Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/660

* FIJI ISLANDS. 602 FILARETE. tons. The administration of the colony is in- trusted to a Governor, assisted by an Executive Council of three official members, and to a. Legis- lative Council of twelve members. Administra- tively the group is divided into seventeen prov- inces, of which eleven are under the rule of na- tive chiefs. The other six are in the control of European officials. The island of Eotuma is ad- ministered by a European commissioner, who has both political and legislative functions. The finances of the colony are in good condition. The revenue is derived principally from customs duties and taxes in kind levied on the natives, and generally exceeds the expenditures by several thousand pounds. The population of the group in 1901 was 117,800, more than 80 per cent, being natives and about 15 per cent. East Indians. There are many churches and schools. The Indian coolies are imported for the sugar plantations by the Gov- ernment, under whose supervision they remain for ten years. The capital of the group, Suva lo.v. i. is situated on a fine harbor on the south coast of Viti Levu, and has a European popula- tion of about 1100. The aborigines of the Fiji Islands are general- ly looked upon as essentially Papuan or Mela- nesian in origin, with a considerable Polynesian element, chiefly Tongan. Some regard the Fiji- ans as Mongoloid-Negroid hybrids, while others have sought to discern in them, as in the Aus- tralians, an ancient strain related to the Cau- casian, cropping out occasionally in features of European type not attributable to race mixture. The western Fijians are longer-headed than the eastern, and some reach a stature surpassing the European. The Fijian language closely resem- bles Tongan, and Tongan and Samoan influences reveal themselves in Fijian art, industry, etc. The Fijians were long famous as carpenters and ship-builders; their large canoes with sail and outrigger, to which Tongan improvements have been added, are famous. Other arts well de- veloped in the Fiji Islands are pottery-making (unknown in Tonga) and the pattern-printing of tapa or bark cloth with blocks. The mytholo- gy and primitive religion < .f the Fijians were imaginative and rich in legend and poetry. The Fijians have long been Christians, and cannibal- ism and other savage practices for which they were once notorious are little else than memories; but that the old ideas are nol completely de- stroyed is proved by such occurrences as the promulgation of a new religion, which was an ingenious compound of Christianity and heathen- ism, to the advantage of the latter, by the 'prophet' Dugomoi, in 1885. Under British gov- ernment the Fijians seem to be holding their own in numbers, notwithstanding epidemics of dis- etc. Some of the islands of the Fiji group were dis- covered bj '■> man in 1643 and visited by Cook in 1773. 'the ( i 1-1 accurate knowledge of the archi- pelaj i obtained through the explorations of liumnni d'Urville in 1827, and of the American edition under Wilkes and Hale (1840 I igh fugitive convicts from Australia settled in Vit i Lev M as early as 1804, the European popu- lat ion ?! rerj little, owing to the hosl ility of the natives, who were numerous, warlike, and addicted to cannibalism. Wesleyan missionaries reached the islands in is:::,, and in 1854 ticceed ed in converting noi onlj Thak I the most powerful of the native chiefs, but the mass of the people also. Complications with the United States led Thakombau to offer the sovereignty over the islands to Great Britain (1858). The proposal was declined. Between 1800 and lSti'J immigration was rapid. An attempt to estab- lish a parliamentary government under Thakom- bau did not prove successful, and the offer to Great Britain was renewed and accepted (1874). Consult: Agassiz, "The Islands and Coral Reefs of Fiji," in Museum of Comparative Zoology Bul- letin, vol. xxxiii. (Cambridge, 1899); Seeman, Viti (Cambridge, 1802); Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians I London, 1870); dimming, At Borne in Fiji (ib., 1887) ; Reed, Recent Wan- derings in Fiji (ib., 1888). FILAN'DER (from Gk. tj>iav8fws, philandros, man-loving, from Qifaiv, philem, to love -|- avf/p , anSr, man). A small wallaby {Hacropus Brunii) of New Guinea, which has the interesting dis- tinction of being the first kangaroo known to Europeans. See Kangaboo. FILANGIERI, fe'lan-jya're, Gaetano ( 1752- 88). An Italian jurist, best remembered as the author of a voluminous treatise, La scienza della legislasAone (The Science of Legislation). He Mas born in Naples, of a noble family, was trained for a military career, but soon abandoned it in favor of legal and scientific studies, and when barely twenty published his first work, Public and Private Education. Among his early successes as a lawyer was an able defense of a royal decree, which won him the appointment of Court advocate, and led to various other offices and honors from the King. The first three parts of his principal work appeared in 1780-83, and incurred the censure of the Catholic Church. Fer- dinand IV.. however, rewarded the author with a pension, and relieved him from all his Court duties. But his health was already broken by his arduous public services and his persistent labors upon his book, and he died prematurely at thirty-six, in Naples, whither he had returned a few months before, to accept a position in the Ministry of Finance. The Scienza della legisla- tions (1780-88). which was to have consisted of seven books, but remains incomplete, was evi- dently written under the influence of Montes- quieu, although it is not wanting in originality. It has been translated into main European lan- es, that in French i 1822) containing a com- mentary by Benjamin Constant. His son," Cablo (1784-1807), Prince of Satri- ano, was born in Naples. He entered the French Army, was made a captain at Austerlitz, and fought in Spain with Murat. In 1849 be became Viceroy of Sicily, under Ferdinand IL. and he made Minister of ar by Francis 1 1, in 1859. He held this office for one year, when he fell from power, and did not again enter polities. FILARETE, fe'la-ra'ta, vrnxm (called also Antonio Weruuno) («.1410-70).  Italian ieet and sculptor, born in Florence. He as- sisted Ghiberti on the doors of the baptistery at Florence, and was engaged by Pope Eugene 1. to execute the lnoii/c doors tor Saint lVter's in Rome i I 139 IS | . now used for t he i enl ral en tiai if the church. His work is an imitation of Ghiberti's masterpiece, bul the subjects repre ii mil ore of < 'lirisl ian and ■I thought. He was afterwards banished From Lome, and was invited to visit Milan liy