Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/32

 12 FIJI AUD THE FIJIANS. The natives use terms equivalent to Upper, Lower, and Central Fiji, excluding the two large islands ; thus making five sections, which though ^'ell enough for general use, are far from having fixed boundaries. More minute distinctions are therefore made by the people, to enable them to refer with precision to the several parts of the group. I would submit six divisions ; or eight, if the eastward islands are viewed as composing three sections, which certainly ought to be the case. They are virtually thus divided by the United States surveyors, who give a distinct name to those forming the north end, (Ringgold's Isles,) but exclude Ono — the extreme south — from their chart of Fiji.* A division of the group into eight compartments Avould — followmg the course of the sun — be as under : — The Ono Group ; comprising Ono, Ndoi, Mana, Undui, Yanuya, Tuvana-i-tholo, and Tuvana-i-ra. The Lakemba Group ; begimiing with Vatoa, and endmg with Tu- vutha and Thithia : thirty-three islands and islets. The Exploring Isles, with Mango, Kanathea, Naitaumba, Vatuvara, Yathata, and a number of islets, form the third group. Middle Fiji ; containing Matulm, Totoya, Moala, Ngau, Nairai, Koro, Ovalau, and a few smaller islands. Vanua Levu and Taviuni, with their contiguous islands — about fifty — form the fifth group in order, and the second in importance. Great Fiji, with the fifty islands on its coasts, is the sixth and most important division. The Kandavu Group numbers thirteen islands, several of them small. The Yasawas form the eighth group, and include more than thirty small islands. This mode of division embraces every island properly belonging to Fiji, while it facilitates a reference to each individually. Modern geographers class Fiji with the Tonga group, entitling them all, " The Friendly Islands." There is no good reason for such a classi- fication ; but there are several which show it to be erroneous, and de- mand its discontinuance. Geologically considered, the groups are dif. fcrent. The inhabitants also belong to two distinct types, having be- tween them as much difference as between a Red Indian and an English- man. Their mythologies and languages are also widely diverse. These fixcts protest against the confounding of the two groups in one. tion to a lady of Laiemba, who expatriated herself, selected Ono for her adopted land, and then pushed it -with her foot thus far from Lakemba, in order to escape the pursuit of her friends.
 * Native tradition speaks of Ono as being formerly near to Ongea, and ascribes its present posi-