Islands Far Away; Fijian Pictures with Pen and Brush
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AC;NHS GARDNER KING THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES ISLANDS FAR AWAY. ONE SPECIALLY ATTRACTIVE LITTLE MITE." (See p. 51). ISLANDS FAR AWAY Fijian Pictures icith Pen mid Brush BY AGNES GARDNEE KING WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR EVERARD im THURN, K.C.M.G., K.B.E., C.B. Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner of the Western Pacific, 1904-1910. ILLUSTRATED with eighty reproductions of Drawings by the Author and two maps. SECOND EDITION. Eontioit SIFTON, PRAED & CO., LTD. 67, ST. JAMES'S STREET, S.W. 1921 DEDICATED TO MY DEAR BROTHER, TO WHOM THE ORIGINAL LETTEES WERE WRITTEN UPON WHICH THE BOOK IS FOUNDED, tc06 PREFACE. My visit to Fiji worked such wonders for me, in filling my mind with interest and giving me a new outlook on life, that I long to bestow a little of the benefit of my trip upon others, who may be circumstanced much as I was but who cannot have the same advantages. It is in this spirit that the book has been written, and if it brings a little brightness, and mental rest and refreshment to even a few, I shall feel richly re- warded. I should like to take this opportunity of offering my sincere thanks to Sir Everard im Thum, without whose kind en- couragement I should never have ventured to launch my little craft, and whose sympathetic assistance all through has been invaluable. I have particular cause to be grateful to him for the generous way in which he put his unique Pacific library at my disposal, and for supplying the very interesting introduction and glossary. My especial thanks are also due to all the kind residents in Fiji who made a stranger so welcome, and who patiently answered my many questions, furnishing me with an immense amount of interesting information ; and who grudged neither time nor trouble to make my stay pleasant and help me on my way. Agnes Gardner King. Habtwell, Wroxham, August, 1920. 1331829 — PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. It is a great pleasure to me to bring out a second edition of "Islands Far Away," and I hope it may meet with as kind a reception as did che first. I am very glad to find that the book has been appreciated by those for whom it was more especially written, and that it has brought a little refreshment to many who were sick or sad, letting ray of light in a through closed doors and drawn blinds ; and I am perhaps equally pleased to learn of the delight young people and children have taken in it. In the new edition there are a few more pictures ; and great care has been taken to select paper better adapted to the drawings, both pen and wash, and not less suitable for the letterpress, than that on which the first edition was printed. The paper for this edition has been specially manufactured, and I am indebted to my publisher for the great trouble he has taken in the matter. AU who have been interested in the book will be sorry to hear of the death of Ratu Joni Mandraiwiwi on the 13th of last December. To me the news came as a shock, and I felt that I had lost a real personal friend. Never have I met a more lovable man, and certainly he was, as the Fiji Times said of him, at the time of his death, " a great Fijian and a noble gentleman." To quote further from the same paper: " Ratu Joni Mandraiwiwi, in his ofiicial career, equally in his private life, furnished a splendid example of the inherent high X Preface to Second Edition. qualities of the Fijian race. Highly educated, and animated by the highest principles of right and honour, he always per- formed his duties, especially those associated with the adminis- tration of his provinces, to the entire satisfaction of the Government. He was held in the highest esteem by all classes of the European population of Fiji. His name throughout Fiji is a synonjrm for rectitude of purpose and high endeavour." Durmg the few years that have elapsed since I was in Fiji, death has been busy and has carried off a great many of those to whom I am indebted for the main pleasure and interest of that time—Ratu Kindavu Levu, Ratu Joni Mandraiwiwi, Ratu Saimoni Dombui, the King and Queen of Tonga, and Mr. Frank Spence have all gone. I hope that my humble narrative may serve in a measure to preserve for future generations a little of what has passed and is passing so quickly away. Agnes Gardner King. April, 1921. CONTENTS. Chapter Xll Contents. PAGE Chapter XXIX. ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE " " One specially attractive little mite Frontispiece Members of Fiji Labour Corps on the way facing xxvi Members of Fiji Labour Corps on service . xxvii Pig baked whole xxxi Surf-riding at Honolulu . facing 6 Tropic Fish (tivitivi) 8 Comb ..... 12 " Pillow (or headrest ") . 13 Semi ..... 14 Suva Harbour with Pandanus Tree 15 Men fishing .... 19 Birds (mbelo) on the shore 20 Interior of Fijian House . 25 The Rat .... 28 Little Boy in Meke dress 30 " " One of the men wore a wreath all day 35 Mynah birds arguing and chattering 43 Vuni-mbau ..... 45 *' One fat little fellow some three years old 55 Old Marita tells her tragic tale 57 Boy carrying Kurilangi 58 Cannibal fork 60 Cannibal dish 61 Fijian Fish-fence 70 Yangona root 72 Yangona growing 74 Coconut Palms at Vuni-mbau 76 Ratu Amare in his paraphemaUa of war 77 XIV Illustrations. PAGE One of our boatmen poling up the river 82 One of our carriers with coconut-leaf baskets 85 Namosi ..... 8» Cannibal family—four generations 94 Old Cannibal beating the lali 101 Ratu Kandavu Levu . 108 Fusi. Kandavn Levu's Tongan housekeeper . 113 Mbau—the old heathen capital facing 114 Audi Thakombau . 116 Ratu Joni Mandraiwiwi . facing 117 Sinnet work in Ratu Mbolo's house . 117 Ratu Tui Vanua Vou 120 Canoes bring supplies for the great ceremony at Mbau 125 Shark baked whole . 127 A Fijian canoe {wanga) . 129 Solemn yangona drinking at Mbau 132 Cup-bearer with cup . laa Great War dance at Mbau 135 Launching toy canoe . 138 Mbau children revelling in the Meke dresses facing 138 Thakombau .... 140 Blowing the conch-shell . 144 The consecration stone at Mbau 145 Nukuloa .... 151 Ratu Saimoni Dombui 153 Meke head-dress 155 The gloomy Kauvandra Mountains 157 Nasongo cup-bearer in official dress . 168 The Provincial Council Meeting at Nasongo . 173 A Fijian apology 174 An infant prodigy . 176 Bread Fruit . 180 Our canoe on the Rewa 183 Sunrise at Lambasa 189 Illustrations. XV PAGE River Qawa from the cane -field 195 Native house at Lambasa 197 Lambasa girl with Ai-tombi 198 Lambasa man dressed only in grass . 199 Four years old Indian servant . 201 The sacred bird of Fiji . 205 Fijian women in gala dress . 208 Tui Dreketi's house . 213 Potter at work . 216 Women fishing . 219 Hope or Niuafdu Island . 220 The Niuafdu Mail . facing 220 Vaihma and Vaea . 225 Samoan houses . 226 Samoan horseman . 227 Tongans in mourning, going to church . 236 Tongan girl in church in mourning garb . 237 The King of Tonga with his baby . 240 Avava tree, and beach, with great bivalve shells . 243 Maps. Pacific Ocean at end of volume Fiji Archipelago : INTRODUCTION. Antonio. Tell me, Panthino, what sad talk was that Wherewith my brother held you in the cloisters ? Panthino. T'was of his nephew, Proteus, your son. Antonio, Why, what of him ? Panthino. He wondered that your lordship. While other men, of slender reputation, Put forth their sons to seek preferment out Some to the wars, to try their fortunes there : Some to discover islands far away .... The age of romance was not as nearly dead, even before the crash of war so thoroughly reawakened it, as some were m- clined to think. In 1012, Miss Gardner King, the writer and illustrator of this book, needing rest and recreation, after a period of great bodily and mental strain, left her pleasant Norfolk home to seek refreshment, not, indeed, in discovering islands far away, but in a visit, certainly for her adventurous, to certain antipodean islands, situate where the sun sets exactly when here in England it rises and where it is winter when with us it is summer, and, above all, where western civilization has not yet repressed the natural flourish of an elaborate native culture, which, in the isolation of that then unknown sea, had developed far before Europeans first ven- tured into those parts, and where, not yet fifty years ago, the British had, almost reluctant! j- and with hesitation, taken on themselves the task of pruning, with as little disturbance as might be, the indigenous culture. The social condition of the natives of the Fiji Islands, which were the bourne to which Miss King went, is peculiar, not only in itself but also in relation to the Europeans and others who have intruded among them. The islands were first seen by European eyes as long ago as 1643, when Tasman and his companions one morning just discerned through the mist an islet or two, which were long xviii Introduction. after identified as belonging to the Fiji group. Nothing further was seen of these till, in 1774, Captain Cook discovered another Fijian island, and even sent some of his crew ashore there, but there was no intercourse with the natives on that occasion ; and three years later (in 1777) Captain Cook, on one of his visits to the Tongan or Friendly Islands, there met some Fijians, and heard much from his Tongan hosts of their dreaded Fijian neighbours, and of the richness of the islands from which they came.