels in search of sandal-wood. Since that period, by the employment of foreign capi tal, and the energy and skill of a number of white men, naturalised subjects of the native sovereign, conjoined with the industry and enterprise of the indigenous population, these islands have become the most flourishing seat of commerce in the Pacific. The prosperity of the country in other respects has advanced with almost equal celerity. The government is ethiciently administered, and its independence is guaranteed by England, France, and America. The public revenue amounts to about 140,000%. a-year. The discovery of gold in California, which is situated at but a short distance, and is easy of access in native vessels, has opened new markets, and increased the general wealth of the islands. The culture of the sugar cane has been for some time carried on, and about 100 tons of sugar are made annually. Corn is grown, and large numbers of cattle are reared for the purpose of furnishing salt beef for exportation. A large fleet of coasting-vessels brings the greater part of the produce to Honolulu in Oahu, the chief port of the islands; and 2000 barrels of salt beef, 3000 barrels of flour, equal to any imported, large quantities of fire-wood, potatoes, pumpkins, vegetables, and fruits of all kinds, are annually furnished to merchant and whaling-ships. Native as well as foreign seamen may usually be obtained there. Less than forty years ago there was only one house in Honolulu built after the European model, and the walls and thatch of the rest were chiefly of native grass. Simple barter was the only species of commerce. Now the population of Honolulu averages about 9000. There are four ship-chandlery stores, about twenty importing houses, and from fifty to sixty retail stores; twelve hotels, nine or ten physicians, and five printing-offices. There are six churches, some of them very substantial specimens of architecture, and each capable of accommodating from 300 to 3000 persons. Schools both for native and foreign children are numerous. To the other departments of productive skill has recently been added that of whaling. The whaling fleet of the Sandwich Islands now numbers fifteen vessels. The The aggregate value of imports at Honolulu was, in 1857, 227,943l. The value of the goods brought into the other ports were, free, at Lahaina, 21087.; at Hilo, 6521.; at Kawaihae, 3237.; at Kealakeakua, 1167. and of products paying duty, at Lahaina, 2136/.; at Hilo, 1637.; at Koloa, 117. The total value of the imports of the Sandwich Islands was 235,448/* Many causes have combined to advance these islands beyond all others in the same proximity of the islands to the fishing region. Among these favouring circumgrounds, and other facilities, promise to stances may be mentioned their geographirender this a profitable investment of cal position, lying as they do in the direct capital, while it will increase the market route between the American continent and for native products. The present extent China, and the eastern seas; the conveof the commerce of these islands will ap-nient port for recruit and supply which pear from the following tables, which contain a detailed statement of the several classes of imports at Honolulu in 1857, and were prepared by the collector-general of customs in the Sandwich Islands: £. 55,381 55,985 they have for many years offered to whalers fishing in the Northern Pacific; the quantity of sandal-wood found during the earlier period of European intercourse; their comparatively strong government, and its friendly treatment of foreigners, attracting them to its shores, and guaranteeing their security; and the numerous intelligent and enterprising white men who have settled in the country. To these causes of prosperity must be added the large number of mission1,992 aries, schoolmasters, printers, &c., who, 12,958 with their wives, have made these islands 1,173 their home, and whose families have grown 3,217 The spiritual up amongst the people. 4,800 benefit of the natives was the chief object of the missionaries and their associates; but their educational establishments have £181,905 contributed largely to the general prosperity. 899 4,454 £. 223 The trade between the islands in the Southern Pacific and the adjacent coasts of America has been but limited. One article, 3,659 2,292 as remunerative perhaps as any, is fruit— 897 chiefly oranges, the produce of seeds or 332 768 Encyclopædia Britannica,' last edition, vol. 557 xviii., p. 273. |