Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/45

 OEIGIN AND POLITY. 25 Fijian society is divided into six recognised classes, in the distinctions of which there is much that resembles the system of caste. 1. Kings and Queens. 2. Chiefs of large islands or districts. 3. Chiefs of towns, priests, and Mata-ni-vanuas. 4. Distinguished warriors of low birth. Chiefs of the carpenters, and Chiefs of the fishers for turtle. 5. Common people. 6. Slaves by war. Rank is hereditary, descending through the female ; an arrangement which arises from the great number of wives allowed to a leading Chief, among whom is found the widest difference of grade. The dignity of a Chief is estimated by the number of his wives, which is frequently considerable, varying from ten to fifty or a hundred. It is not to be supposed that all these are found in his domestic establishment at the same time ; for rarely more than a half or fourth are there together. Some have been dismissed on account of old age, others have returned to their parents to become mothers, others again are but infants them- selves. No people can be more tenacious of distinction than are these Fijians, and few fonder of exaggerating it. When on their guard, and acting with the duplicity so strongly marked in the native character, they will depreciate themselves, as well as when surprised into a feeling of inferiority by unexpected contrast with some refined nation ; but only let something occur to throw them off their guard, and they instantly become swollen with an imaginary importance which is not a little amusing. Lofty aspirings and great mieanness are often found united in the same Chief, who will be haughtily demanding, one moment, why the Monarch of some great nation does not send a ship of war or large steamer to gratify his curiosity, and the next be begging tobacco of a shoeless seaman. Tribes, chief families, the houses of Chiefs, and the wives of Kings, have distinctive appellations, to which great importance is attached, and by means of which the pride of the owner is gratified and the jealousy of neighbours aroused. Before the death of the King Tanoa, the whites residing in Fiji wrote to General Miller, H. B. M. Consul-General at the Sandwich Islands, complaining of their ill-treatment by Thakombau, the young Chief of Mbau and heir of Tanoa, but already exercising vir- tually the kingly power. General Miller sent a letter about the matter to the Chief, addressing it, " To the King of Fiji." When this letter arrived, a Tonga Chief, who had visited Sydney and could read English,