THE FEEJEE ISLANDS: THEIR EXTENT AND POPULATION.--TERRIBLE FATALITY OF THE MEASLES.--ROTUMAH AND ITS PEOPLE.--KANDAVU AND SUVA.--VITI LEVU.--SIGHTS OF THE CAPITAL.--PRODUCTIONS AND COMMERCE OF FEEJEE.--GROWTH OF THE SUGAR TRADE.--THE LABOR QUESTION.--OBSERVATIONS AMONG THE NATIVES.--FEEJEEAN HAIR-DRESSING.--NATIVE PECULIARITIES.--CANNIBALISM, ITS EXTENT AND SUPPRESSION.--HOW THE CHIEFS WERE SUPPLIED.--A WHOLE TRIBE OF PEOPLE EATEN.--LEVUKA.--INTERVIEWS WITH MERCHANTS AND PLANTERS.--THE BOLOLO FESTIVAL.--ANCIENT CUSTOMS.
During the voyage to the Feejees Frank and Fred informed themselves concerning that famous group of islands, which formerly had a dark reputation for being the scene of the grossest forms of cannibalism. What they learned was substantially as follows:
"There is really no such group of islands as 'The Feejees;' the word Feejee comes from Viti, or Vee-tee--Viti Levu being the largest island of the group, which consists of something more than two hundred islands and islets. The number is variously placed at from two hundred to two hundred and fifty, and of these about one hundred and forty are inhabited. Viti Levu measures about ninety-seven miles from east to west and sixty-four from north to south, and its area is computed at 4112 square miles. Vanua-Levu, with an area of nearly 2500 miles, is the next largest, and then come Taviuni and Kandavu, the former of 217 square miles, and the latter of 124. None of the other islands have areas equalling one hundred square miles, and it would be tedious to name them all.
"Altogether the Feejee group has an area estimated at 7400 square miles, or about 400 square miles less than that of the State of Massachusetts. Its population is estimated at--"
Fred was about to write 200,000, taking the figures from a book before him, when he was interrupted by Doctor Bronson.
"Wait a moment," said the Doctor, "and I'll tell you something on that subject.
"Twenty or twenty-five years ago," he continued, "the population was estimated at fully that figure, and some authorities put it as high as 250,000. Of course there has never been a careful census, and in the interior of the larger islands it is not easy to get even a close approximation of the number of inhabitants. Since the occupation of the islands by the whites the population has followed the general law of all Polynesia, and diminished with more or less steadiness.