FIJI ISLANDS

[s. 251] : A group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, lying about 1,000 miles north of New Zealand and 300 miles distant from the Samoan group on the northeast. more than 200 islands, of In all there are which about 80 are inhabited. Viti Levu, area 4,250 square miles, is the largest, and Vanua Levu, area 2,600, the next in size. Suva, the capital, is on the south Including Rotuma Island coast of Viti Levu. the total area of the group is about 8,045 square miles. There is very little level country. The greater part of the islands consists of alternating hills and valleys, the peaks sometimes rising to the The climate, height of four or five you sand feet. tho warm and somewhat enervating to Euro The supply of water peans, is not unhealthy. IS abundant, as there are numerous streams. Tropical vegetation grows here in great abundance and luxuriance. The aborigines, or Fijians proper, are cla ed midway between the Malay and the Papuan, or The name Fiji was formerly negro, type of races. synonymous with every cruelty and abomination that savages are capable of. Cannibalism was indulged in, sick and aged relations were killed, widows were not allowed to survive the death of their husbands, and slaves were slain to accompany their dead masters; yet hospitality and politene characterized this savage race in a remarkable degree. The Fiji savages believed in a future existence, and in two cla es of gods one immortal (a large serpent was the chief god of this cla ), the other, the spirits of heroes and chiefs. The priest spoke the will of the gods who were not worshiped through idols. The women of the upper cla enjoyed considerable freedom and wielded great influence. There is one prevailing language, Me lanes i an It has a in its character, with several dialects. large vocabulary, is strong in its expre ion and flexible in its forms. Fiji presents a wonderful illustration of the power of the Gospel to transform the lives of the Fijian Liangnage Finances most degraded and to turn an entire people to the worship and service of the living God. The complete Old and New Testaments are in circulation in the islands; day schools and colleges are maintained, and 1,000 churches, with an attendance of 100,000, are changing the moral and social condition of the people. In the Fiji Islands there are now (1901) 2,247 native preachers and 31,422 native church memIbers, besides 10,107 candidates for membership. In Rotuma, a solitary island lying between Fiji and the EUice Islands, but politically connected with Fiji, there are 35 native workers and 460 church members. These churches are the fruit of the labors of the WMS, but are no longer connected with that Society, being in ecclesiastical relations with the Wesley an churches in Australia. When first discovered Fiji had a population estimated at 200,000, but diseases imported by European colonists have caused great mortality. In 1901 the population numbered 117,870. Of these, 94,397 were Fijians, 21,026 were Indians and Polynesians and 2,447 Europe ans. Of the non-European population 91,526 habitually attend the Wesley an churches and 9,338 the churches of the Roman Catholic Mi ion. Allen (W.), Rotuma (Austral asian A ociation for Advancement of Science), Sydney, 1895; Williams (T.), & Calvert (J.), Fiji and the Fijians, London, 1858 and 1877; Cousins (G.). Story of the South Seas, London, 1894. 252