of worship, and we could disco ver no idols. An old chief one
day conducted M. d’Urville to his atoua, which he found to
be an ant’s nest in the middle of a wood. Whatever thing
■they consecrate becomes to them an object of worship. They
consecrate objects for their divinities, and when they-wanted
any thing from us they had the cunning to ask it for their
atoua.
“ What most astonished me in this island was that these
people speak a dialect of the Polynesian language, and not
that of New Guinea and the neighbouring islands. They
were able easily to converse with the Tikopians and the inhabitants
of the Friendly Islands.
“ We can scarcely estimate the population of Vanikpro, in
ten or twelve villages, ns equal to a thousand souls. Twelve
or thirteen huts contain a tribe; the huts are square or oval,
and made of the broad leaves of the Vacoua; the fire is in
the middle, and the smoke issues from the only aperture. We
saw two or three individuals of mixed race descended from
Polynesians, who appeared more ro b u st and more inteligent
than the: rest.”*
It would seem from this account that the Yanikorians
rather belong to the type of the Puny Negroes of the Indian
Seas than to the Papua race. We now proceed to a black
race of a very different character.
Paragraph 2.—Natives of the Fijian or Vltlan Archipelago.
The archipelago of the Fiji or Feejee Islands lies to the
eastward of the New Hebrides,’ and therefore beyond the line
which I have above described as the eastern limit of Kelee-
nonesia. It is situated between 15° 30' and 19° 30' of south
latitude. It comprises 154 islands, of which 65 are said to
be inhabited, and the remaining 89 to be occasionally frequented.
The distance between theTongan and the Fijian
groupes is so short that the natives of the Tonga Islands
occasionally frequent the Fijian for the sake of traffic, and
Voyage de l'Astrolabe, tom. v. prérn. part. p. 361.
principally To obtain .sandal-wood, which is a produce of the
Tongan grdujse.. A part of the Fijian archipelago was at one
time subjected to Finou, the king of Tonga. The largest
island of this groupe is Fau,
which is the second in extent of the eastern >Oceanic islands.
Kandabouj Vanoua-Levou, and Laguemba are the* other principal
islands. According'to “ D’Urville the proper name of
these islands is Viti or-Biti, of' which Fiji isl;ajcorruption in
the Tonga langtjhge^i The 'Vitian jpeo^leo call themselves
Kaï-Bitiy from therrobf hai, which1-means ;in(thei>F language
‘‘ to-be” or “ to.live«*’-T>
■ The Fij^islands were discovered by. Tasman, who called
them Prince William’s Islands, c
The Fijian people arcr-feA^ïTasiaarkablè rrace) and the-
relation they bean-to the other nations ïof îôceapdca ; is * a problem
of gr^at interest, and at present of some difficulty. /
Most voyagers describe the Vitians;. as a Negropfcace, or
belonging: to the black tribes of the feouthem ocean. Dumont
d’Urville says that-they are one>of tfae*sfipe[Si{varieties. of this
taee»r “ Tall, well-made, i active, and mu scalar,% They have
-®fet ThaT tendency to obesity which is.soicommoif hmong-the
peOpliaof Tonga*.. They havk the upper?part ©f the face
broad, noses large and flat, large mouths, thick lips, white
teeth, and full eyebrows ; but thek. most> \striking character
is their sooty complexion—1 teint fuligineux ’-—and their, crisp
hair, which gives to their countenance a gloomy and fierce
expression. Their long beards, the practice of pierctng the
lobe of tbe ear with a wide .opening, Thdsign.of astonishment
expressed by placing their fingers on their mouths and then
shaking them with a clapping noise, the shells worn in their
collars and bracelets, their bows and arrows, and lastly, the
use of earthen pots in which they keep fire, are characteristicS
observed among the black tribes of the .Ocean. Their haiir,
as among these same tribes,- is,, greased and coloured with
white, red, grey, or black powder, according to the taète of
individuals ; and they are nearly naked, wearing only a band
of cloth, rolled up in the form of a maro, round their loins.
Nevertheless they brought and sold to us entire pieces of this
doth, some white, others adôrned, and similar to the fabric
* \ . r 2