Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

3i6AITRTEALASIA.Every village possesses a supreme tahn, a sacred image carved in hard wood,embellished with bat skins and set up on a long pole with its face turned towardsthe east. According to some authorities the chiefs and nobles are, for the mostpart, of Polynesian origin, and are distinguished by their physical aj^pearance fromtheir Melanesian subjects.Not only is the complexion said to be lighter, but theforehead would appear to be higher and broader, the nose straighter, the lipsthinner, the figure taller, the carriage more haughty. This Polynesian elementis naturally most widely rej^re rented on the east side facing the oceanic homes ofthis race.Like so many other insular populations, the New Caledonian kanakas appear tobe dying out. " We are not like our forefathers," said a chief to Brenchley," they were numerous and wise ; we are neither." Travellers estimated at aboutsixty thousand the population towards the middle of the present century, and in1886 they had already been reduced to twenty-three thousand. At the same timethis diminution must be partly attributed to the constant massacres followed bycannibal feasts, for the enemy slain in battle were always devoured. The bodieswere fairly divided amongst the warriors, who in their turn distributed the" joints " in equal portions amongst their families. When the European marinersfirst made their appearance the natives had never seen any other meat except thatof their fellow-creatures, and fancied that the beef distributed to the crews was theflesh of gigantic human beings.The iusurrectioa of 1878 cost the lives of a thousand natives, besides one thousandtwo hundred transported to the Island of Pines and other jilaces. Neverthele-isthe losses caused by wars and revolts are trifling compared to the numberswho perish by ailments, such as consumption, introduced by the Europeans.Drink also claims many victims, since the invasion of the dealers in " tafia."Alliances between the white convicts, soldiers or settlers, and the native womenare rare, because the kanakas hold in great contempt the tai/o carahou)^, or " peopleof the prison." Hence there is no hope of a half-caste race gradually absorbingthe whole native element by fresh unions.Little success has attended the attempts of the landowners to employ nativelabour on their plantations. The tribal groups themselves possess reserves, thecollective enjoyment of which is guaranteed to them by the state. Hence theynaturally prefer to cultivate maize, manioc or taro on their own account, than totoil on the tobacco, sugar, or cofl'ee plantations of the whites. Hence, also, theaccusations of the inveterate indolence brought against them, and the efforts toreplace them by hands " engaged " in other islands, and held in a sort of slaveryby advances difficult to refund under several j-ears of hard work. Over twothousand labourers have thus been introduced, chiefly from the Loyalty and NewHebrides grouf)s.The' political convicts transjDorted in 1872, to the number of about four thousandfive hundred, have nearly all left the colony. Some few, who had developedj)rofitable industries in Noumea, have alone declined to take advantage of the freepardon granted to all in 1880. Ordinary convicts number at present about twelve