whites, and who were said to be of a remarkably gentle and kindly disposition. On December 28, 1834, the last survivors, hounded down like wild beasts, were captured at the extremity of a headland, and this event was celebrated as a signal triumph. The successful hunter, Robinson, received a government reward of six hundred acres and a considerable sum of money, besides a public subscription of about eight thousand pounds. The captives were at first conveyed from islet to islet, and then confined to the number of two hundred in a marshy valley of Flinders Island, washed by the stormy waters of Bass Strait. They were supplied with provisions and some lessons in the catechism; their community was even quoted as an example of the progress of Christian civilization. But after ten years of residence in this place of exile more than three fourths of the natives had perished. Then pity was taken on them, and the twelve surviving men, twenty-two women, and ten children, nearly all halfbreeds, were removed to a narrow promontory at Oyster Cove, near Hobart, and placed under some keepers, who enriched them 66 selves at their expense. In 1860 the Tasmanian race was reduced to sixteen souls; in 1869 the last man perished, and in 1876 Queen" Truganina, popularly known as Lalla Rookh, followed her people to the grave. But there still survived a few halfcastes, and in 1884 a so-called "Tasmanian" woman obtained a grant of land from the Colonial Parliament. The Fijians present affinities both with the western Melanesians and eastern Polynesians, and are at least partly of mixed descent, although the majority approach nearest to the former group. They are tall and robust, very brown and coppery, sometimes even almost black, with abundant tresses intermediate between hair and wool. Half-breeds are numerous and are often distinguished by almost European features. Till recently they went nearly naked, wearing only the loin-cloth or skirt of vegetable fiber, smearing the body with oil, and dyeing the hair with red ochre. The women passed bits of stick or bark through the pierced lobe of the ear, and nearly all the men carried a formidable club; now they wear shirts, blouses, or dressing-gowns, or else drape themselves in blankets, and thus look more and more like needy laborers dressed in the cast-off clothes of their employers. They display great natural intelligence, and, according to Williams, are remarkable for a logical turn of mind, which enables Europeans to discuss questions with them in a rational way. Their generosity is attested by the language itself, which abounds in terms meaning to give, but has no word to express the acts of borrowing or lending. Compared with their Polynesian neighbors, they are also distinguished by much reserve. Their meke, or dances, always graceful and marked by great decorum, represent little land or sea dramas, sowing, harvesting, fishing, even the struggles between the rising tides and rocks. Cannibalism entered largely into the religious system of the Fijians. The names of certain deities, such as the "god of slaughter," and the "god eater of human brains," sufficiently attest the horrible nature of the rites held in their honor. Religion also taught that all natural kindness was impious, that the gods loved blood, and that not to shed it before them would be culpable; hence those wicked people who had never killed anybody in their lifetime were thrown to the sharks after death. Children destined to be sacrificed for the public feasts were delivered into the hands of those of their own age, who thus served their apprenticeship as executioners and cooks. The banquets of "long pig"that is, human flesh-were regarded as a sacred ceremony from which the women and children were excluded; and while the men used their fingers with all other food, they had to employ forks of hard wood at these feasts. The ovens also in which the bodies were baked could not be used for any other purpose. Notwith standing certain restrictions, human flesh was largely consumed, and in various places hundreds of memorial stones were shown which recalled the number of sacrifices. From the ethnical standpoint Polynesia forms a distinct domain in the oceanic world, although its inhabitants do not appear to be altogether free from mixture with foreign elements. The vestiges of older civilizations differing from the present even prove that human migrations and revolutions have taken place in this region. On a scale large enough to cause the displacement of whole races. The curious monuments of Easter Island, although far inferior in artistic work to the wood-carvings of Birara and New Zealand, may perhaps be the witnesses of a former culture, no traditions of which have survived among the present aborigines. These monuments may possibly be the work of a Papuan people, for skulls found in the graves differ in no essential feature from those of New Guinea. The Polynesians, properly so called, to whom the collective terms Mahori and Savaiori have also been applied, and who call themselves Kanaka, that is, "men," have a light-brown or coppery complexion, and rather exceed the tallest Europeans in stature. In Tonga and Samoa nearly all the men are athletes of fine proportions, with black and slightly wavy hair, fairly regular features, and proud glance. They are a laughter-loving, light-hearted people, fond of music, song, and the dance, and where not visited by wars and the contagion of European "culture," the happiest and most harmless of mortals. When Dumont d'Urville questioned the Tukopians as to the doctrine of a future life, with rewards for the good and punishment for the wicked, they replied, "Among us there are no wicked people." Tattooing was wide-spread, and so highly developed, that the artistic designs covering the body served also to clothe it; but this costume is now being replaced by the cotton garments introduced by the missionaries. In certain islands the operation lasted so long that it had to be begun before the children were six years old, and the pattern was largely left to the skill and cunning of the professional tattooers. Still, traditional motives recurred in the ornamental devices of the several tribes, who could usually be recognized by their special tracings, curved or parallel lines, diamond forms, and the like. The artists were grouped in schools, like the Old Masters in Europe, and they worked not by incision as in most Melanesian islands, but by punctures with a small, comb-like instrument slightly tapped with a mallet. The pigment used in the painful and even dangerous operation was usually the fine charcoal yielded by the nut of Aleurites triloba, an oleaginous plant used for illuminating purposes throughout eastern Polynesia. In Samoa the women were much respected, and every village had its patroness, usually the chief's daughter, who represented the community at the civil and religious feasts, introduced strangers to the tribe, and diffused general happiness by her cheerful demeanor and radiant beauty. But elsewhere the women, though as a rule well treated, were regarded as greatly inferior to the men. At the religious ceremonies the former were |