The Islands Called Fiji

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The Islands Called Fiji / / / / '\ / ' / .... "' / ---.. ...... / 'I / • .::./ \ / / 4 •• • .. : ... ,.;· l z...._ ' \ u.s.s.'R. ...... ;,· ........................................ \ ·, '"' ----................. J /./l ..... I I ' .; { CHINA ..... J e Islands Call~d Fiji I I I I .,1 -;.!:1I -:d i Cl ·' Hawaiian Pacific 0 c e an Islands Mariana Islands · 0 ~ 'Guam .... -- I · Marshal I Islands :..L ..$' Caroline Island 's-.. ,o.:, .;t ';:) Gilbert Islands' ... ; :~anton Island \ \ \ \ \ .... \ \ \ \ • Samoa Islands \ -. ) I I Mopelia- I ITonga Islands 1(Friendly Islands) Cook Isl. I I AUSTRALIA I I I I I 160° W 160 °E ,y--To Sydney, Australia I / / / / / ...... / / ,:,/ / / • ... .. CANADA / '...._...._...._...._...._...._ 4 •. .... J• .:.: ... ,.,;· ............ ...._ ...... ...._ : ...._ I Men wa/ k 011 fi ery ror/;:s and wo m en Call~d Fiji sing to turtles in Britain's Paci fi c colony U.S.A. By LUIS MARDEN National Geographic Foreign Editorial Staff I I With Photographs by the Author I I .. 1 DRIFT in an open boat on the Great .51 J\ -;1 .L'\. South Sea, Lt. William Bligh, late 'l;i l commander of His Majesty's Armed Cl l I Vessel Bounty, wrote in his journal on May 3, I 1789: I I wriry intention is to Steer to the \V.N.W. I that I may see a Group of Islands called I I Hawaiian Fidgee if they lie in that direction." a 1I n Islands They did lie in that direction, and Bligh 0 c e I did sight them. \Yhat is more. the inhabitants I . I Hon6l'ulu./ of the islands called Fiji sighted him. His I ..¢ I ":~ journal for May 7 records: "We now observed two large Sailing Can­ noes coming swi ftly after us alongshore, and · 0 being apprehensive of their intentions we ){ rowed with some Anxiety .... Only one Can­ noe gained upon us and by 3 O'Clock in the Afternoon was only 2 Miles off at which time she gave over Chace." -- I With 18 others, Bligh had been set adrift · Marshall Islands .:..L.. by the Bounty's mutinous crew off the ..$' ..) Friendly, or Tonga, Islands in a 23-foot open <.o -;) boat. Having landed on Tofua and lost a · ~ 'I{; man to hostile natives, Bligh made an in­ ~ credible decision: to sail directly to Timor, 1rt Islands' ... 3 ,600 nautical miles across the open Pacific. ~ When I was in Fiji recently, a government cartographer in Suva showed me an old chart of Bligh's route through the islands. As we \ Ill talked, a Fijian turanga came into the room. \ \ The map maker introduced me to the six-foot \ \ .... chief, who wore European clothing except for \ a skirtlike sulu in place of trousers. Resum­ \ ing our discussion of Bligh's voyage, the Rotuma. \ I Samoa Islands , r~ 9> 527 1 ~ ; ..N·~; ......................... II . Society .. '. · ~ Hebrides N ..d·-:--. .. ~ :. MopeiiaJ' · ". · . Islands · · .. • an :,b>.. .J .: :. I 0 100 JOO JOO 400 Tahiti...>• 40°1 / z ? :-;:;-:::::== Tonga Islands 00 STA~UTE MILES -+-----------1111 --I'. SLANDSFIJ I , r-C.····-· .. ......,, . , [Friendly Islands) Cook Islands tv1apped on page 532 ;Tofua~. © N.G.S. M' o . ~ inerva Reefso Pitcairn Is land· 160° W 140° W 120°W !ney, Australi.a. 180I° D ancing F ijians Brandish Spears and P alm-leaf Shields Muscled men of Vanua Levu, second largest of Fiji's 300 is­ lands, perfo rm the same spec­ tacul ar spear dance that was prese nted fo r Queen Elizabeth during her visit in 1953. The group times its movements to the chanting of women and to the beat of the tali, a wooden drum. Dancers leave their chief's towering thatched house fo r the village green. A triton shell's mournful bellow signals to fi shermen on Vatulele. The girl produces the ·sound by blowing across a hole near the shell 's ex­ tremity. Hibiscus blossoms adorn her upstanding hair, which she grooms with coco­ nut oil. Koclachromes br Luis :\Jarden, National Geographic Slaff © N .0.S. 52 8 ancing Fijians andish Spears and aim-leaf Shields tuscled men of Vanua Levu, It:~ ~:;f::~ o:h:i!~::os~~~= ular spear dance that was esented for Queen Elizabeth ~ring her visit in 1953. The loup times its movements to le chanting of women and to le beat of the lali, a wooden Irum. 1 cers leave their chief's ering thatched house for rvillage green. l triton shell's mournful ellow signals to fishermen on 'atulele. The girl produces he sound by blowing across hole near the shell 's ex­ remity. Hibiscus blossoms dorn her upstanding hair, vhich she grooms with coco­ iut oil. :odarhromes by Luis ·~J arde n, fational Geographic Slaff © N .0.S. )28 530 The National Geographic Magazine cartographer recalled the incident of the canoe with green forest on the southeast slopes. chase. Turning to the chief, he asked : During the rainy season, from ovember ''What would have happened to Bligh had to April, tons of moisture fall on this wind­ the canoe caught up with him ?" ward side. Beyond, the lands lying in the "Oh,'' said the turanga, nonchalantly roll­ rain shadow are sere and brown: the line of ing a cigarette, "we . should have eaten him demarcation is sometimes as straight and all right." sharp as a ruler's edge. They would have, too. The fierce Fijians I flew to Viti Levu from San Francisco via practiced cannibalism, and castaway sa ilors, Honolu1'u and Canton Island. The airport at " people with salt water in their eyes,'' were Nandi is a stopover on the Australia-North legi timate prey. America air route. As we came into the big Bligh and his companions sailed right field , I could see yell ow-green rectangles of through the center of the Fijian archipelago. sugar cane growing around it, and at near-by on to Timor and to immortality. Suffering Lautoka ships were loading crude brown from thirst, hunger, and exposure. and usi ng suga r, the colony's chief export. only a quadrant, compass, and pocket watch, From Nandi I drove to Suva on a motor this master navigator recorded the positions road that runs all the way round the island. of 23 islands with astonishing accuracy. During the 134-mile drive I was almost always In a feat of open-boat naviga tion th:=t t has within sight and sound of the sea. Offshore, yet to be surpassed, and without loss of a the reefs traced a line of foaming white as single man after lea ving Tofua, Bligh reached the long Pacific swell s burst against the coral. Timor in 41 days. Beyond, the open sea was cobalt. Three years later Bligh sailed over part Coconut palms in their thousands leaned of his old route, confirming and amplifying out to sea. Inland, the verdure-clothed hills his observations. For years afterwards the rose, range after receding range, to the fan­ charts showed Fiji as " Bligh's Islands." tastic blue peaks of the central mountains. Under the coco palms, grouped neatly Bligh Story Beckoned Author to Fiji round a close-cropped green, stood the reed­ walled, palm-thatched houses of the Fijian Always fasci nated by the Bounty story, I villages. On the Singatoka coast grow all the welcomed the opportunity to go to the Fijis best materials for housebuilding: reed. bam­ and see what life on these once-feared islands boo, palms, and tree ferns. The big timbers is like today.':' for posts come from the hills a short distance The Fijians themselves call their land Viti. inland. The Fijians build some of the finest Bligh, like Cook, had first heard of these native houses in the Pacific, and the elaborate islands from the Tongans. who with their houses of the chiefs, standing on platforms of softer consonants called them Fichi. coral rock, are works of art (page 52 8). The more than 300 Fiji Islands are scat­ The Fijians are a handsome race whose tered like a handful of emerald dust across superbly muscled men frequently stand six 250,000 square miles of the southwest Pacific fe et or more. They are Melanesians, with (map, page 532). A British Crown Colony, dark skins and frizzy upstanding hair, but they stand astride the 180th meridian half­ they show a strong Polynesian strain, as way between New Zealand and the Equator. Fiji stands on the dividing line between the About 100 of the islands are inhabited, and black-skinned and brown-skinned Pacific. they vary strikingly in size.t The biggest, Viti Levu-Great Fiji-is almost exactly the * For a vivid account of life among the descendants size of Hawaii, and the next largest, Vanua of the Bounty mutineers today on Pitcairn Island, see " I Found the Bones of the Bounty," by Luis Levu-Great Land- is half that. No other Marden, author of this article, in the December, 1957, reaches one-tenth Vanua Levu's size. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE. Of volcanic origin, the bigger Fijis are t See ·'Copra-ship Voyage to Fiji's Outlying Is­ lands," by Marjory c. Thomas, NATIONAL GEOGRAPIIIC steep sided and mountainous, heavily clothed MAGAZINE, July, 1950. Dressed for the Dance, a Chief Carries a Tufted Ironwood Spear White cowrie shells above the door mark this as a chief's residence. A similar shell han!(s from the man's neck. Croton leaves e n c i r~ l e bis arms and waist. Vesi, an almost indestructible wood, forms the house timbers. Coconut-fiber cord binds the reed and palm-leaf wall s. n the southeast slopes. ~eason , from November jsture fall on this wind- the lands lying in the and brown: the line of etimes as straight and •ie. t from San Francisco via Island.
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