Chapter III: Part 3

On the whole the Fijians are predominately Melanesian but with numerous Polynesian affinities that vary with locality. The Melanesian qualities are in part Negroid or Negritoid and in part Australoid. The Negroid resemblances are best illustrated by frizzly black hair, broad noses with depressed nasion and flaring nostrils, thick lips, and dark pigmentation (pls. 11 and 12). Australoid elements are general hairiness, strong brow ridges, low, sloping foreheads, compressed parietal and temporal areas, and some prognathism (pl. 13). The presence of Australoid suggestions need not mean that they come from Australia, but that they form a part of the Melanesian make-up. This interpretation of the Melanesians as a hybrid people conforms with similar designations by such students as Birdsell[19] and Hooton.[20] Polynesian influence in Fiji is most clearly demonstrated by lighter pigmentation, tall and muscular body build, moderate brachycephaly, broad faces and jaws, high and fairly long noses and strong chins. I found much the same resemblances between Fijians and Polynesians as did Howells;[21] however, in my comparisons the Polynesian similarities are outweighed and outnumbered by a greater array of Melanesian characters. The essential Melanesian character of the Fijian population is further demonstrated by recent blood-analysis comparisons; the conclusions of Simmons _et al._, identify the Fijians as Melanesian.[22]

The Fijians who live in the interior of Viti Levu show the most frequent Melanesian traits (pls. 11 and 14). These people are shorter, have narrower shoulders and chests; their heads are narrower and lower vaulted; they have broader noses, thicker lips, are hairier, and have darker skins. This condition, occurring as it does in the mountainous interior, which may be regarded as a refuge area, supports the theory that the Melanesian is the earlier component in Fiji.

The eastern Fijians stand in considerable contrast to the interior tribes and are the most Polynesian in appearance (pl. 15). They have lighter skins, greater stature, and heavier musculature. Their heads are broader, as are their faces and jaws; their noses are larger, narrower, and higher bridged, and their chins are more pronounced.

The coastal sample might be called intermediate or a more even blend of Melanesian and Polynesian.

The northwestern people resemble the coastal tribes. This means they show fewer departures in either a Melanesian or Polynesian direction. This also means they do not tell us whether the legendary ancestors, who are supposed to have first landed in Fiji on the northwest coast of Viti Levu,[23] were Melanesian or Polynesian. These data may mean one of three things: (1) the Fijian tradition of a landing at this place eight or ten generations ago is groundless, (2) the immigration did take place but whatever racial traits predominated, whether Melanesian or Polynesian, have been homogenized and obscured by subsequent intermixture and by movements back and forth on Viti Levu, (3) the landing did occur but the ancestors were already a Melanesian-Polynesian blend when they arrived.

LITERATURE CITED

Birdsell. J. B.
1948. Racial Origin of the Extinct Tasmanians. Records of the Queen
Victoria Museum, Tasmania, Vol. II, No. 3.

Churchill, W.
1911. The Polynesian Wanderings. Carnegie Institute of Washington,
Publ. No. 134, Washington.

Derrick, R. A.
1951. History of Fiji. Printing and Stationery Dept., Suva, Fiji.

Fornander, A.
1878. The Polynesian Race. London.

Hocart, A. M.
1929. Lau Islands, Fiji. Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Bull. 62,
Honolulu.

Hooton, E. A.
1946. Up From the Ape. Macmillan Co., New York.

Howells. W. W.
1933. Anthropometry and Blood Types in Fiji and the Solomon Islands.
American Museum of Natural History. Anthropological Papers,
Vol. 33, Pt. 4.

Roth, G. K.
1953. The Fijian Way of Life. Oxford University Press, London.

Simmon, R. T., J. J. Graydon, and G. Barnes
1945. The Medical Journal of Australia, May 26.

Sullivan, L. R.
1922. A Contribution to Tongan Somotology. Bernice P. Bishop Museum,
Vol. VIII, No. 4.

Thomson, B.
1908. The Fijians: A Study of the Decay of Custom. Wm. Heinemann,
London.

PLATES

_FACE_
Pronounced malars
Moderately long face
Wide gonia
Moderate chin
Moderate prognathism

_NOSE_
Broad bridge
Wide root
Moderate length
Thick tip
Flaring nostrils
Straight profile]

_LIPS_
Moderately thick
Pronounced lip seam
Moderate eversion

_EARS_
Moderate size
Small lobe
Attached lobe
Moderate protrusion]

No prognathism
High forehead
Moderate browridges

Moderate prognathism
Low, receding forehead
Pronounced browridges

Pronounced prognathism
Low, receding forehead
Very pronounced browridges]

[Footnote 1: Hooton, 1946, pp. 735-763.]

[Footnote 2: Derrick, 1946, pp. 5-6.]

[Footnote 3: Ibid., pp. 7-8.]

[Footnote 4: Population statistics from "Fiji Information," of 1954, issued by Public Relations Office, Suva, Fiji.]

[Footnote 5: Hooton, 1946, p. 621.]

[Footnote 6: Birdsell, 1949, p. 120.]

[Footnote 7: Fornander, 1878.]

[Footnote 8: Churchill, 1911.]

[Footnote 9: Hocart, 1929, p. 236.]

[Footnote 10: Howells, 1933, p. 335.]

[Footnote 11: Roth, 1953, pp. 54, 55.]

[Footnote 12: One pound deducted for dress (usually shorts only).]

[Footnote 13: By subtracting sitting height from total stature.]

[Footnote 14: Cranial measurements are not distorted by cradling practice or other causes of deformation.]

[Footnote 15: Howells records skin color with the von Luschan scale. I have adjusted this scale to my own.]

[Footnote 16: + means medium or moderate; ++ means pronounced; +++ means very pronounced.]

[Footnote 17: Observation taken on the chest.]

[Footnote 18: W. H. Sheldon, _The Variation of Human Physique_, Harper and Bros., 1940.]

[Footnote 19: Birdsell, 1949, p. 120.]

[Footnote 20: Hooton, 1946, p. 621.]

[Footnote 21: Howells, 1933, p. 332.]

[Footnote 22: Simmons _et al._, 1945, pp. 3-4]

[Footnote 23: See pp. 1 and 4 of Introduction.]

[Transcriber's Note: Figures incorrectly entered as zero have been calculated and inserted in {}.]

End of Project Gutenberg's A Racial Study of the Fijians, by Norman E. Gabel