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 158 F I L F I L 200,000, it has since rapidly diminished, owing at first to the evils above described (aggravated probably by con tact with the vicious European element), and afterwards to that fatal languor which so often accompanies the introduction of civilization, the deaths now outnumbering the births. Before the annexation to Britain (1874) there were about 140,000, but 40,000 fell victims to measles soon after. This diminution might perhaps be combated by the encouragement of their old athletic sports under an enlightened Christianity. The exact ethnological posi tion of the people is a problem. They occupy the extreme east limits of Papuan territory, but far surpass the pure examples of that race, combining their dark colour, harsh hirsute skin, crisp hair, 1 and muscular limbs with the handsome features of the brown Polynesian race. They are tall and well-proportioned, the average physical development being much higher than our own. The features are strongly marked, but not unpleasant, the eyes deep set, the beard thick and bushy. The chiefs are fairer, much better looking, and of a less negroid cast of face than the people. This negroid type is especially marked on the west coasts, and still more in the interior of Viti Levu. Many other characteristics of both races are found, e.y., the quick intellect of the fairer, and the savagery and suspicion of the dark ; they wear a mini mum of covering, but, unlike the Melanesians, are strictly decent, while they are more moral than the Polynesians. A partial circumcision is practised, which is exceptional with the Melanesians, nor have these usually an elabo rate political and social system like that of Fiji. The status of the women is also somewhat better, those of the upper class having considerable freedom and influence. Till taught by the Tongans they were, like other Mela nesians, timid sailors. The prevalence of one language (though in several dialects) contrasts with the endless variety among the Melanesians. It is copious, flexible, vigorous, fundamentally Melanesian, but largely modified in vocabulary and even in structure by the Polynesian. It has been argued from, among other considerations, the number of places with Tongan names, and from certain old Tongan traditions, that the ancestors of that people, in their migration from the west, were, after remaining a long time in Fiji, finally expelled thence by the aboriginal and darker race. Fijian traditions, however, point to no such movement, only asserting the greater unity of the race in former times, and placing even the creation of man, the scene of the deluge, and of the building of a tower of Babel, on Fijian soil. At all events the Fijian is a well-established race, and the fusion of the elements which produced it cer tainly dates from a remote past. If less readily amenable to civilizing influences than their neighbours to the eastward, they show greater force of character and ingenuity. Possessing the arts of both races they practise them with greater skill than either. They understand the principle of division of labour and production, and thus of commerce. They are skilful culti vators, and good boat-builders, the carpenters being an here ditary caste ; there are also tribes of fishermen and sailors ; their mats, baskets, nets, cordage, and other fabrics are substantial and tasteful ; their pottery, made like much of the above by women, is far superior to any other in the South Seas, but, with many other native manufactures, is being supplanted by European articles. History. A few islands in the N.E. of the group were first seen by Tasman in 1643. The southernmost of the group, Turtle Island, was discovered by Cook in 1773. Bligh visited them in 1789, and Captain Wilson of the &quot;Duff&quot; in 1797. In 1827 1 The elaborate mop into -which the hair is trained (as among cer tain tribes in East Africa and elsewhere) has led to the belief that its peculiar appearance is due to irregular aggregations of the follicles, but this has been disproved. D Urville in the &quot; Astrolabe &quot; surveyed them much more accurately, but the first thorough survey was that of the United States ex ploring expedition in 1840. Up to this time, owing to the evil reputation of the islanders, European intercourse was very limited. About the year 1804 some escaped convicts from Australia and runaway sailors established themselves around the east part of Viti Levu, and by lending their services to the neighbouring chiefs probably led to their pre ponderance over the rest of the group. Na Ulivau, chief of the small island of Mbau, established before his death in 1S29 a sort of supremacy, which was extended by his brother Tanoa, and byTanoa s sou, the well-known Thakombau, a ruler of considerable capacity. In his time, however, difficulties thickened. The Tongans, a 1 olynesian people 250 miles to the S.E. (see FRIENDLY ISLANDS), who had long frequented Fiji (especially for canoe-building, their own islands being deficient in timber), now came in larger numbers, led by an able and ambitious chief, Maafu, who, by adroitly taking part in Fijian quarrels, made himself chief in the Windward group, threaten ing Thakombau s supremacy. He was harassed, too, by an arbitrary demand for 9000 from the American Government, for alleged in juries to their consul. Several chiefs who disputed his authority were crushed by the aid of King George of Tonga, who (1855) had opportunely arrived on a visit ; but he afterwards, taking some oil ence, demanded 12,000 for his services. At last Thakombau, disappointed in the hope that his acceptance (1854) of Christianity would improve his position, offered (1858) the sovereignty to England, with the fee simple of 100,000 acres, on condition of her paying the American claims. Colonel Smythe, E.A., was sent out to report on the question, and decided against annexation, but advised that the British consul should be invested with full magisterial powers over his countrymen, a step which would have averted much subsequent difficulty. Meanwhile Dr Seemaun s favourable report on the capabilities of the islands, followed by a time of depression in Australia and New- Zealand, led to a rapid increase of settlers from 200 in I860 to 1800 in 1869. This produced fresh complications, and an increasing desire among the respectable settlers for a competent civil and criminal jurisdiction. Attempts were made at self-government, and the sovereignty Avas again offered, conditionally, to England, and to the United States. Finally, in 1871, a &quot;constitutional government &quot; was formed by certain Englishmen under King Thakombau ; but this, after incurring heavy debt, and promoting the welfare of neither whites nor natives, came after three years to a dead lock, and the British Government felt obliged, in the interest of all parties, to accept the unconditional cession now offered. It had besides long been thought desirable to possess a station on the route between Australia and Panama ; it was also felt that the Polynesian labour traffic, the abuses in which had caused much indignation, could only be effectually regulated from a point so contiguous to the recruiting field, and where that labour was extensively employed. To this end the governor of Fiji is also &quot;High Commissioner for the Western Pacific.&quot; Native laws, customs, and polity have been tenderly handled, and utilized, as far as possible, under the new rule. The chiefs are held responsible for good order, and for payment of the revenue. Certain higher chiefs, called &quot; Eoko Tuis,&quot; receive salaries, with executive and magisterial powers, assisted in the latter raised in conformity with native ideas, each district being assessed yearly to furnish certain supplies in kind, which are disposed of by tender. The white settlers at the end of 1876 numbered 1569. The labours of the Wesleyan missionaries must always have a pro minent place in any history of Fiji. They came from Tonga in 1835, and naturally settled first in the Windward Islands, where the Tongan element, already familiar to them, preponderated. They perhaps identified themselves too closely with their Tongan friends, whose dissolute, lawless, tyrannical conduct led to much mischief ; but it should not be forgotten that their position was a difficult one ; their services to humanity were certainly great, and it was mainly through their efforts that the heathen abominations so recently in full vigour have become a thing of the past. Bibliography. The United States Exploring Expedition, by Wilkes and Hale, 1838-42; Viti: an account of a Government Mission in the Titian or Fijian Islands, 1860-1, by Seemann ; Williams, Fiji and the Fijians, and Calvert, Missionary Labours among the Cannibals; Meinicke, Die Inscln dcs Stillcn Oceans; Von der Gabelentz, Die Melanesischen Sprachen; Erskine, Journal of a Cruise in the Pacific; Smythe, Ten Months in the Fiji Islands; Findlay s Sailing Directory for the Pacific Ocean; Pritchard, Polynesian Reminiscences ; Parliamentary papers. (C. T.) FILANGIERI, CAKLO (1783-1867), an Italian general, son of the economist Gaetano Filangieri, was born at Naples in 1783, not long before his father s death. In 1799 he came to France, and, through the influence of the first