ATTITUDES AND MOVEMENTS
The Fijian generally sleeps upon his back, with his head turned a little
to one side, so that the part of the skull immediately behind the ear
may rest upon the wooden neck-pillow. His hair is wrapped in a turban of
bark-cloth to keep it well off the neck, and, if he has no blanket, his
_sulu_ is spread over head and all, like a winding-sheet over a corpse.
This is perhaps as much for keeping off mosquitoes as for warmth. When
not walking, he is either sitting cross-legged on the ground, or
squatting with his haunches resting upon his heels. Except among the
high chiefs, standing seems to be felt as a breach of good manners, for
to stand up when others are sitting, or to reach over their head for
something suspended above requires the apology, "_Tulou! Tulou!_" and a
clapping of hands after the sitting posture has been resumed. Sitting in
a chair is as irksome to the Fijian as sitting tailor-fashion is to us.
He will not only sit cross-legged for hours without fatigue, but will
even lay one foot upon the inner surface of the other thigh. But in the
presence of equals, when social restraint is removed, he prefers to lie
upon his stomach with his chin propped upon his hands. It is not
uncommon to find half-a-dozen men thus lying with their heads converging
upon the native newspaper, _Na Mata_, which is spread out uncut between
them, so that each is able to read a different page. When a visitor
enters they spring up, knotting their _sulus_ round the waist, and sidle
away cross-legged into the place proper to their respective ranks, the
chief nearest the bed-place, and the inferiors facing him at the lower
end of the house. During the brewing of the _yankona_ bowl, even in the
family circle no one would think of lolling until the cup has been
handed round; then tongues and attitudes are loosened, and every one may
loll as he pleases.
Women never sit cross-legged. They sit with their knees together and
their feet drawn up under them on one side or the other, changing the
side at frequent intervals, by half-rising on the knees, and shifting
the feet to the other side. The attitude in micturition is the same for
both sexes, namely, squatting.
In regionibus interioribus feminae in medio fluvio, mares in virgeto,
defaecare solent; apud tribus litorales feminae morem hominum obsequuntur;
igitur carnem porcorum, qui foedam sentinam comedunt, edere non fas
est. Feminae fragmento panni (tapa), mares calamo deflecto usi, se
detergent. Morem Europensem papyro se detergere contemnunt; igitur pueri
Vitienses comites mestizos derident, clamantes "Ngusi veva!" (Ecce puer
qui se papyro deterget!)
There is so much difference between the carriage of the body in chiefs
and in commoners that in some districts on ceremonial occasions the
attitude is an indication of the rank. For the commoner, having always
to leave the path and squat down as a chief is passing, or at least
lower and avert the head, acquires a habit of stooping, while the chief,
accustomed to command, carries himself erect and dignified, every inch a
king. There is nothing remarkable about the gait of a Fijian, except the
freedom and swing which are common to all men unhampered with clothing.
The women do not walk as gracefully as the men, especially in the hill
districts, where they begin to carry burdens on their backs at a very
early age. They seldom carry anything upon their heads; everything is
packed in bales and baskets, which are slung on the back by cords
passing over the shoulders and under the armpits. In the old days the
men carried nothing but their weapons if they could help it. They now
carry all burdens slung to a pole or a bamboo. A single carrier will
make his load into two packages of equal weight at either end of the
pole, and balance them across his shoulder, but a heavy load is slung
midway between two carriers, who do not hold the pole in position while
walking, and touch it only when shifting it to the other shoulder for a
change. In moving any heavy object they seldom push, preferring to haul
upon it by rhythmical jerks delivered in time to a chant. They have
never taken kindly to an English saw, because it is against their
instinct to exert force in pushing, and their own tool, the adze,
delivers its blow towards them.
[Pageheader: A QUARREL BETWEEN BROTHERS]
They are the best tree-climbers in the world. While other races use a
rattan round the waist or round the ankles in climbing cocoanut palms,
the Fijians plant their soles against the trunk, grasp it with both
hands, and simply walk up it to a height of fifty feet or more.
Though very voluble in speech, they do not gesticulate, and, as a rule,
use their hands only to indicate the size of an object they are
describing. They point with the open hand, and they beckon with a
downward sweep of the hand as if they were hooking the person towards
them with their fingers. They raise the head and the eyebrows
simultaneously in token of assent, and shake it as we do in negation.
They show astonishment by cracking the finger-joints, or by shaking the
fingers loosely from side to side from the wrist, with the hand raised
to the level of the shoulder, or, if the emotion is intense, by pouting
out the lips in trumpet shape, and crying "O--o--o," on a high note,
while patting the lips with the open fingers. Their gesture of defiance
is to cross the arms on the breast and slap the biceps with the fingers
of the other hand. In sudden anger the complexion grows darker and the
eyes flash, but they have their features so well under control that they
seldom betray anger, but nurse it and brood over it, while waiting for
an opportunity for revenge. Only once have I seen an open rupture, and
that was between two first cousins, who "slanged" one another across the
barrack square, hurling imputations against the virtue of the female
ancestors who were common to them both. Their companions spent the whole
day in trying to patch the quarrel, for, they said, "a quarrel between
brethren is the most difficult of all to heal," and towards evening they
were successful, for I saw the two enemies strolling up and down with
their little fingers linked, and dressed in one another's clothes.
Their laughter is hearty, open-mouthed, and not unmusical, though I fear
that it is heartiest when the subject is of a kind of which the
missionary would not approve.
Clever as they are in not betraying their emotions in their faces, they
are very apt at making secret signals with their eyes, and many an
assignation is made by question and answer with the eyes when the house
is full of people.
They show shame or embarrassment by drooping the heads and picking at
the grass or the floor-mats. Their behaviour when in acute pain is much
the same as that of a European. When a native submits to have the
_soki_, or soft corn on the sole of the foot, to which many are subject,
touched with nitric acid, he grasps the foot with both hands, and rolls
about on the floor, sucking the air in through his teeth with a hissing
noise. When under the lash for serious offences their pride deserts
them; they dance and howl, and either implore the gaoler to have mercy,
or curse his ancestresses to the fourth generation. Yet three minutes
later the same man is laughing at the contortions of a fellow-sufferer
who has taken his place at the triangle.
[Illustration: The Hair plastered with bleaching lime.]
[Pageheader: SENSE OF SMELL]
Though the enormous heads of hair worn by the warriors of olden times
have disappeared, being regarded as the badge of heathenism, the young
men still cultivate mops which, being dyed with lime, stand out like a
golden aureole. The lime is smeared over the head on Saturdays and
washed out on Sunday morning, more than an hour being spent in combing
and oiling it with cocoanut oil scented with grated sandalwood. The
arms, neck and breast are also plentifully besmeared. Young girls wear
the hair shorter, but dyed and clipped symmetrically like the men, and
many wear the long _tombe_ locks. In Mathuata (Vanualevu) and some other
places young unmarried men also wear a cluster of _tombe_. After middle
age the men cut their hair shorter, but continue to lime it for the sake
of cleanliness even after it is grey. Widows allow their hair to grow
without liming it for a year or more after their husband's death as a
symbol of mourning. Baldness is not very common. The natives say that
baldness and bad teeth have only been known since the introduction of
sugar and other foreign goods, but though there may be some truth in
this as regards their teeth, there can be no doubt that baldness has
always existed. They never brush or cleanse their teeth, which
nevertheless are, as a rule, beautifully white. Corpora sua non depilant
Vitienses; et feminam pilosam etiam diligunt. Morem Tongicum pubes et
alas depilare derident.
Painting the face, which was inseparable from warfare, is now used for
ceremonial dances. Lampblack and vermilion are the favourite colours.
Soot is also smeared over the face as a protection from sunburn on a
journey. Girls sometimes decorate themselves with a patch of vermilion
for a dance.
The Fijians are free from the peculiar smell which is exhaled by the
negro, and though one is always aware of his presence in a room, I am
not sure that his scent differs much from that of a European under the
same conditions of nudity, physical exertion in hot weather, and absence
of soap in washing; for though the Fijian has a bath every day, mere
immersion in cold water does not do much towards cleansing his skin. The
odour of perspiration is more marked in males than in females, and in
the hill people than the coast natives. Fijians have a keener sense of
smell than we have; in examining an unknown object they will generally
carry it to the nose, and I have heard one say that they detected a
peculiar smell in Europeans and disliked it, but the man who said this
was probably retaliating for some remark of a trader in disparagement of
his race. As with us, the intensity of odour varies much with the
individual, and it is more noticeable in old men than young.